SCF Protecting Stark’s Future Initiative 2026 – Ohio - fundsforNGOs

Stark Community Foundation’s Protecting Stark’s Future initiative supports collaborative community-based solutions to reduce child poverty.

Donor Name: Stark Community Foundation

State: Ohio

County: Stark County (OH)

Type of Grant: Grant

Deadline: 03/20/2026

Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000

Grant Duration: 3 Years

Details:

Stark Community Foundation’s initiative Protecting Stark’s Future (PSF) was created with one central goal: to reduce childhood poverty in Stark County. The original PSF framework is represented by this three‑layer bullseye:

Targets for A Child Poverty Reduction Plan Address Immediate Needs

Break Cycle of Poverty
Increasing Earning of Families
Address Immediate Needs.

Focus Areas

Focus Area 1: Economic Stability & Opportunity
- Purpose: Strengthen household economic security and create pathways to higher earnings.
- Eligible strategies may include:
  - Workforce development initiatives.
  - Expansion of Navigator roles to define success as achieving both stability and sustainable employment. Navigators should support individuals as they move fluidly from crisis to employment using shared tools such as ConnectWell CIE and direct service providers. This integrated, employment‑focused model should improve economic mobility and align with Community Metrics, especially per capita income, tracked by Strengthening Stark.
  - Bullseye connection: Primarily the middle ring (increasing earnings), with potential influence on the center.
Focus Area 2: Education & Youth Development
- Purpose: Improve educational engagement, developmental outcomes, and long‑term opportunities for children and youth.
- Eligible strategies may include:
  - Youth career pathways programs offered independently or through school‑based, out‑of‑school time or multi-generational program models
  - Stabilization or transformation of high‑value youth programs at risk due to funding cuts
  - Bullseye connection: Supports the center by promoting educational achievements and strengthening long‑term opportunity for youth.
Focus Area 3: Positive Neighborhood Environment & Place-Based Resilience
- Purpose: Improve the physical and environmental conditions of the neighborhoods that shape childhood opportunity.
- Eligible strategies may include:
  - Restoring vacant or blighted land to parks or community green spaces to improve walkability, safety, or environmental quality
  - Resident‑driven efforts that build neighborhood pride, cohesion, and social connection
  - Bullseye connection: Supports the center by improving long‑term neighborhood conditions.
Focus Area 4: Open Innovation, High‑Impact Strategies
- Purpose: Capture emerging ideas that do not fit into the three initiative areas above but still advance PSF’s core purpose to reduce child poverty.
- Eligible strategies may include:
  - New models for community‑based economic mobility
  - Programs that consider the interplay between ecological, social, economic, and cultural aspects of a place, including identity and emotional connection
  - Systems‑level innovations that close gaps created by siloed or fragmented service systems and drive collaboration.