Community West Foundation hands out $400,000 in grants in Lorain County

Almost $400,000 in grants was awarded to a group of Lorain County charity and nonprofit organizations by the Community West Foundation during an event at Lorain County Community College on Monday. Foundation President and CEO Martin Uhle said the number of groups to which the foundation gives money has nearly doubled since he took over in 2019, from 52 to 94. The foundation will give away more than $4 million this year through its grant application process, he said. Of that, the foundation spent $399,200 on Lorain County agencies on Monday. Uhle was joined by foundation board member Vicki Foster, Senior Program Officer Peter Schindler and Program Officer Marcus Madison — a former Elyria city councilman — at the presentation Monday. The foundation is based in Westlake. Instead of just dropping a check in the mail, "we like to go out and do this," Uhle said. Uhle surprised the agencies with portions of an additional $73,000 in unrestricted "Community Impact" funding made possible by donors. "We really appreciate you," said Liyana Asmar, an educator and prevention specialist at Lorain County Safe Harbor/Genesis House domestic violence shelter who accepted checks worth more than $36,100 on behalf of her organization. Neighborhood Alliance ($96,200) and Humility of Mary Housing's Faith House ($36,100), both in Lorain, also received checks. Blessing House children's crisis care center was given $62,600. Church of the Open Door's Generation House transitional housing for families received $18,000. P2R Training and Resource Center, which helps people leaving prison or jail and reentering society, was another one of the recipients. Executive Director Wendy Caldwell accepted two checks from Uhle worth more than $12,000. "You guys have been amazing," she told him. Lorain County Commissioner Matt Lundy, a Democrat, thanked the foundation for helping out those in need in the county. He and fellow Commissioners David Moore and Michelle Hung, both Republicans, voted unanimously on May 11 to give Blessing House $23,000 to cover half the cost of a new Honda Odyssey to transport children to school. The county used American Rescue Plan Act funds to cover half the cost, and the foundation quickly came up with the other half of the cost so Blessing House — down to only two vehicles to take five children to four different schools in the morning — didn't lose out on the deal. Blessing House had applied to the county for a small business/nonprofit grant to replace the failing vehicle, and found one at Great Lakes Honda West in Elyria, co-founder and Director of Development Donna Humphrey said. The new van also will allow the agency to take children on field trips this summer. The total amount of money distributed by the Community West Foundation in the second quarter of 2022 is more than $1 million to 27 organizations in the foundation's service area, Madison said. It is the largest amount of money the foundation has given away in a single quarter, Uhle said. The awards for the second quarter are focused on housing and homelessness services and programs for those who were incarcerated and are reentering society. Grant guidelines and an application may be found at bit.ly/3NjVw3L. Elsewhere in Northeast Ohio, Community West funded the Edwins Leadership Institute, which supports formerly incarcerated adults with work in the culinary and hospitality industries, and True Freedom Ministries, an evangelical organization that reaches out to the incarcerated, homeless and those with addiction disorders. Both received $60,100. EDEN Housing of Cleveland also received $36,100, and the Reach Success educational and career development organization got $18,000. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com or on Twitter @daveobrienCT.