The Community Foundation aims to improve the quality of life in Newaygo County through strategic focus on education, poverty reduction, and community and economic development. By setting long-term goals like increasing education levels, lowering poverty rates, and maintaining low unemployment rates, the foundation seeks to foster a focused community effort towards generational change, requiring collaboration and support for a robust nonprofit infrastructure.
The Poverty to Prosperity grant program by the Community Foundation seeks to support nonprofit agencies in Newaygo County that are directly involved in initiatives designed to lift local residents out of poverty. The broad goals of this grant program include enhancing self-sufficiency, fostering asset development, and boosting social capital and empowerment among individuals. The program outlines specific focus areas for grant applications: Self-sufficiency, targeting personal development or skill-building; Asset development, aimed at helping individuals build personal assets; and Social capital and empowerment, increasing supportive relationships and networking opportunities for individuals. The foundation bases its interest in projects that align with the four indicators of poverty to prosperity highlighted on the Newaygo County Area Dashboard, prioritizing programs that support the realization of these goals.