2008 Promising Projects

Northern Kent County is home to the Equest Center for Therapeutic Riding (Equest), one of the two largest facilities of its kind in the state of Michigan and one of the five largest in the Midwest. Equest provides equine assisted activities for individuals facing the lifelong effects of brain injury, stroke and certain kinds of neurological disorders. The practice engages horses to promote emotional growth and pronounced physical benefits for riders that can lead to improved balance and coordination, increased strength and stamina, improved self confidence and self-discipline.

The Frey Foundation joined other community philanthropic partners to assist Equest in their efforts to acquire nearly 11 acres of open green space that abuts their existing 24-acre campus. Undeveloped except for a seven-stall barn, the additional acreage was recently re-zoned, making it more attractive for low-density residential development, and sparking Equest’s efforts to launch a capital campaign for its purchase. The project will help preserve the pastoral nature of this environmentally sensitive parcel, and allow Equest to enhance its programming while doubling its service capacity.

Since their founding over 36 years ago, Senior Neighbors has been dedicated to promoting independent living for west Michigan adults, age 60 and older, providing low-cost meals, wellness classes, health screenings, and other essential services that reduce isolation and help local seniors improve the quality of their lives. Senior Neighbors operates six senior centers throughout Kent County including one facility they had long outgrown, located in downtown Grand Rapids.

A three-year search for a site that would better accommodate their space and programming needs yielded the discovery of an ideal location, less than a mile from their previous facility, on south Division Ave. The site, formerly the Heartside Grocery Store, will undergo a complete renovation to include the installation of a commercial grade kitchen, updated plumbing and electrical, flooring, laundry facilities and fresh paint. This project attracted both private and public sector support that will enable Senior Neighbors to relocate in the spring of 2009.

Building on a wealth of prior local research including the City of Grand Rapids’ master plan and subsequent neighborhood level plans, Midtown Neighborhood Association (Midtown) received grant support to conduct a comprehensive feasibility study and strategic plan for a proposed expansion and modernization of the Fulton Street Farmer’s Market (market). The market, a prized community asset for more than 80 years, showcases thirty seasonal vendors from Michigan who sell plants, fresh fruits, vegetables and artisan products to local and regional visitors.

Partnering with a national content expert, Midtown will explore a variety of options that might enhance the market including capacity, year-round viability, and potential vendor mix. A portion of Midtown’s grant was structured as a 1:1 challenge grant to encourage public sector participation in the initiative.

The 2010 election will signal a remarkable era of transition in which term limits will require the election of a new governor and new senators and representatives in more than two-thirds of all state legislative districts. To capitalize on this historic opportunity, the Center for Michigan plans to put forth a new citizen-driven, policy agenda that targets the state’s most pressing challenges including the structural deficit, legacy costs, prison costs, Medicaid, the need for talent and the environment.

With the launch of a comprehensive public engagement campaign titled 'Michigan’s Defining Moment', the Center for Michigan has a strategy to engage a minimum of 10,000 pragmatic civic leaders who can endorse and advocate for a new shared public agenda. Three rounds of public engagement activities are planned state-wide over the next two years. A statewide citizen conference will follow, where strategies based on the reform agenda endorsed by more than 10,000 leaders and residents, will be developed to influence the gubernatorial debate and candidate debates in every legislative district in Michigan. Ultimately, the Center for Michigan expects to develop a set of action steps that citizens can take on behalf of the future of the State.

The Petoskey Montessori Children’s House (PMCH), established in 1973, is one of only six center-based programs in Emmet County offering care for children newborn through three years of age. They received Frey Foundation funding to embark on a two-year journey to attain full Montessori accreditation of their Infant Community program. PMCH plans to partner with North Central Michigan College to increase educational credentials for staff, and Columbus Montessori Teacher Education Program to improve the overall quality of the care they provide.

Upon achieving full accreditation, PMCH would become the only center-based program in the county accredited beyond the minimum standards required by the State of Michigan.

South End Community Outreach Ministries (SECOM) received funding to support their expanded services targeted to families struggling to meet the unique nutritional needs of infants and toddlers. Typically, families with young children must make do with the items available through the food pantry, often making nutritional sacrifices that, research proves, can have long term negative effects on their children. SECOM, already a partner in Kent County’s food network, plans to make available food supply items tailored specifically to infants and toddlers including baby cereal, formula, and jarred baby food. In addition, SECOM plans provide nutritional education support (in partnership with Michigan State University Extension) and with the help of local volunteers child care for young families who access the new service.

Lacking a permanent home for both its operations and rehearsals, Opera Grand Rapids (OGR) has moved 3 times in the past 10 years. Rehearsals have been held in twelve different locations in the last six years, often with these spaces being secured at the very last moment. The costume shop has had a similarly vagrant existence being housed in a new location for nearly every show. This lack of permanent facilities has meant that for every production OGR must load in and set-up both its rehearsal hall and costume shop, investing labor and money in spaces it does not own and ultimately adding to the cost of each show. Furthermore, when OGR wants to conduct educational or public programming it must lease or rent space for these activities.

With a generous gift from Betty Van Andel and a site secured two miles east of downtown, OGR is now ready to construct its own facility to house all of its operations. The new Betty Van Andel Center for Opera on the corner of Fulton and Carlton will be a 14,000-square-foot, LEED-certified facility. This will allow Opera Grand Rapids to bring all aspects of its operations under one centralized roof including offices, rehearsal hall, costume shop and storage, meeting rooms, practice rooms, property storage and educational space.

This project demonstrates several areas of alignment with the Frey Foundation’s arts funding priorities:

• Dedicated space will allow the company to offer an expanded array of educational and public programming as well as diversify its funding base through the addition of rental income.
• The site selected for OGR's new facility has been empty since a fire a number of years ago and this new construction, including an adjacent restaurant, will serve to anchor the east end of the Fulton Street business district.
• With appropriate lighting, temperature and fly space in which to rehearse, casts will more comfortably rehearse.
• As with any excellent arts capital project, this project is broadly supported.

Housed in the former Lloyd J. Harriss Pie Company factory, the Saugatuck Center for the Arts (SCA) has invested over $1.7 million to create a 430-seat theatre, a 55-seat performance studio, an art studio and classroom, an exhibition hall and a lobby/box office. Programmatically, the SCA provides year-round arts and cultural opportunities for children and adults in Allegan County and the surrounding lakeshore region – a region classified by the State as “underserved” with respect to arts and cultural. They now are poised to expand arts engagement opportunities to low-income students through partnerships with underserved schools and community groups in Allegan and Ottawa Counties.

The model they propose fits well with the Frey Foundation’s arts education emphasis in that it is an experiential, hands-on and sequential engagement opportunity. Planned programming includes school-year festivals (dance, theatre, etc.), summer children’s programming and exposure to arts professions (both fine arts and applied arts) as potential career paths. In addition to expanding their service beyond the Saugatuck/Douglas Fennville Schools, they will also engage students from Allegan County and Holland Heights as well as home school children, Boys and Girls Clubs participants and other social service agencies.

After increased Congressional scrutiny, the Land Trust Alliance – a national membership organization of community land trusts – created the Land Trust Accreditation Commission. This independent voluntary program is intended to recognize land conservation organizations that meet national standards for excellence, uphold the public trust, and ensure that conservation efforts are permanent. In Michigan, the Land Trust Alliance and Heart of the Lakes Center for Land Conservation Policy in Lansing are partnering to launch a comprehensive, 3-year program to bolster Michigan’s land conservancies into a high-performing, sustainable, and cohesive community ready for national accreditation. The Advancing Conservancy Excellence (ACE) program will provide organizations with the training, knowledge, and capacity required to be well-positioned for accreditation and a sustainable future. Program components include a needs assessment, technical training, organizational assessments, mentoring, strategic partnerships and the availability of organizational advancement grants.

This project, if successful, will ensure the long-term protection of conserved lands and raise the caliber of land conservancies in the state of Michigan. As competition for resources for acquisition and protection of land becomes greater, the availability of strong, well-run land trusts capable of not only acquiring new lands but also stewarding those properties under their protection grows in importance. Although capacity-building grants are not typical awards for the Frey Foundation's environmental grantmaking, the importance of Michigan’s conservancies as strong and operating with professional excellence is critical to the long-term assurance that past Frey Foundation investments in land protection projects is maintained.

With its Stream Care program, Timberland Resource Conservation & Development Area Council (Timberland RC&D) uses a model of local grassroots partnership, landowner education and in-stream habitat improvement to protect and enhance coldwater trout streams. Through this grant award they will focus on stabilizing and maintaining high-quality streams in Kent County through the insertion of woody debris to narrow and speed up streams, rock and timber revetments for stream bank stabilization, and the creation of cover and habitat for fish.

The long term projected improvements include increased water quality, growth in aquatic insects and fish population – especially larger trout and small, locally reproduced trout – and other wildlife, as well as improved recreational opportunities. In addition, their work includes education of riparian landowners and the general public.

Timberland RC&D’s emphasis on partnerships and its focus on preserving and improving water quality in rural stream, especially for trout, is a good example of the Frey Foundation’s environmental grantmaking priorities.

In recognition of their 10th anniversary, the National Center for Family Philanthropy (National Center) held the first-ever national symposium on family philanthropy at the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation Barbara Jordon Conference Center in Washington D.C.

One of the most anticipated outcomes of the event was the planned announcement of an anniversary report designed to articulate the value of family philanthropy. The report is designed to answer important questions raised by government, media, and the public about the impact, benefits and challenges of family participation in giving. More than 50 in-depth interviews helped inform the report in addition to 13 regional symposia consisting of 20-25 participants each that were held across the nation. The publication The Value of Family in Philanthropy is scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2009.