Arizona

The Community Foundation for Southern Arizona (CFSA) has announced the launch of an initiative that will support local reporting and community access to local news and information through fundraising, grants, and a public awareness campaign. Led by a group of local civic leaders and anchored at CFSA, the Local News Initiative of Southern Arizona will raise philanthropic dollars to help increase and strengthen news coverage for the people of Tucson, Pima County, and across southern Arizona. The first round of grants will support the hiring of local journalists.

California

The San Francisco Foundation (SFF) has announced that its Bay Area Community Impact Fund has closed on a five-year, $1.5 million loan to help GRID Alternatives launch its Energy Resilience Fund. With this fund, GRID will finance commercial clean-energy projects to benefit disinvested communities and tribal nations. SFF’s loan will be targeted to Bay Area-based projects.

Connecticut

The Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut in New London recently marked its 40th anniversary by announcing the creation of an endowed fund focused on the needs of young people, The Day reports. The Brighter Futures Fund will help advance equitable outcomes to improve the lives of children and youth in eastern Connecticut. The foundation aims to expand the fund to at least $1 million before starting the grantmaking process.

Massachusetts

As it constructs the “largest turbines in the western world” in waters southwest of Nantucket, Vineyard Wind has made its first mitigation payment of $2.53 million to the town, which was deposited into an account administered by the Community Foundation for Nantucket, the Nantucket Current reports. The payment comes more than three years after Nantucket’s Select Board, along with the Nantucket Preservation Trust and the Maria Mitchell Association, signed the so-called “Good Neighbor Agreement” with the company. The agreement bound the town and those organizations to commit their support to the offshore wind energy project in exchange for $16 million to mitigate the potential historical, cultural, and economic impacts of the turbines on Nantucket. The money will be distributed by the foundation through a grant program to support community projects and initiatives related to protecting, restoring, and preserving cultural and historic resources, coastal resiliency, climate adaptation, and renewable energy, the Nantucket Current reports.

Michigan

The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan has announced a second round of microgrants from the Michigan Central/Church Street Fund in support of organizations that strengthen the Detroit neighborhoods of Corktown, North Corktown, and Hubbard Richard. The 2023 microgrants will promote neighborhood improvement activities on issues including arts and culture, community and economic development, and environment and public spaces. This year, supported projects include street-level beautification efforts, environmental solutions to stormwater impacts, the expansion of a fund for minor home repairs, and theater pieces inspired by neighborhood murals. Grants totaling $40,000 were awarded to Mexicantown Community Development Corporation, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, North Corktown Neighborhood Association, and Matrix Theatre Company.

Nebraska

The Omaha Community Foundation has announced the 2024 cohort of leaders of color selected to participate in its Nonprofit Capacity Building program. The program provides professional development activities and executive coaching sessions to help leaders strengthen their organizations, expand their networks, and amplify their impact in the community. Each participant will receive a $5,000 grant for personal and organizational development.

North Carolina

Foundation For The Carolinas has announced that 116 small businesses within Charlotte’s Corridors of Opportunity have been chosen through a competitive review process to receive grants totaling $4.8 million from the second round of the Beyond Open small business grant program. The grant program, established with a $20 million grant from Wells Fargo, has distributed a combined total of $10.7 million in its first two rounds, with a third grantmaking round scheduled for 2024. Grants range from $10,000 to $150,000 and do not need to be repaid.

Ohio

The Columbus Foundation has announced more than $2.6 million in grants to 30 local nonprofit organizations in support of capital improvement projects. The grants will provide catalytic capital to help organizations enhance and expand service delivery, renovate and update facilities, and purchase new equipment and technology. Recipients include Breathing Association, Flying Horse Farms, I Am Boundless, and the Reeb Center.

Rhode Island

The Rhode Island Foundation has announced that 15 nonprofit organizations serving the state’s LGBTQ communities will share nearly $90,000 in grants through its Equity Action Fund. Recipients include the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center, Family Services of Rhode Island, the Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre, and Girl Scouts of Southeastern New England.

Wisconsin

The Eau Claire Community Foundation has announced that it is partnering with Compeer Financial in the Rural Collaboration Project, which aims to bolster rural vitality across the Midwest by providing environmental learning opportunities for students in the Chippewa Valley. ECCF will receive a grant of more than $21,000 from the Compeer Financial Fund for Rural America donor-advised fund, the Agriculture and Rural Initiative. The funds will be used to provide environmental learning and outdoor education opportunities to students from the Alma, Birchwood, Bruce, Cameron, and Cornell school districts, who will be able to experience nature first-hand through field trips to Beaver Creek Reserve, an environmental education center located in Fall Creek.