We work with our nonprofit partners in a variety of ways to positively impact the Holland/Zeeland community.
Recent grants and impact
Recently Funded Grants
Scroll below to see the listings
of our recent responsive and proactive grants.
- 2022 Responsive Recipients
- 2022 Proactive Recipients
- 2022 Recipients
- 2021 Recipients
- 2020 Recipients
Grantee / Project Name
Issue Area
Amount
Purpose
Grantee / Project Name
Harbor Humane - Community Outreach
Issue Area
Human Services/Animal Welfare
Amount
$40,000 over 2 years
Purpose
To support a new team member leading community outreach for individuals in crisis and their companion animals. The new team member will manage intake diversion, emergency medical care for pets, temporary foster, food and supply needs, and domestic and other socio-economic circumstances. This initiative reflects a shift in animal welfare programming and is built around a national model committed to community collaboration.
Grantee / Project Name
Gateway Mission - Gateway Spoon
Issue Area
Human Services
Amount
$30,000
Purpose
To expand and further develop additional vocational training in a real-life business setting at Gateway Mission’s new restaurant, Gateway Spoon Cafe & Grill. These new hospitality focused opportunities will offer greater choice and alignment of gifts and interests for different Gateway participants, along with developing local talent for an industry currently facing worker shortages.
Grantee / Project Name
Opportunity Thrive - New Teacher Series
Issue Area
Human Services/Education
Amount
$30,000
Purpose
To launch a program that centers on supporting, developing, and retaining new educators. The costs to replace an educator, including all of the rehiring and retraining costs, is estimated to be between $10,500 for a rural district and $21,000 for an urban district.
Grantee / Project Name
Ready for School - Expansion of Kindergarten Readiness Camp
Issue Area
Youth
Amount
$22,800
Purpose
To increase capacity to address the gap in summer education experiences and child school readiness ensuring families are strengthened and the highest risk children are ready for school. Kindergarten Readiness Camp delivers academic and social-emotional instruction that is especially important.
Grantee / Project Name
Disability Network Lakeshore - Youth Advocacy and Leadership
Issue Area
Youth
Amount
$22,000 over 2 years
Purpose
To educate and train the next generation of leaders with disabilities. This program directly invests in teens with disabilities to help them discover their voices individually and collectively to ensure that decisions that will impact their lives—school, housing, employment, and government—include their lived experiences.
Grantee / Project Name
Issue Area
Amount
Purpose
Grantee / Project Name
City on a Hill Ministries Health Clinic – Behavioral Health Integration
Issue Area
Mental Health
Amount
$50,000 over two years
Purpose
To increase access to mental health counseling and mental health medication management for the uninsured and underinsured. City on a Hill Ministries Health Clinic will pursue a multilayered approach to serving some of the most vulnerable community members..
Grantee / Project Name
Bethany Christian Services of Michigan – Expanding Affordable Mental Health Services to Uninsured and Underinsured Hispanic/Latinx Community Members
Issue Area
Mental Health
Amount
$30,000
Purpose
To provide bilingual, culturally sensitive mental health services and clinical trauma assessments to the Hispanic/Latinx population in the greater Holland/Zeeland Area. This includes providing co-located services to reduce the stigma and barriers of accessing mental health services within the Latinx community, offering therapy services in Spanish, and hiring an additional therapist.
Grantee / Project Name
Ladder Homes – Ladder Home 6
Issue Area
Mental Health
Amount
$30,000
Purpose
To add a home to house 3-4 unsheltered community members with mental illness. Ladder Homes’ Supported Independent Living Program offers a level of security over a sustained period while working with residents to set and meet goals, navigate community resources available to them, and move on to more independent living environments.
Grantee / Project Name
Mental Health
Issue Area
Arbor Circle – Children and Family Outpatient Counseling Services
Amount
$20,000
Purpose
To strengthen outpatient counseling services for children and their families through the Holland office. Arbor Circle has experienced an increased frequency of youth seeking services for anxiety, depression, and trauma. They are one of few organizations that provides services to individuals who use Medicaid, helping fill a gap for vulnerable populations.
Grantee / Project Name
Evergreen Commons – PEARLS Mental Health Program for Seniors
Issue Area
Mental Health
Amount
$20,000
Purpose
To provide mental health services with local partners and to provide access to an evidence-based program that improves the quality of life for older adults by addressing mental health problems. With existing relationships, trust, and infrastructure, the PEARLS program will provide new tools and pathways to meet the mental health care needs of seniors in our community.
Grantee / Project Name
Issue Area
Amount
Purpose
Grantee / Project Name
Heights of Hope - Six Plex Purchase
Issue Area
Housing
Amount
$40,000
Purpose
To assist in the purchase of a six-plex to provide affordable housing to families with an annual income between 30% – 80% of the Median Household Income for Holland, Michigan.
Grantee / Project Name
Lighthouse Immigrant Advocates - New Americans Legal Clinic
Issue Area
Human Services
Amount
$30,000
Purpose
To provide quality legal services to newly arrived Afghan refugees who are seeking asylum and resettling in the Holland/Zeeland area.
Grantee / Project Name
Resilience - Men As Allies
Issue Area
Youth
Amount
$28,000
Purpose
To support youth violence prevention programming in Holland/Zeeland area schools and implementation of the Fatherhood Initiative and Champions of Healthy Manhood training cohorts through Men as Allies program.
Grantee / Project Name
Tri-Cities Puentes Initiative - LEADERES Lakeshore
Issue Area
Community and Economic Development
Amount
$28,000
Purpose
To establish a Lakeshore (Ottawa and Muskegon Counties) cohort of the already successful LEADeres Latino-centric leadership program from Ferris State University Latino Business and Economic Development Center.
Grantee / Project Name
Women's Resource Center
Issue Area
Human Services
Amount
$25,000
Purpose
To expand the New Beginnings program to Ottawa County. This program provides women who are returning to the community after incarceration with education and employment services and support.
Grantee / Project Name
Migrant Legal Aid
Issue Area
Human Services
Amount
$20,000
Purpose
To protect migrant workers and to reduce acts and words of hate directed at both legal and undocumented immigrants in Ottawa County.
Grantee / Project Name
Mediation Services
Issue Area
Youth
Amount
$20,000
Purpose
To provide restorative justice for first-time juvenile offenders in Ottawa County. The goals are to repair the harm caused, to restore hope for both the victims and the juvenile offenders, and to keep these young offenders out of the juvenile justice court system.
Grantee / Project Name
I AM Academy
Issue Area
Youth
Amount
$15,000
Purpose
To launch the I Am Genius program that will focus on disrupting the school-to-prison pipeline. By connecting West Ottawa and Holland Public School students to leaders in the community and exposing them to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM), this grant will support anti-racist efforts in our schools and community while empowering students of Color.
Grantee / Project Name
Michigan Fosters - Family Care Coordination Program
Issue Area
Human Services
Amount
$14,000
Purpose
To pioneer a creative new way for agencies/organizations within the foster care system to meet the needs of vulnerable children and families by serving as a resource hub for foster families and families with children in foster care.
Grantee / Project Name
Endeavor to Persevere Be Better - Community Engagement Program
Issue Area
Youth
Amount
$10,000
Purpose
To develop and implement a program that has three elements: a psychoeducational series, support groups, and individual and family consultations.
Grantee / Project Name
Midtown Counseling Services - Healing Arts Programs
Issue Area
Youth
Amount
$10,000
Purpose
To outfit, supply, and fund staffing of an occupational/art therapy room at the Midtown Counseling Center that will support art and sensory activities for trauma-impacted children and young adults.
Grantee / Project Name
Calvary Reformed Church - Blacktop Rec: Big Blue 2.0
Issue Area
Youth
Amount
$05,000
Purpose
To purchase a school bus to provide transportation for kids during the summer to and from Blacktop Rec.
Grantee / Project Name
Issue Area
Amount
Purpose
Grantee / Project Name
Hand2Hand – Hope in Action Capital Campaign
Issue Area
Human Services
Amount
$40,000
Purpose
To help Hand2Hand purchase its first building so that the organization has additional space to reach most students in need in Holland, Zeeland, and West Michigan as a whole. The move to purchase a dedicated building for the first time in the organization’s thirteen-year history will have a lasting impact on the organization’s capacity to serve children struggling with hunger.
Grantee / Project Name
ODC Network - Dragonflies Discovery Preschool
Issue Area
Education
Amount
$25,000
Purpose
To assist in constructing the new Dragonflies Discovery Preschool, which will be located on 11 acres in the northeast corner of the land vacated by the Park Township Airport. The new preschool will have a lasting positive impact for hundreds of children who will have the opportunity to experience nature-based education.
Grantee / Project Name
Reach for Recovery - Medication Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder
Issue Area
Health
Amount
$25,000
Purpose
To support the launch of a new program - Medication Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder – that will help save lives by preventing opioid overdose deaths in West Michigan. Reach for Recovery is the only local comprehensive substance abuse treatment program with both inpatient and outpatient options that accepts Medicaid, Medicare and offers a sliding scale to ensure treatment is available to all regardless of financial resources.
Grantee / Project Name
Grand Rapids Community College - Lakeshore Campus
Issue Area
Education
Amount
$20,000
Purpose
To help with the capital cost of building a consolidated, 21st century, state of the art campus located in Holland, Michigan, which will provide Ottawa County residents with higher education and workforce training credentials to create pathways to well-paid careers in order to create an equitable region where everyone can prosper.
Grantee / Project Name
City on a Hill Ministries - Burning Bright Capital Campaign
Issue Area
Human Services
Amount
$20,000
Purpose
To help fund the replacement of a failing, outdated steam heat system that serves 70% of City on a Hill’s building. City on a Hill provides affordable, collaborative space for 35 ministries and nonprofits, allowing these organizations to focus more of their resources on their respective missions.
Grantee / Project Name
AgeWell Services of West Michigan - Meals on Wheels Ottawa County Meal Delivery Replacement Van
Issue Area
Seniors
Amount
$18,650.58
Purpose
To support the purchase of a replacement cargo van used for Meal on Wheels Lunch and Activity Centers delivery of meals to Ottawa County residents 60 and older. Meals on Wheels allows families to age in place with dignity by providing a balanced, safe, and consistent diet.
Grantee / Project Name
Escape Ministries - Deeper and Wider Capital Campaign
Issue Area
Youth
Amount
$17,500
Purpose
To help fund a variety of improvements to the Escape Ministries’ building. These updates will help set Escape up for its next era of impact, making our community’s most vulnerable students and their families feel uplifted, welcomed, valued, and empowered.
Grantee / Project Name
Holland Hospital on behalf of Holland Community Health Center - “Ahead of your Health Pack” Program
Issue Area
Health
Amount
$11,349.42
Purpose
To help fund 160 “Ahead of your Health” packs, providing patients with the necessary home health equipment to monitor their medical conditions with the support of their medical staff. “Ahead of Your Health Pack” backpacks will provide patients with medical equipment for home use, empowering them to participate in their well-being alongside their Community Health Center caregivers.
Grantee / Project Name
Park Theatre - Building Improvements and Repairs
Issue Area
Arts & Culture
Amount
$10,877
Purpose
To help the Park Theatre complete building improvements and repairs that align with their mission to create a radically open, fiscally sustainable, multi‐use platform for Holland community members to create and celebrate culture. Improved accessibility and increased capacity will have a lasting impact on how the Park Theatre serves the community.
Grantee / Project Name
CultureWorks - Office and Studio Space
Issue Area
Youth; Arts
Amount
$10,000
Purpose
To help CultureWorks establish a new home that will serve as a long-term office and professional studio space. CultureWorks offers culturally relevant, transformative art and design experiences to youth from all backgrounds to inspire curiosity, develop talent, and build 21st century skills.
Grantee / Project Name
Issue Area
Amount
Purpose
Grantee / Project Name
Community Action House –Food Club and Opportunity Center
Issue Area
Human Services
Amount
$75,000 over 3 years
Purpose
To support the launch of a Community Food Club that will provide over 3,200 low-income residents a month with efficient access to nutritious options in a dignified setting. The adjoining Opportunity Center will serve as a resource hub, providing streamlined access to other services.
Grantee / Project Name
Renew Therapeutic Riding Center –Ride with Renew Capital Campaign
Issue Area
Human Services
Amount
$40,000
Purpose
To construct a new facility to meet the growing demand for accredited equine assisted services in the greater Holland/Zeeland area. There are at least 12,000 local adults and children living with the challenges of physical or cognitive impairments. The completion of the new permanent arena will expand availability of services, with extended hours and diversified programming.
Grantee / Project Name
R.E.A.D. – One on One Tutoring Expansion
Issue Area
Education
Amount
$35,000
Purpose
To make a pivotal change and double R.E.A.D.’s impact by expanding to serve the Holland/Zeeland area after 11 years serving Northwest Ottawa County. R.E.A.D. provides adults with an opportunity to improve and transform their lives by strengthening their reading and language fluency. These skills empower individuals as they look for employment, sign leases, and help their children with schoolwork.
How our nonprofit support ecosystem
Strengthens the Nonprofit Sector
In addition to directly investing in projects and programs that benefit area residents through competitive grants, we also channel a portion of our Community’s Endowment funding to efforts that strengthen our local nonprofit sector. Within this space, we support the Lakeshore Nonprofit Alliance which serves area nonprofits by facilitating collaboration, leveraging resources, and providing professional and organizational development opportunities. We also support Community SPOKE, which fosters cross-sector collaboration around our community’s human service systems.
We also invest in collaborative efforts to gather robust local data that provide critical insights into new and changing needs in our community. These include the Greater Ottawa County United Way Community Assessment and the Ottawa County Youth Assessment Survey. These tools help all of us to make well-informed, strategic choices about how to make the greatest difference with our available resources.
Have Questions?
For more information or questions about grants, contact Yah-Hanna Jenkins Leys, Director of Community Impact