Though it is a truism that children are our future, unfortunately our society does not dedicate the resources towards them that their importance deserves. We are interested in improving the lives of children by supporting critical, direct services and by supporting teachers and parents in their roles as major influencers in the development of children.

(View: Better Housing)
Program
A multi-year grant was awarded to the Better Housing League for the Community Lead Education and Reduction Corps (CLEARCorps)
Project. CLEARCorps is a leadership development program that combats childhood lead poisoning by teaching about lead hazards and assisting with lead abatement in homes.

(View: The Carnegie Visual and Performing Arts Center)
Capital
A capital support grant was awarded to The Carnegie Arts Center for an accessibility renovation of their historic building. The Connector Addition between the theater and art gallery includes an elevator, ramps and restrooms that make all parts of The Carnegie accessible.

Operating
The Child Advocacy Center helps families of children with disabilities become self-advocates as they seek appropriate child-centered services, especially educational services. A grant from the Foundation enabled the Center to hire additional staff including an early childhood specialist, a training coordinator and development personnel.

(View: Childrens Defense)
Operating
The Foundation’s commitment to the well-being of children led to a grant to help establish the local chapter of the Children’s Defense Fund. The Children’s Defense Fund identifies critical issues facing children and develops advocacy programs and strategies to address these issues.

(View: Cincinnati Childrens)
Capital / Program / Operating
The Mayerson Treatment Center, located within the hospital’s division of hematology/oncology, provides promise to thousands of children suffering from cancer and blood disorders.
The Mayerson Bone Marrow Transplant Unit is one of few such units in the country and is nationally recognized for its excellent facilities and care. It provides approximately 50% of all pediatric transplants in Ohio.
The Mayerson Family Professional Resource Center assists families, professionals and agencies as they care for and accommodate the needs of children with chronic conditions and/or disabilities. The Center receives more than 500 referrals annually.
The Mayerson Center for Safe & Healthy Children – (see Proactive Grants)
International Adoption Center provides comprehensive services to help children who immigrate to the U.S. to begin a new life with their adoptive parents. The Foundation awarded a grant to the Center for pre-adoption, post-adoption, research and community outreach programs that address the unique and complex health issues surrounding international adoption.

(View Children's Law Center)
Project
The special needs of youth in the juvenile justice system in Northern Kentucky have had a strong advocate in the Children's Law Center for over twenty years. With the publishing of "Justice Cut Short", the Center has taken a lead role in addressing the disparities in the treatment of indigent youth in Ohio's juvenile justice system. The Foundation provided support for a systemic reform initiative to ensure that poor children in Ohio have access to quality legal representation.

(View: Cincy Museum)
Capital / Program
A grant from the Foundation to the Children’s Museum made it possible to incorporate a variety of accommodations to include people with disabilities. The package includes: talking signs for the visually impaired, an accessibility guide audiocassette and Braille formats for the entire Museum Center, and a tactile (touchable) model to orient visitors. Ongoing consultation was also funded through the grant to help with staff training needs.

(View: Cincy Rec)
Capital
The Foundation provided lead funding for the first fully-accessible, custom designed public playground in the country to promote the play of children with special needs alongside typically-abled children rather than in a segregated space. "Every Child's Playground" one of four "1,000 Hands" Playgrounds supported by the Foundation, is located at Sawyer Point on Cincinnati's Central Riverfront and serves as a model for the inclusive design of playgrounds around the country.

(View: Cincy Zoo)
Capital / Program
A Foundation grant was used to enhance accessibility features in the Children’s Zoo, and to enable underwater viewing of the Walrus tank for people who cannot climb steps. Additional support from the Foundation helped establish a program that takes endangered Zoo animals out to visit thousands of children at area schools and distributes thousands of endangered species kits to teachers for their use in teaching conservation issues. The Foundation has also supported field study trips for Zoo interns.

(View: Council on Child Abuse)
Project
A dramatic increase in Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS)- a form of child abuse that often includes brain injuries that result from violent shaking - led to the launch of a promising five-year comprehensive program of parent and caregiver education on the dangers of shaking a baby. The Foundation provided the lead funding for this program which will also begin much needed research on the occurrence and effects of SBS in collaboration with the Mayerson Center for Safe and Healthy Children at Cincinnati's Children's Hospital.

(View: Crayons to Computers)
Operating
Crayons to Computers is a national model for transferring, at no cost, a community’s surplus supplies and merchandise into the hands of school teachers and their students in need. The Foundation has provided operating support for this free store for teachers that distributes more than three million dollars a year of essential learning products from pencils to PC’s.

(View: Every Child Succeeds)
Operating
The Foundation was part of a collaborative that helped establish this organization that aims to prevent child abuse and related problems via in-home visits to first time mothers over the course of three years. In addition to direct financial support, the Foundation supports this organization through the Mayerson Center for Safe and Healthy Children, the latter of which houses Every Child Succeeds, and provides its research and data collection functions.

(View: Fernside)
Operating
Support was awarded to Fernside for the Parent Loss Program, a bereavement support group system for children and teens experiencing the death of a mother, father, or guardian. Fernside has helped to create a network of community support by providing training and education about the needs of the grieving child.

Capital
Hope Outreach Services has provided more than a decade of emergency aid to families in crisis. The Foundation provided support for the renovation of a shelter for unwed teenage mothers and funded a teenage pregnancy program that provides in-home assistance, health care and hygiene training, parenting classes and school tutoring.

(View: Jewish Cincinnati)
(View: Jewish Boca)
Operating
The Foundation allocates significant funds annually to the Jewish Federations to support their work in these two communities as well as abroad. The Foundation is a member of the King David Club and the President’s Club of the Bonds for Israel.

(View: Legal Aid Society)
Capital
The Foundation awarded a capital support grant for the renovation of the Community Law Center, which serves as headquarters for Legal Aid and the Volunteer Lawyers Project. The renovation makes it possible to expand programs that focus on children and on employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities and families making the transition to economic self-sufficiency.

(View: Lighthouse Youth Services)
Capital
The Lighthouse Residential Center is a collaborative treatment program for male youths with severe emotional and behavioral problems. A Foundation grant for the renovation of a two-story brick home made it possible for Lighthouse and Beech Acres to pursue this joint venture.


Program
The Foundation provided seed funding to Listen2U for specialized mentoring to empower high school students who have become credit deficient and who are at high risk of dropping out of school. In terms of graduation and placement in a job or in the military, the program has achieved a remarkable success rate.

(View: Madcap Productions Puppet Theatre)
Capital
Madcap Productions is a local resident theatre company that creates original giant puppet theatre that is performed locally and throughout a 17-state region. The Foundation awarded a capital grant to help with the purchase and renovation of a building to serve as Madcap’s creative studios, education lab and base of operations.

(View: Underground Railroad)
Capital
The Foundation awarded a capital grant for the construction of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, the largest museum in the country dedicated to the secret movement of slaves north to freedom during the Civil War. The Center is a centerpiece of Cincinnati’s revitalized riverfront, and a nationally prominent institution that applies the lessons of history to contemporary issues.

(View: Parents for Public Schools)
Operating
A multi-year grant to Parents for Public Schools was awarded in support of the central role that parental involvement plays in effective schools. The Foundation grant helps to fund this organization’s first professional staff hired to coordinate parent advocacy at the district level, provide leadership training to parent volunteers, and develop a clearinghouse and referral service.

(View: Theatre IV)
Program
Theatre IV is the largest professional touring theatre outside of New York City and brings the joy of great theatre to more than 135,000 students in Grades pre-K through 12 each year. A grant from the Foundation made it possible for Theatre IV to offer free performances at underserved early childhood education sites throughout the Greater Cincinnati area.

(View: Women's Crisis Center)
Capital
Women’s Crisis Center runs the only domestic violence shelter in Northern Kentucky where counseling is provided to 6,000 victims of abuse annually, and where emergency shelter is provided to 550 families annually. The Foundation provided support to help insure a safe haven, the Crossroads Shelter, for women and children escaping domestic violence.


Program
The Xavier Summer Service Internship Program provides civic engagement training for college and high school youth through full-time service over the summer in a broad range of community organizations. The Foundation provided support for the participation of diverse high schools in this challenging program that pairs the high school students with college-age mentors in community service sites.

(View: Yavneh)
Capital
The Foundation provided support for the “Building for Excellence” Campaign at Yavneh Day School, a 50 year old Jewish Day School in Cincinnati. The Campaign resulted in critically needed classroom space, a new music and art center, as well as a new library, gymnasium, science lab, and multi-purpose areas.

(View: YWCA of Greater Cincinnati)
Capital
A grant from the Foundation helped to renovate and expand the Alice Paul House, now known as the Battered Women’s Shelter, which provides emergency shelter, counseling, social services and advocacy for battered women and their children, the only such shelter of its kind in Hamilton County.

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