Twenty-one Milwaukee area nonprofits will share $3.7 million in grants from the Zilber Family Foundation.
Announced this week, the grant awards align with efforts the foundation supports, including affordable housing, community economic development, and basic human needs, Gina Stilp, executive director of the Zilber Family Foundation explained in a press release.
“The Zilber Family Foundation has a long history of supporting local organizations in their mission to care for the community and improve the quality of life in Milwaukee,” Stilp said. “We are inspired by the important work of our grantee partners, and we look forward to seeing their plans to increase access to social and economic opportunity in Milwaukee come to fruition.”
This round of grant distribution includes support for several organizations leveraging food as a tool for economic development, the organization said.
“Food is both a basic need for individuals and communities – and a crucial component of local economies. We often forget that community access to healthy, locally-produced, and culturally-relevant food not only increases well-being and combats food deserts, it also creates avenues for local farmers and entrepreneurs to establish and grow their own businesses,” Stilp noted. “A strong local food system can serve as an engine for economic growth in our community.”
Fondy Food Center, Alice’s Garden and the Milwaukee Food Council are among the food-focused entities to receive support this spring.
Fondy Food Center, which brings healthy food and economic opportunity to the greater Milwaukee area by operating local farmers markets throughout the area, will use its grant to improve and increase farm production, connect more Lindsay Heights neighborhood residents with locally grown produce, and strengthen organizational infrastructure, the release states.
“Fondy Food Center and Alice’s Garden are both energized by the opportunity to deliver community-based programs with the help of these grants,” said Venice Williams, executive director of Alice’s Garden and interim executive director of Fondy Food Center. “The support from Zilber Family Foundation enables both organizations to uplift local farmers and food entrepreneurs and build a stronger food economy in Milwaukee’s Lindsay Heights community.”
Alice’s Garden Urban Farm, which provides models of regenerative farming, will use its grant to support emerging and established food-based entrepreneurs and small businesses in Lindsay Heights.
The Milwaukee Food Council, a network of community members, organizations, professionals, and government officials, will use its grant to build more organizational capacity.
Additional grant recipients include:
- Capuchin Community Services: To replace windows in the Capuchin St. Ben’s Community Meal Program Hall.
- Community Warehouse: To support the sale of discounted home improvement and household materials to residents in the Zilber Neighborhood Initiative (ZNI) and other Milwaukee neighborhoods.
- Community Water Services: To build organizational capacity to eliminate lead contamination in drinking water in Milwaukee.
- Data You Can Use: To support organizational capacity.
- Ezekiel Community Development Corporation: To implement its Home Electrical Safety Program in Lindsay Heights, by conducting electrical inspections and correcting minor electrical hazards in 25 homes.
- Friendship Inc: To support general operating expenses.
- Meta House: To support Project Horizon.
- Milwaukee Christian Center: To support the repair, rehab, and development of single-family homes in the Clarke Square neighborhood.
- Northwest Side CDC: To provide lending, technical assistance and business support to small businesses in ZNI neighborhoods; and support property improvements along commercial corridors in ZNI neighborhoods.
- Revitalize Milwaukee: To replace 50 roofs for income qualified homeowners in ZNI neighborhoods.
- Riverworks: To support the expansion of the Riverworks Financial Clinic as part of Milwaukee’s recent designation as a Financial Empowerment City.
- The LeadersTrust: To partner with Zilber Family Foundation grantees on capacity building services.
- United Community Center: To support the Latinas Unidas Residential Treatment Program.
- UniteWI: To support the development of a mixed-use property at 2501 W. North Ave. in Lindsay Heights.
- VIA CDC: To purchase a property on National Avenue to serve as VIA’s new headquarters.
- Walker’s Point Youth and Family Center: To support porch repairs at the youth shelter.
- YMCA of Metro Milwaukee: To support youth development, with a particular focus on children and families from Lindsay Heights.
- YWCA of Southeast Wisconsin: To support personal financial management coaching, education, and matched savings for Lindsay Heights residents.
