The Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation is pleased to announce the following grants and Program-Related Investments have been passed.

Early Childhood

Brilliant Detroit
Brilliant Detroit Brightmoor House: $300,000/2 years
Brilliant Detroit has acquired a home in Brightmoor to serve as a central gathering place for local residents; programming is geared to support parents and young children and will include a focus on education, safety, family engagement, literacy and more.

City of Detroit 
Office of Early Childhood: $300,000/3 years
The Mayor is establishing an Office of Early Education for the City of Detroit in response to a request from the Hope Starts Here leadership. With support from the governor’s office, $11.3M of the state’s childcare block grant will be earmarked for Detroit, and when combined with other early education funding, will create universal preschool for all four-year-old children in the city.

Detroit Parent Network (DPN)
Early Childhood Enrichment and Engagement BQI Field Trips: $200,000/ 2 years
DPN’s partnership with the Brightmoor Childcare Quality Initiative (BQI), a network of early childcare providers in the Brightmoor neighborhood of Detroit, will provide a menu of 45 field trip opportunities over a 24-month period, for children enrolled in BQI early childcare sites. Parents of children enrolled in BQI sites will receive a DPN membership which includes their participation in enrichment activities focused on health, education, child development and advocacy.

Education Trust Midwest
Supporting Parents and Community-Based Organizations: $90,000/1 year
Education Trust Midwest will work with Detroit Parent Network to develop family-focused materials that explain the new third grade reading law in Michigan, its potential consequences, and the educational supports/rights of students who are retained. Local in-person gatherings will be conducted to support families. In addition, an online portal will be developed for the benefit of parents across Michigan.

Illinois Finance Fund
Brightmoor Quality Initiative (BQI) Indoor/Outdoor Facility Improvements: $500,000/1 year
IFF will work with 14 BQI providers at 17 sites to increase provider knowledge through provision of professional development with a focus on developing a strategic approach to facility quality – indoor and outdoor. Assessments will be conducted and of those deemed ready, two to five will be selected for renovation/upgrades. All will be better positioned for access to loan and/or grant capital.

Arts & Culture

American Friends of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Art Education Program for Underserved Kindergartens in Jerusalem neighborhoods: $100,000/2 years
This program enables disadvantaged youth in Israel to access museum exhibitions and artifacts from around the world.

Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties
$250,000/2 years
Funding from this donor-advised fund will support:

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Hamilton Education Program in Detroit: $100,000/1 year
This grant will bring the Broadway production Hamilton to Detroit youth, providing access to a performance they may otherwise not attend. The grant is in partnership with the Hamilton Education Program and combines art access with education, delivering an innovative history lesson about the Founding Era through study, observation and performance art.

Give Merit, Inc.
Grade 10 FATE Capstone Project: $130,307/2 years
Support for the Grade 10 FATE Capstone Project: Designing a Merit Product Collection. This project provides 10th graders exposure to the arts in a unique and innovative way with instruction provided by local artists and clothing companies.

Michigan State University Community Music School 
Hip Hop Tots (TOTS): $99,933/2 years
Support for MSU Community Music School’s Hip Hop Tots program will provide evidence-based early childhood music curriculum to newborns through children of age six; the program builds school readiness skills across cognitive, social and emotional domains.

Mosaic Youth Theater of Detroit
Mosaic FirstStage at Brightmoor: $60,000/1 year
Continued support of the Mosaic Youth Theater of Detroit provides entry-level training in acting, movement and vocal performance for children ages 11 to 16  in Brightmoor. The workshops culminate in a final performance, where students showcase their skills for their peers, parents and teachers.

New Isreal Fund 
Mashu Mashu Theater for Social Change: $64,106/1 year
This grant will support the continuance and expansion of exposing youth in schools to plays and
performances on social justice, teaching equality through art and theater. The programming will reach
schools in communities away from the cultural centers of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

 

Jewish

Anti-Defamation League (ADL)
Capacity Building in ADL’s Michigan Region: $375,000/3 years
This grant to the Michigan chapter of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) will provide support for team member salaries, as well as modest program support for the important work happening to combat hate across Metro Detroit.

Birthright Israel Foundation
General Operating Support: $900,000/3 years
The Foundation has been a longtime supporter of the Birthright Israel Foundation, which provides life-changing experiences for young adults in Israel. In response to participants’ changing attitudes, 20% of Birthright trips now feature a specialty focus.

Holocaust Memorial Center
My Jewish Story: $75,000/1 year
This grant will support the Holocaust Memorial Center’s “My Jewish Story” program, which connects students in grades 4-8 with Holocaust survivors through storytelling. The program allows children to hear, first-hand, the incredible life stories of survivors as the population continues to diminish.

The Shul
Judaism Without Borders (JWB): $36,000/1 year
Funding for The Shul will support the group’s “Judaism Without Borders” program, which brings hands-on activities to sites such as grocery stores and malls to engage a wide number of children and raise awareness of The Shul’s important work.

Tamarack Camps
Artist-in-Residence Program at Tamarack Camps and the JCC Day Camp: $80,000/1 year
This grant will enable Tamarack Camps to attract high-caliber artists to Camp Maas and expand their exciting arts programming to JCC Day Camps.

The Well
The Well’s Young Family Programs: $54,500/1 year
Funding to The Well will provide support for the organization’s young family programs, including Tot Shabbat and The Five Sense of Jewish Detroit. Many of The Well’s families are not engaged in the Jewish community through other traditional organizations.

Yad Ezra
Celebrating the Jewish Holidays: $65,000/1 year
Support for Yad Ezra will provide food and other provisions for the organization’s “Celebrating the Jewish Holidays” initiative. These year-round distributions remove cost barriers for holiday celebrations and helps empower families to create memories in their own homes.

Impact Investing

Michigan Women Forward
Community Impact Notes: $500,000
This loan will be utilized as a loss reserve for Community Impact Notes, which will be used to fund Michigan Women Forward’s (MWF) efforts to advance women’s entrepreneurship, specifically a Microloan Fund through which MWF provides capital to women entrepreneurs who would not otherwise have access to funding.

Rebel Nell
Loan Funds Disbursement: $195,000
Rebel Nell employs and provides life skills training to formerly homeless women in Detroit. The women are employed to make jewelry from unique local resources including paint chips that have fallen from local graffiti. Rebel Nell then educates women on financial literacy, business education, and health and wellness, empowering them to transition to an independent life.