10 Nonprofits Share $100,000 in Grants from East Mt. Airy Neighbors

The East Mount Airy Neighbors Community Fund of the Philadelphia Foundation has awarded $100,000 in grants to 10 nonprofits providing services to Northwest Philadelphia, with an emphasis on programs serving East Mt. Airy.

The grants range from $5,000 to $17,500 and all address priority funding areas selected by the EMAN Community Fund. The fund focuses its work on the area bounded by Stenton Avenue, Washington Lane, Germantown Avenue and Cresheim Valley Drive. 

“All of the 2016 grant recipients support EMAN’s goal of ‘making a good community better’ and EMAN is happy to have the opportunity to support their work,” said EMAN Executive Director Elayne Bender. 

It is the second year the EMAN Fund has provided community support through the Philadelphia Foundation, one of America’s oldest community foundations. (To learn more about TPF, visit www.philafound.org. For more about East Mt. Airy Neighbors, visit www.eastmountairy.org.)

Grant recipients are:

  • Allens Lane Art Center, which provides arts education activities for disadvantaged and homeless children. ($7,000)
  • Awbury Arboretum, which will use the grant to continue accessibility improvements at its Agricultural Village. ($10,000)
  • Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra, which is dedicated to diversity in classical music programs. BPCO’s “Orchestrating Leadership” after-school program introduces under-served Philadelphia students to classical music while using the art of conducting to develop their public speaking, verbal and non-verbal communication skills. ($10,000)
  • Center in the Park, which offers programs for older adults designed to help them maintain independence in the community. ($12,500)
  • Mount Airy Baseball, which offers youth baseball games, practice, instructional clinics and baseball tournaments. ($5,000)
  • Mt. Airy Business Improvement District, which will use the grant to create six pocket parks along the East Mt. Airy commercial corridor. ($12,000)
  • Mt. Airy Art Garage, an incubator for professional and emerging artists. Through its “Community of Pride” project, MAAG will engage fourth-graders in two schools to create original drawings and murals led by the help of professional MAAG artist teams. ($6,000)
  • Mt. Airy, USA’s Mt. Airy Reads, which will create an after-school reading hub at Pleasant Playground featuring tutoring and free books. ($17,500)
  • Urban Resources Development Corp.’s Owner Occupied Repair Program, which helps senior and low-income homeowners finance exterior home repairs. ($10,000)
  • Food Moxie (formerly Weavers Way Community Programs), which offers nutrition and farming education to empower Philadelphia’s most vulnerable residents to take back their health and to combat food insecurity. ($10,000)