Beech Brook – $75,000 for S.T.E.P.S., an early brain development program, in FY27
Birthing Beautiful Communities – $20,000 for the BREATHE program in FY27
Bloom@PPRC – $20,000 for start-up support for perinatal mental health services in 2026
Bright Beginnings – $50,000 for Cuyahoga Parents Connect in 2026-27
Neighborhood Health Care, Inc., dba Neighborhood Family Practice – $50,000 to expand services at the newly relocated Ann B. Reichsman Community Health Center in 2026-27
Cuyahoga Job and Family Services – $257,751 for staffing at community sites in 2026-28
Responsive Grants
Housing, Health, and Skill Building
A Place 4 Me – $30,000 for navigation support for young families experiencing homelessness in FY27
Building Hope in the City – $25,000 for job and career readiness programming for families in 2026
Canopy – $40,000 for family advocacy services for child victims of abuse in FY27
Child and Family Advocates of Cuyahoga County – $40,000 for program support in 2026
Journey Center for Safety and Healing – $50,000 for housing services for families impacted by domestic violence in FY27
Spanish American Committee for a Better Community – $20,000 for the Families First program in 2026
West Side Catholic Center – $30,000 for housing stability services for families in 2026
Social and Emotional Well-Being
Beech Brook – $30,000 for Family Center parenting programming in FY27
Girl Scouts of North East Ohio – $15,000 for social-emotional learning programming for Cleveland girls in 2026-27
Partnership Schools – $25,000 for social-emotional learning programming in 2026-27 school year
Re:Source Cleveland – $20,000 for the Youth Mentoring program in 2026
ZENworks Yoga – $10,000 for yoga and mindfulness programming in CMSD in 2026-27
Our Revised Grantmaking Strategy
In 2024, the Bruening Foundation’s Distribution Committee and staff completed a planning process to refine the Foundation’s grantmaking strategy. The process included a literature review to seek information about the current wants and needs of nonprofits, agrantee survey, interviews with stakeholders, and conversations with community leaders. The purpose was to collect diverse, external perspectives about needs in the community that are aligned with the interest areas of the Foundation and to determine what possibilities exist for the Foundation to have a greater impact through its grantmaking.
The new responsive grantmaking focus, to be known as Thriving Families, is designed to complement our proactive Strong Start grantmaking strategy and aims to help families in Cuyahoga County out of poverty. Because kids need strong and supportive families to thrive, the Bruening Foundation seeks to invest in parents and caregivers who raise them. “Family” will be broadly defined as we understand that the construct of a family varies greatly. There will be two funding priorities within Thriving Families: 1) Housing, Health and Skill Building and 2) Social and Emotional Well-Being.
While some of the programming the Foundation has supported in the past may no longer fit with our new focus area, we value every grantee relationship and are grateful for the opportunity we have had to support so many important services in the community. We look forward to making a continued impact throughout Cuyahoga County with our new priorities. Please reach out to staff at Foundation Management Services with any questions.
