2007 Promising Projects — Encouraging Civic Progress
The projects listed below, from grants awarded last year, provide examples of "on-target" proposals in each of the Foundation's grantmaking program areas that seem to hold promise of high impact if implemented as planned.
Grand Action Foundation - $1,000,000
www.grandaction.orgAgainst the backdrop of a burgeoning medical mile in downtown Grand Rapids, the Grand Action Foundation led a $40 million campaign to add a signature facility to the Michigan Avenue gateway. The seven-story, 100,000-square-foot building will house Michigan State University's new west Michigan medical school and make Grand Rapids the new headquarters of MSU's College of Human Medicine.
The West Michigan expansion will have a focus on research that differentiates it from its East Lansing counterpart. Ultimately, the project also holds great promise for facilitating vital interactions between researchers and entrepreneurs and is expected to generate thousands of new jobs and over a billion dollars in output.