Community Foundation Awards $17,500 in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Grants

[Photo credit: Suttons Bay Public Schools HumanKIND Club // Image description: Six students wearing masks and standing together from Suttons Bay Public Schools HumanKIND Club.]

The Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation has awarded $17,500 in grants from its Diversity Equity Inclusion (DEI) Fund this fall. These awards represent the largest DEI Fund grant cycle to date and were made possible thanks to local donor partners, the Foundation’s Rotary Endowment that Rotary Charities of Traverse City directs, and Consumers Energy Foundation.

“We’re grateful for the consistent support that our DEI Fund has received as it is allowing us to be responsive to a diverse variety of community needs,” said Gina Thornbury, Senior Community Impact Manager with the Community Foundation. “The organizations we’ve partnered with through the DEI Fund are directly contributing to the vitality of our region.”

The Community Foundation’s DEI Fund primarily provides support for organizations in the five-county region led by Black, Indigenous, people of color, LGBTQ+, immigrant, neurodiverse, and disabled community members in addition to equity and inclusion-focused programs and initiatives.

This cycle’s DEI Fund grant partners include:

• Arts for All Northern Michigan for general operating support that will allow the organization to apply funding where it’s needed most within their operations and programming.
• Autism Alliance of Michigan to support its Upbound at Work program that aims to help ensure that people with disabilities have equitable access to employment opportunities.
• Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes to support the continued development of Anishinaabe history and cultural programs for Sleeping Bear Dunes visitors and residents alike.
• Kids on the Go Traverse City to support program development and expansion that will help the organization provide specialized therapies during summer camp to additional children.
• Northwest Michigan Coalition to End Homelessness to support its Advisory Committee for People with Lived Experiences.
• Suttons Bay Public Schools to assist the HumanKind Elementary and Middle School student-led clubs with general operating support.
• Up North Pride to help fund the 2022 Up North Pride Festival that occurred in late September.

Since its inception in the summer of 2021, the DEI Fund has awarded over $58,000 in grants to organizations across Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, and Leelanau Counties. The Community Foundation continues to accept donations to the DEI Fund: www.gtrcf.org/supportDEI.

In addition to donations, DEI Fund grant applications are currently open, with grant awards up to $2,500 per organization available. Nonprofit, educational, governmental, and Tribal entities across the five-county region are eligible to apply by submitting an online or video application at www.gtrcf.org/grants/apply by 11:59 pm on December 1, 2022.