Today, we announced $5.9 million in new and ongoing grants in our last grant cycle.

Funding will support organizations working on projects and issues related to Environmental Health and Justice, Agricultural Runoff, Great Lakes Stewardship, and Arts and Culture.

Two new grants to the Ecology Center, totaling $675,000, will support the Foundation’s focus on advancing an environmentally healthy metropolitan Detroit and Great Lakes region. Support will go toward the Great Lakes PFAS Action Network, which empowers advocacy organizations and PFAS-impacted community members to clean up existing and prevent future PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) pollution. With training and organizing support, people can become effective advocates for policies that will prevent and address toxic contamination from a group of synthetic chemicals that have been associated with negative health effects and are increasingly prevalent in our water, soil, and air.

A second grant to the Ecology Center will provide general operating support to strengthen the organization and its efforts to collaborate with residents, governments, businesses, and other nonprofits in creating community-level solutions that support the health of people burdened by environmental issues in the places where they live.

A $150,000 grant to Environmental Working Group will help pinpoint locations within 18 sub-watersheds in the Western Lake Erie Basin where agricultural conservation practices could be best placed on farm fields to reduce phosphorous runoff. The work will enable state agencies and farm technicians to provide science-based information to farmers so they become partners in reducing runoff to Lake Erie.

The Foundation also continued its commitment to advancing metropolitan Detroit’s cultural vibrancy by making 64 payments totaling $1.72 million to 60 arts and culture organizations. This unrestricted support is part of a three-year commitment to Detroit Arts Support, carried out in partnership with The Kresge Foundation and Hudson-Webber Foundation.

The Erb Family Foundation also supported:

• Huron River Watershed Council — to support municipalities in making better land use decisions that will help protect the Huron River watershed;
• Ecology Center — for Clear the Air’s work to educate and protect communities overburdened by environmental harm;
• Detroit Sound Conservancy — for the renovation of the Blue Bird Inn, a historic jazz club, and the strengthening of its operations; and
• The Henry Ford — to relocate and restore the historic civil rights landmark, the Jackson House, from Selma, Alabama to Greenfield Village.

To view our complete grants list and read news and updates, visit our blog or follow us on Facebook and LinkedIn.