$3.7 Million in Grants Approved Dec. 2016

$3.7 Million in Grants Approved Dec. 2016

The largest grant provides $2.4 million over four years towards a $140 million clinical trial to prevent Alzheimer’s disease. The study, led by Dr. Reisa A. Sperling, will attempt to stop the accumulation of amyloid plaques just as they start to be deposited in the brain. Amyloid deposition in the brain is thought to disrupt communication between nerve cells, precipitating their death. Erb funds will allow the trial to include individuals as young as 55; federal funding is restricted to subjects over aged 65.

Alzheimer’s disease is one of the nation’s largest public health crises and its costliest disease. More than 5 million Americans are living with the disease today and more than 15 million people are serving as unpaid caregivers. Annual costs of care are projected to exceed $1.1 trillion in today’s dollars by 2050.

Two grants will promote environmental health, justice and equitable development in Detroit. One will support the LEED rehab of a house in the Hope Village district. The other will create a two-year fellowship in the Detroit Health Department to foster collaboration with other City departments, community based organizations and businesses to prevent diseases resulting, in part, from the concentration of pollutants in local air, water and soil.

Another $871,000 in Erb grants will advance green stormwater infrastructure and improve water quality, especially in metropolitan Detroit, western Lake Erie and the binational Great Lakes basin. One of these grants supports a multi-city “AquaHacking” hackathon in partnership with NASA, TechTown, Wayne State University and others to develop innovative solutions to identify, prevent or treat pollution and other threats to the Western Lake Erie Basin. Erb funds will add a Detroit semi-final round to the multi-state competition. Three grants provide technical assistance and small grants for green infrastructure through the national Partners For Places program and local programs in the Detroit, Rouge and Clinton River watersheds. Two grants support policy reform through the bi-national Lake Erie Collective.

A $50,000 Family Legacy Grant will protect photographic negatives held in Cranbrook’s Archives.

Please click here for the complete grants list.