ATLANTA, January 29, 2007 - The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation today announced it awarded $9.4 million in grants during the fourth quarter of 2006, bringing the foundation's total charitable contributions to $20 million for the year.
The Blank Family Foundation supports early childhood, education, the environment and the arts, primarily in Atlanta. Foundation Chairman Arthur M. Blank is owner & CEO of the Atlanta Falcons and Georgia Force. He co-founded The Home Depot, the world's largest home improvement retailer, in 1978 and retired from the company as co-chairman in 2001. Through the foundation and personal giving, Blank's lifetime charitable giving now exceeds $220 million.
Better Beginnings
During the fourth quarter, The Blank Family Foundation awarded grants of over $1 million through its Better Beginnings initiative, which encourages stronger learning and caregiving environments for children from birth to age five. Grants were made to the following community partners:
- Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) - $450,000 (over 18 months)
will be disbursed through CSSP to non-profit organizations and
child care centers that implement CSSP's Strengthening Families
practices. These practices can contribute to a reduction in
child abuse and neglect, promote child development and family
well-being, and lead to improved long-term outcomes for children.
- Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention (G-CAPP) - $250,000
(over two years) to increase access to high-quality parenting
education and support programs for teen mothers through the
Doula Project, a program that provides trained birthing assistants
to teen mothers and their babies during the perinatal period.
- Project Healthy Grandparents (PHG) - $175,000 (over two years) to expand
the Early Childhood Intervention Program, an initiative that
offers developmental screenings and assessments for children
0 - 5 years. PHG was established at Georgia State University
to strengthen intergenerational families and improve the quality
of life for grandparents taking care of their grandchildren.
- Black Child Development Institute (BCDI) - $135,000 (over three years)
to increase learning opportunities for children by implementing
the Born Learning initiative through the faith-based community.
Born Learning uses educational tools to help parents, grandparents,
and caregivers turn everyday moments into learning opportunities
for young children. BCDI will work with clergy and church staffs
to conduct parenting workshops and increase public awareness
of the importance of early learning.
- Zero to Three - $20,000 (over two years) to support one early childhood
professional's participation in the next class of “Leaders for
the 21st Century,” an initiative designed to strengthen the
ability of committed, talented professionals to implement policies
and practices that promote the healthy development of babies
and families.
Pathways To Success
Pathways to Success was created in 2004 to expand educational opportunities by providing high school students the support they need to pursue postsecondary education. In Atlanta, the Pathways to Success partnership provides in-school and out-of-school support programs for students who attend Atlanta's New Schools at Carver - the Southeast's first “small high school” campus. The Carver campus is composed of five small academies: the School of the Arts; Technology; Health Sciences and Research; Entrepreneurship; and Early College. The Foundation is also working with Atlanta School Superintendent Dr. Beverly Hall to identify opportunities to support programming that serves all Atlanta Public School students.
- Emory University - $900,000 (over two and a half years) to provide
mentoring, tutoring, and postsecondary preparation for students
at the New Schools at Carver; to create specialized career readiness
opportunities for students in the School of Health Sciences
and Research; and to provide professional development support
for teachers.
- Posse Foundation - $860,000 (over three years) to launch The Posse
Foundation in Atlanta. The Posse Foundation is a nationally
renowned youth leadership development and college access organization
that provides students an opportunity to excel at premier colleges
and universities ranked in the nation's top 10 percent. The
program recruits, trains, and sends teams (or “posses”) of high
school leaders to support each other through their postsecondary
experience. The grant was awarded as a challenge grant requiring
Posse to raise an additional $536,000.
- Project GRAD Atlanta, Inc. - $300,000 (over two years) to close the
Keeping the Promise Campaign, aimed at providing scholarship
support to Atlanta Public School students, and $445,500 (over
two years) to support postsecondary readiness programs at the
New Schools at Carver.
- Communities in Schools of Atlanta, Inc. (CIS) - $100,000 (over two
years) to support the expansion of the CIS Student Leadership
Institute Initiative, which provides Atlanta Public School students
with postsecondary and career readiness training. The grant
was awarded as a challenge grant requiring CIS to raise an additional
$56,300.
Inspiring Spaces
Through Inspiring Spaces, The Blank Family Foundation is working to develop a system of great parks in Atlanta through land acquisition, trail development, park advocacy and park improvement by making a series of investments in support of the Atlanta BeltLine, a proposed corridor of trails, transit and parks that would connect 45 neighborhoods. Organizations that received Inspiring Spaces grants in the fourth quarter are:
- Piedmont Park Conservancy - $5 million challenge grant (over four years) to support phase one of Piedmont Park's capital campaign to expand and enhance the park. Funding will be used for the restoration of the environmentally significant lower meadow and Park Drive woodland area and will require a match in order to reach the campaign's $42 million goal.
- City of Atlanta - $850,000 (over two years) to support park improvements
and restoration at Emma Millican Park, a 9.73 acre park in south
Atlanta's Capitol View Manor neighborhood. The park is near
the proposed BeltLine route.
- City of Atlanta - $385,000 (over two years) to support park improvements
and restoration at Chosewood Park, a six-acre park in southeast
Atlanta. The park borders the neighborhoods of Lakewood Heights,
Englewood Manor, South Atlanta and The Villages at Carver. The
park is also located near The New Schools at Carver and the
proposed BeltLine.
- City of Atlanta - $550,000 (over two years) to support development
of Vine City Park. The grant will fund the development of a
new one-acre neighborhood park in the heart of the Vine City
community, an area currently deficient in park space.
