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Health & Fitness

Gay Community Endowment Fund awards $66,200, including grant for 2014 Gay Games

The Gay Community Endowment Fund of Akron Community Foundation recently awarded grants totaling $66,200 to nine greater Akron nonprofit organizations. Akron Community Foundation’s board ratified this latest round of grants at its quarterly meeting Dec. 6.

The largest of these grants will support the 2014 Gay Games, a world-renowned sports and culture festival coming to Cleveland and Akron next August. This $45,000 grant represents just one part of the fund’s commitment to the Gay Games. In October, fund officials announced that proceeds from its annual Sugar Plum Tour would also support the games, bringing the fund’s total commitment to a record $100,000 and making it the official host sponsor of events held in Akron and Summit County.

A portion of the committed funds will be used to award grants of up to $5,000 for local projects that support the Gay Games, including arts and culture events, LGBT programming, and diversity projects. Nonprofits may submit their grant applications online through Jan. 10 at www.akroncf.org/applyGG9.

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Other grants approved this year will provide mental health services to LGBT individuals in greater Akron, including counseling for senior citizens and school-based outreach programs for LGBT youth.

Since awarding its first grants in 2005, the Gay Community Endowment Fund has reinvested nearly $250,000 into local nonprofit initiatives that promote the well-being and full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens in the greater Akron area. To make a gift to the Gay Community Endowment Fund, visit www.akroncf.org/give/gcef.

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The following grants were awarded this year:

CASA Board Volunteer Association Inc., for an equality training seminar that educates volunteer court advocates about placing children with same-sex foster or adoptive parents, $2,000

Child Guidance & Family Solutions Inc., to develop marketing materials for the agency’s school-based adolescent outreach program targeted toward LGBT youth, $5,000

Cleveland Special Events Corporation, for events held in Akron and Summit County as part of the 2014 Gay Games presented by the Cleveland Foundation, $45,000

Community AIDS Network, for the Teen Pride Network, a collaboration with the Akron chapter of PFLAG that offers positive social support and activities for LGBT youth who feel isolated in their school, home or community, $2,600

Community Drug Board DBA: Community Health Center, to increase outreach to the LGBT community and educate the agency’s substance abuse counselors about the specific needs of LGBT clients, $2,500

Fair Housing Contact Service Inc., to provide remediation to LGBT individuals who have faced discrimination by housing providers, $2,000

Fusion Magazine, for Kent State University’s award-winning, student-produced publication, which strives to unify people of different backgrounds and orientations, $500

Jewish Family Service of Akron Ohio, for counseling and support groups for LGBT senior citizens, $4,000

Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays in Northeast Ohio Inc., for the Teen Pride Network, a collaboration with Community AIDS Network that offers positive social support and activities for LGBT youth who feel isolated in their school, home or community, $2,600

About the Gay Community Endowment Fund

Founded in 2001, the Gay Community Endowment Fund is a permanent philanthropic endowment of Akron Community Foundation. It facilitates and perpetuates philanthropy by supporting programs and services that support or positively impact the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, as well as the entire greater Akron community. Since its inception, the fund has grown to more than $900,000 while reinvesting nearly $250,000 into the community. Contributions of any amount are welcome and support future grant-making. Checks may be sent to the Gay Community Endowment Fund of Akron Community Foundation, 345 W. Cedar St., Akron, OH 44307-2407. For more information, or to contribute, call 330-376-8522 or visit www.gaycommunityfund.org.

About Akron Community Foundation

Celebrating 58 years of building community philanthropy, Akron Community Foundation embraces and enhances the work of charitable people who make a permanent commitment to the good of the community. In 1955, a $1 million bequest from the estate of Edwin Shaw established the community foundation. Today, it is a philanthropic endowment of nearly $170 million with a growing family of more than 430 funds established by charitable people and organizations from all walks of life. The community foundation welcomes gifts of all kinds, including cash, bequests, stock, real estate, life insurance and retirement assets, just to name a few. To date, the community foundation’s funds have awarded nearly $110 million in grants to qualified nonprofit organizations. For more information about Akron Community Foundation or to learn more about creating your own charitable fund, call 330-376-8522 or visit www.akroncf.org.

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