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ProMedica to Make Community Investment in the Junction
Neighborhood with Support from the Owens Corning Foundation
The ProMedica Ebeid
Neighborhood Promise and ProMedica Foundation announced a
resident-driven $2.8 million community grant investment in
the Junction neighborhood in Central Toledo. The goal of the
investment is to help support a neighborhood that
traditionally has experienced disinvestment, which has
disproportionally affected people of color. Reinvesting in
neighborhoods like the Junction is a critical step in
creating infrastructure and opportunities for all the area
residents.
To support this community,
the Owens Corning Foundation helped fund the grant
investment program. "We realize the positive impact this
investment will have in the neighborhood and the greater
community, and we are pleased to join forces to help make a
lasting difference," said Don Rettig, president of the Owens
Corning Foundation.
Kicking off the program in
fall of 2020, ProMedica sought grant applicants that could
help in the areas of education and training, health and
wellness, jobs and finances, stable housing and basic needs
for the Junction neighborhood.
To ensure the grant
application review process included resident input,
ProMedica engaged community partners and neighborhood
leaders through several community meetings. The stakeholders
were instrumental in the process, reviewing
neighborhood-level data and plans and administering a survey
to gauge neighborhood need.
Shantae Brownlee, a Junction
neighborhood resident and stakeholder who participated in
the community meetings, said, "The process of selecting the
programs that would make the most impact on our community
was extensive, but I'm proud of the selections and looking
forward to real change."
ProMedica received more than 40
applications. Twenty projects and 18 organizations were
identified to receive funding based on the goals, predicted
outcomes and programming that addressed specific health and
human service challenges facing the Junction community.
The MLK Kitchen for the Poor
is among the organizations receiving funding. The Kitchen
currently serves meals to more than 200 people each day,
from school-aged children to the elderly. The grant
investment program will fund its food box and hot meals
program. "This past year, more than ever, we have been
seeing people in need of basic necessities. Providing hot
meals and food boxes makes a tangible difference in the
health of our community. My late father opened the Kitchen
in 1969, and this funding will continue his legacy," said
Harvey Savage, Jr., executive director, The MLK Kitchen. |
Shantae Brownlee
Harvey Savage, Jr.
Doni
Miller |
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Another organization to receive
grant funding is the Neighborhood Health Association, which
provides access to quality medical care for anyone in need.
The grant program will fund the "Saving Ourselves" program,
which seeks to staff a full-time community organizer. The
organizer will connect Junction residents to basic needs and
organize residents in the development and implementation of
a strategy for changing the health status of the community.
"Providing the right access allows us to empower and educate
while aggressively working to eliminate health care
inequities," said Doni Miller, chief executive officer,
Neighborhood Health Association.
The first installment in the
grant payments for the two-year cycle will start January
2021, enabling organizations to begin programming at the
beginning of the year. Funding is for a minimum two-year
period and contingent upon successful, demonstrable
achievement of outcomes.
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