March 2019 Grants
Five new grants totaling $570,000 advance the Foundation’s developing initiatives to address environmental contributions to asthma and lead. Four grants addressing air quality impacts on asthma will:
- reduce exhaust fume emissions in residential neighborhoods by revising truck routes and increasing enforcement of Detroit’s anti-idling ordinance.
- organize a group of local businesses to explore strategies for improving indoor air quality in early childhood centers and elementary schools.
- convene academics, nonprofit organizations, and government officials to encourage consideration of the cumulative impact of air emissions in state policy and permitting. While some other states consider the effects on human health from cumulative exposure from multiple sources, Michigan does not.
- develop an options analysis for solid waste disposal and energy generation in the City of Detroit.
The fifth grant pilots a cooperative project between the Detroit Health Department, Detroit Public Schools, school districts, health providers and professionals, and nonprofit partners to increase testing and follow up services for children with elevated blood lead levels. Michigan Medicaid policy requires that enrolled children are tested twice before 24 months but only 62% of Detroit children enrolled in Medicaid are tested on or before their second birthday.
Three grants totaling over $400,000 address environmental stewardship within an arts-based context: continuing to incorporate sustainability in the Midtown cultural campus plan, implementing green infrastructure and cultural programming in Eliza Howell Park, and creating a travelling exhibit on Great Lakes stewardship.
Four renewal grants provide continued general operating support to a set of watershed organizations in metro Detroit and Bayfield, Ontario. As the caretakers of our rivers, watershed organizations are core to the Foundation’s mission. This sustained support has been a priority since our inception in 2009, totaling over $4 million.
A family legacy grant will establish the Michael E. Maddens, M.D., Distinguished Chair of Internal Medicine, in honor of Fred and Barbara Erb’s geriatric doctor at Beaumont Hospital.