FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 10, 2020
CONTACT:
Becky Ewing, Executive Director
Rotary Charities of Traverse City
231-668-2942
bewing@rotarycharities.org
Traverse City, Mich. - Rotary Charities of Traverse City is pleased to announce the recipients of our fall grants, totaling $434,000. This year we have adapted to our grantmaking to be more responsive to the needs of nonprofits and the people they serve during the uncertainty and shifting conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic. We will open our next grant cycle in January 2021.
Our Assets for Thriving Communities grant program supports the development of community assets that are available to everyone, or projects that target a population that is underserved by the current system. This cycle we are partnering with the following nonprofits:
Hospice of Michigan, $40,000 for NorthStar Navigation and Palliative Care. The last 6-8 months of someone’s life is easily the most challenging and frightening. Hospice of Michigan understands there needs to be a bridge of support to guide people along this final journey. To address that need in our region, HOM created NorthStar Navigation and NorthStar Palliative Care to work collaboratively with the patient’s healthcare team and community organizations who specialize in coordinating care in the home. The additional layer of support will serve to decrease caregiver burnout, improve patient quality of life, and increase hospice utilization.
Human Nature School, $44,000 for construction of a Timber Frame Barn on their 143-acre Leelanau County property. The construction will enable HNS to expand 10 years of Nature Connection Programming to include Regenerative Agriculture for the purpose of healing nature, our communities and ourselves and bringing both tangible skills and a greater sense of hope to both current and future generations.
Traverse Symphony Orchestra, $25,000 for Community Engagement Expansion. Traverse Symphony will radically reinvent, re-imagine and realign of the 20-21 concert season and education programs in response to emergent community outreach needs resulting from COVID 19. These adaptations will not only continue to deepen engagement with current TSO patrons and subscribers, but also expand awareness of, and access to the Symphony to more members of the Northern Michigan region, by removing potential barriers to participation, including cost, accessibility, and perception of exclusivity.
Our Systems Change Accelerator grant program supports innovations targeting the root causes of complex community problems. This cycle we are partnering with the following initiatives:
Northwest Michigan Coalition to End Homelessness, $125,000 for the Homeless Youth Initiative. The Homeless Youth Initiative works to reduce youth homelessness by making it rare, brief and one-time. The initiative is taking a deeper dive into the intersections between youth systems of care to enhance cross-collaboration; braiding together community assets and resources to expand the circle of influence of youth; and being actionable and accountable around what youth tell us they need. Meanwhile, they are working with partners to increase housing options for youth to exit homelessness.
SEEDS, $75,000 for the Organic Diversion Systems Accelerator. SEEDS and a number of collaborative partners are helping our region reduce organic waste by researching and developing a sustainable social enterprise to provide access to organic diversion services; creating a cross-sectoral digital resource hub to better leverage resources and allies and improve open access to organic diversion knowledge; building and pursuing an advocacy plan that promotes local government policies and collaboration; and employing coordinated communication tools tailored to the needs of specific stakeholder groups which can improve regional diversion.
Housing North, $125,000 for Housing North 2.0. This grant will continue to support the momentum of focused work to address the housing system in our region by coordinating communication, advocacy and capacity around housing in our 10-county region. This grant will build sustainable capacity, continue outreach and education efforts and policy initiatives while building Housing Conservancy tools in coordination with many partners.
