News & Event
The David C. Herriman Fund of Greater Cincinnati Foundation (GCF) has granted its third annual arts funding awards, totaling $226,000, to three regional arts organizations: Cincinnati Opera, Q-Kidz and ish Festival.
CINCINNATI (January 6, 2021) — The David C. Herriman Fund of Greater Cincinnati Foundation (GCF) has granted its third annual arts funding awards, totaling $226,000, to three regional arts organizations: Cincinnati Opera, Q-Kidz and ish Festival.
This is the third year for the Herriman grants, which will be awarded annually to arts organizations in the eight-county GCF funding region — Butler, Clermont, Hamilton and Warren counties in Ohio; Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties in Kentucky; and Dearborn County in Indiana.
They honor the legacy of the late Northern Kentucky philanthropist and arts patron David C. Herriman, who established the fund for the purpose of “making possible what would otherwise be impossible” for both large and small arts organizations. The awards particularly focus on new works, the education of youth and performance enhancement through funding to bring in performance artists, directors, choreographers, authors, musicians and other creative artists.
“Supporting the arts is so incredibly important for our region as we continue to see the effects of the pandemic in our neighborhoods,” said Ellen M. Katz, GCF President/CEO. “David’s vision for this fund is highlighted by these three organizations as they pave the way for a more equitable and inclusive arts community.”
The Cincinnati Opera received funding for the world premier of Castor and Patience, which is a part of the 2021 summer season. With music by Gregory Spears and a libretto by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Tracy K. Smith, Castor and Patience focuses on two members of an African American family who find themselves at odds over the fate of a historic parcel of family land in the American South. The performers will take the stage July 9, 13, 15, 17 and 18, 2021.
“David loved Greg Spears’s music, and I fondly recall telling him that we were going to commission Greg to write a second opera for Cincinnati,” said Evans Mirageas, The Harry T. Wilks Artistic Director at Cincinnati Opera. “He said to me memorably at the time: ‘Count me in’. While David did not live to see the genesis of Castor and Patience, how fitting it is that the Foundation has now awarded Cincinnati Opera this major gift that will allow David’s wish to come true. We are profoundly grateful.”
The Q-Kidz Dance Team received a grant for at-risk girls in Cincinnati's West End. They’ll work in-person and virtually with a noted New York City multi-disciplinary artist, award winning playwright, activist, and Black educator. The project will be to write, produce and publicly perform a New Work titled “Love Revolution: Stop the Violence” in the summer of 2021. The Q-Kidz will respond to the events of 2020, both national and personal experiences through dance, songs and dialogue with the goal of creating empathy and positive action.
ish (organizers of ish Festival) received funding for the premiere of the new Jewish musical, “Rising in Love,” in 2021. The production is a modern day coming-of-age story about an engaged interracial Millennial Jewish couple who confronts their anxieties surrounding their upcoming marriage and turn to friends and family who help them learn what it takes to rise in love. The audience of diverse cultural backgrounds and viewpoints will be engaged and encouraged to explore differences, while finding new meaning and understanding through shared experiences.
The anonymous committee that considered the Herriman funding requests includes a member of the arts community, a faculty member of a local university or college and a person representing a county of GCF’s funding region, a position which will rotate each year between the eight counties.
The David C. Herriman Fund Committee will award up to three grants — one large, and one or two smaller — in 2021. GCF will publish a Request for Proposals for the next funding cycle in the spring, with proposals due in the fall.
For further information, visit the GCF website at www.gcfdn.org/herriman.
About Greater Cincinnati Foundation
As the region’s leading community foundation, Greater Cincinnati Foundation (GCF) connects people with purpose in an eight-county region in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. GCF is leading the charge toward a more vibrant Greater Cincinnati for everyone — now, and for generations to come.
January 2019
The David C. Herriman Fund of Greater Cincinnati Foundation (GCF) has granted its 2019 awards to two regional arts organizations, Know Theatre of Cincinnati and Revolution Dance Theatre.
The grants, the first for the fund, will be awarded annually to arts organizations in the eight-county GCF funding region — Butler, Clermont, Hamilton and Warren counties in Ohio; Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties in Kentucky; and Dearborn County in Indiana.
They honor the legacy of the late Northern Kentucky philanthropist and arts patron David C. Herriman, who established the fund for the purpose of “making possible what would otherwise be impossible” for both large and small arts organizations. The awards will particularly focus on new works, the education of youth and performance enhancement through funding to bring in performance artists, directors, choreographers, authors, musicians and other creative artists.
“We are thrilled that David’s immeasurable passion for the advancement of the arts in his adopted hometown lives on in such impactful ways,” said Ellen M. Katz, GCF President/CEO. “We are honored to help ensure that his vision will be preserved for generations to come.”
Know Theatre of Cincinnati will receive $30,000 to fund its “Welcoming New Voices to the Know” guest residency program for artists of color during its 2019-2020 MainStage season. The Over-the-Rhine theater will conduct a search for up to four guest directors and/or designers of color from New York and Chicago to provide fresh perspectives to their audiences and shadowing/mentee opportunities to local artists. Know Theatre is recognized as a “theatrical playground where all are welcome,” amplifying under-represented voices and presenting inclusive productions.
Revolution Dance Theatre (RDT) will receive $10,000 to fund its Ballet on the BLOC collaboration with BLOC Ministries to bring high-quality arts experiences and classical dance access to the Lower Price Hill community. The funds will be used to cover professional fees for residencies at Oyler Elementary School and the neighborhood Q-Kidz Dance Team, as well as an extended residency with instructor KaRon Brown-Lehman, monthly events for intermediate and advance level dancers and a performance at Aronoff Center for the Arts. RDT is dedicated to “breaking barriers between the ballet art form and people of color” by bringing dance classes and resources to under-represented communities and producing works that celebrate diversity.
The anonymous committee that considered the funding requests includes a member of the arts community, a faculty member of a local university or college and a person representing a county of GCF’s funding region, a position which will rotate each year between the eight counties.
“Our committee was pleased and proud to review many excellent applications,” said a committee member. “The process underscored the depth and strength of the arts community in which we live and work. David’s goal of ‘making possible the impossible’ most clearly resonated in the grants to Know Theatre and Revolution Dance Theatre. We encourage all to attend their grant-winning performances to enjoy the impact of a most cherished friend and philanthropist, David Herriman.”
The David C. Herriman Fund of Greater Cincinnati Foundation will award up to three grants — one large, and one or two smaller — totaling $220,000 in 2019. GCF will publish a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the next funding cycle in April. Proposals will be due on October 1.
CINCINNATI (August 14, 2017) —The Greenlight Fund, in partnership with The Greater Cincinnati Foundation, announced today a multi-million-dollar initiative to fight family poverty in our region. Together, they are investing $2.4 million to bring the Family Independence Initiative—and its innovative model of trusting and investing in family solutions—to Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. This includes a $1.8 million grant from The Greater Cincinnati Foundation and its donors, the single largest grant in the history of the Foundation.
“We know that thousands of families are struggling with poverty, and we need to rethink how we invest in families and their upward mobility,” said Tara Noland, Executive Director of GreenLight Cincinnati. “We are excited to have the Family Independence Initiative bring their model to our region and learn from their data on what Cincinnati families in our community need to escape poverty.”
“As our region’s community foundation, our role is to create a community where everyone can thrive,” said Ellen M. Katz, president and CEO of The Greater Cincinnati Foundation. “Our region is literally bursting with new energy and progress, yet we still have many in need. GCF and its donors are seeking new and innovative programs to help families in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky who have yet to benefit from that progress. FII is one such program and we’re excited to ensure we can rapidly deploy FII in our community.”
Founded in 2001, The Family Independence Initiative brings a new approach to fighting poverty by trusting and investing directly in low-income families across the nation so they can work individually and collectively to achieve prosperity. Families that partner with FII set goals they want to achieve, such as purchasing a home or continuing their education, and work together to help each other meet those goals. FII provides them with the technology platform to track their progress and then gives them access to resources, including cash, to accelerate the solutions that they’ve discovered themselves.
With sites in seven cities across the country, FII has partnered with more than 2,000 families investing in their solutions to escaping poverty. On average, during two years of engagement with FII, families report: a 23 percent increase in monthly income, 60 percent decrease in subsidies such as TANF and SNAP, a doubling of their annual income and assets, and increased education outcomes from their children.
Over the next four years, FII will work with community based organizations and other partners to reach 500 families in multiple neighborhoods across Cincinnati. They will be convening a launch team to help identify the neighborhoods they should focus on as well as families they should recruit.
“All families across America should have access to the resources and opportunities needed to achieve their dreams and we look forward to doing just that right here in the region,” said Jesús Gerena, Chief Executive Officer of The Family Independence Initiative. “While our initial goal is to reach 500 families, we hope to find more partners to double or triple that goal. Cincinnati benefits when all its families are economically thriving.”
In addition to the multi-year investment made by the Greenlight Fund and The Greater Cincinnati Foundation, FII’s expansion to Cincinnati is also supported by contributions from The Mayerson Foundation and SC Ministry.
Learn more about GCF's investment in the Family Independence Initiative
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The GreenLight Fund transforms the lives of children, youth and families in high-poverty urban areas by creating local infrastructure and a consistent annual process to: identify critical needs; import innovative, entrepreneurial programs that have a significant, measurable impact; and galvanize local support to help programs reach and sustain impact in the new city. Working in Boston since 2003, Philadelphia and the San Francisco Bay Area since 2012, Cincinnati since 2015 and most recently Charlotte in 2017, GreenLight aims to grow a national network of GreenLight sites that learn and work collaboratively to find and spread proven nonprofit solutions that achieve meaningful and measurable impact in our communities on the issues that matter most. Founding investors in GreenLight Cincinnati include the Deaconess Associations Foundation, Bethesda Inc., the Cincinnati Regional Business Committee, Interact for Health, Procter and Gamble, United Way of Greater Cincinnati, Cincinnati Children’s, Duke Energy Foundation, the Cincinnati Business Committee, Bank of America and a number of individual investors.
One of the nation’s leading community foundations, The Greater Cincinnati Foundation helps people make the most of their giving to build a better community. We believe in the power of philanthropy to change the lives of people and communities. As an accredited community foundation, GCF creates a prosperous Greater Cincinnati by investing in thriving people and vibrant places. An effective steward of the community’s charitable resources since 1963, the Foundation inspires philanthropy in eight counties in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. At the end of 2016, GCF had net assets of $563 million.
CINCINNATI (December 4, 2019) – Greater Cincinnati Foundation’s (GCF) 2019 Arts and Culture Giving Circle has awarded a total of $95,000 in grants to nine nonprofit organizations with “Creative Placemaking” projects, programming and cultural events that help transform communities into lively, inclusive and resilient places with arts at their core. Giving Circle participants placed a particular emphasis on local efforts that enhance the quality of life and help build relationships and opportunities for current community residents. GCF and nine generous donors combined resources to provide grants to the following organizations:
Art Central Foundation, Inc. $4,500
Art Opportunities Inc. $6,250
Clifton Cultural Arts Center $6,250
Contemporary Arts Center $8,000
Elementz $10,000
Kennedy Heights Arts Center $10,000
Pones Inc. $15,000
St. Aloysius Orphanage $10,000
Wave Pool: A Contemporary Art Fulfillment Center $25,000
“The Arts and Culture Giving Circle members took on a new focus with Creative Placemaking this year,” said GCF Senior Philanthropic Advisor Felicia Zakem. “Everyone involved has a passion for the arts in some form, but we all learned new ways the arts can be used to address specific challenges facing communities and produce positive outcomes for populations. We look forward to participating in the programs we helped to fund throughout the coming year.”
The Arts and Culture Giving Circle is one of five GCF Giving Circle opportunities this year, including Animal Welfare, Giving Black, Northern Kentucky and the NEXT Fund for young people. Giving Circles provide hands-on opportunities to like-minded people to pool their resources, explore together how to best support causes they care about and, as a group, decided how to allocate their combined resources. Giving Circles foster a deepened sense of ownership in the progress of our community, and participants often develop ongoing relationships — with each other and with their grantee organizations.
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As the region’s leading community foundation, Greater Cincinnati Foundation connects people with purpose in an eight-county region in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. GCF is leading the charge toward a more vibrant Greater Cincinnati for everyone — now, and for generations to come.
CINCINNATI (June 6, 2016) —The Greater Cincinnati Foundation’s (GCF) Governing Board recently approved $3.3 million in Community Fund grants in its second quarter. Thanks to the generosity of its donors, GCF is able to offer help to local needs.
A number of Community Fund grants this quarter included requests for help with mental health services with a focus on trauma-informed care:
The Greater Cincinnati Foundation’s increased funding for trauma parallels a national movement towards preventing childhood abuse, neglect and household challenges such as domestic violence, substance abuse, mental illness or parental separation. The Centers for Disease Control-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study is one of the largest investigations of childhood abuse and neglect and later-life health and well-being. The study found as the number of ACEs increase so does the risk for alcoholism and alcohol abuse, depression, suicide attempts, fetal death, illicit drug use, poor work performance, financial stress, poor academic achievement, adolescent pregnancy and more. “Unaddressed trauma can be an underlying cause for many problems later in life,” said Molly Robertshaw, MSW, Program Officer. “If GCF invests in increasing access to trauma-informed services now, those affected by trauma in our community are more likely to have the opportunity to live healthy lives.” Through its Generous Together program, GCF partnered with its donors to provide a grant to Little Sisters of the Poor for $65,000. Generous Together provides donors an opportunity to partner with GCF in providing support to grant seekers. The grant to Little Sisters of the Poor will assist in the purchase of an emergency power generator. “We are grateful for the opportunity offered by GCF to further assist the Little Sisters of the Poor, whose work we have admired and supported for many years,” said Peter Schmid, a GCF donor. The Greater Cincinnati Foundation’s Community Fund supports the current and greatest needs in our community. Contributions to GCF’s Community Fund build more resources to invest in the good work of nonprofit organizations in our region. Contributions can be made at www.gcfdn.org/yourcommunity.
See the complete list of spring 2016 grants [PDF]
One of the nation’s leading community foundations, The Greater Cincinnati Foundation helps people make the most of their giving to build a better community. We believe in the power of philanthropy to change the lives of people and communities. As a community foundation, GCF creates a prosperous Greater Cincinnati by investing in thriving people and vibrant places. An effective steward of the community’s charitable resources since 1963, the Foundation inspires philanthropy in eight counties in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. At the end of 2015, GCF had net assets of $533 million.
All CPS students can have free broadband internet service from Cincinnati Bell through Connect Our Students program
CINCINNATI (August 25, 2020) — The Connect Our Students program has met its goal to provide free broadband internet access through Cincinnati Bell to every Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) student for the 2020-21 school year. The volunteer-led initiative primarily is funded by Accelerate Great Schools in partnership with GE Aviation; Fifth Third Foundation; Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trusts, Fifth Third Bank, N.A., Trustee; Greater Cincinnati Foundation (GCF); and donors across the region.
One out of four CPS families don’t have broadband internet access at home. This equates to roughly 3,500 families and 8,500 children for whom school became inaccessible when education shifted online last spring at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. This digital divide disproportionally affects Black and Latinx students.
“The Fifth Third Foundation is dedicated to supporting those who are in need, especially during times of distress,” said Heidi Jark, senior vice president and managing director of the Foundation Office. “We are closing the staggering digital divide by joining other organizations in providing broadband internet access – an educational necessity – to our local students.”
CPS recently announced that the district will have distance learning for at least the first five weeks of the upcoming school year and that all Pre-K through 12th-grade students will have devices. Students in grades pre-K through 1 will receive an iPad. Older students will receive laptops. Every CPS family can sign up for the Connect Our Students program. More than 1,700 CPS students have been provided internet service through the program so far.
“The digital divide is an especially challenging obstacle for urban school districts. We are grateful to all of the wonderful organizations and donors who have contributed to the Connect Our Students program, ensuring every child in our CPS family is able to effectively learn in a distance environment,” shared Laura Mitchell, superintendent of CPS. “We encourage all CPS families who don't have internet access in their homes today, to call and sign up immediately. If you've recently moved, please ensure your contact information is updated in our system by calling your school or our customer service line at 513-363-0123.”
Tens of thousands of public school students in Greater Cincinnati do not have reliable computers and broadband internet connections. After a successful pilot program this summer, Connect Our Students will improve digital equity through its partnership with Cincinnati Bell, which is providing low-cost internet connectivity to students across the region (less than $17/month or $200/year). Thanks to the generosity of the community, CPS families will get the service for free for one year, with no installation or equipment fees.
After signing up, families can install the service themselves or request a technician to install it for them in a matter of days. Cincinnati Bell will not hold past balances against any family. The service includes measures to comply with the Children’s Internet Protection Act to limit access to harmful content and ensure the safety of children.
“The digital divide widens opportunity gaps between students across Cincinnati. Without internet access at home, students lose valuable learning time during this period of distance learning," explains Brian Neal, CEO of the Cincinnati-based non-profit Accelerate Great Schools. "This initiative will help ensure that all Cincinnati students have equal access to remote learning this school year.”
“When generous organizations and people come together, we are a force to be reckoned with,” said Ellen M. Katz, president/CEO of GCF. “Thank you to the Fifth Third Foundation; Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trusts, Fifth Third Bank, N.A., Trustee; Accelerate Great Schools; and our donors for creating an equitable playing field for our children.”
To sign up, call Cincinnati Bell’s dedicated Connect Our Students line at 513-566-3895.
Connect Our Students also is funded by The Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr. U.S. Bank Foundation; Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center; Interact for Health; Strive Partnership; American Sound and Electronics; Difference Maker Legacy Fund; United Way of Greater Cincinnati; Cincinnati Regional Business Committee; the Giovani Bernard Family Foundation; and Jenny and Tom Williams.
If you are interested in supporting this initiative, visit connectourstudents.org to donate to support parent outreach and technology support for CPS families.
About Accelerate Great Schools
Accelerate Great Schools (AGS) is a non-profit with the mission to ensure every student in Cincinnati – regardless of zip code – has access to great schools. Since 2015, AGS has invested in district, Archdiocesan, and high-quality, non-profit charter schools to ensure all families have great school options. GE Aviation provides funding to Accelerate Great Schools to support district investments.
About The Fifth Third Foundation
Established in 1948, the Fifth Third Foundation was one of the first philanthropic foundations established by a financial institution. The Fifth Third Foundation supports worthwhile organizations in the areas of education, health and human services, community development and the arts.
About Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trusts, Fifth Third Bank, Trustee
Created in 1903, the Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trusts, Fifth Third Bank, N.A., Trustee, supports charitable or educational purposes; for relief in sickness, suffering and distress; for the care of young children, the aged or the helpless or afflicted; for the promotion of education, and to improve living conditions.