Jackson, MI (December 2025)-When a child picks up a violin for the first time, something unexpected happens. The restlessness fades. Concentration takes over. Fingers learn precision, ears learn patience and hearts learn harmony.
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Discretionary Grant - Durham, NC (December 2025) — When five-year-old Yuriko opened a blue box on her family’s doorstep, her eyes lit up. Inside were new books — stories waiting to be explored, characters ready to become friends. She picked one up, turning the pages carefully. “If some words you don’t know,” she said, “you can learn those words so you can be a better reader. If you’re a better reader, you can read all of the books that there is in the world. I’ll read a thousand books!”
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Discretionary Grant - Detroit, MI (December 2025) —On a sunny afternoon in downtown Detroit, light filters through a mosaic of stained glass, casting a kaleidoscope of color across the floor of the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue. The century-old building, once dimmed by time and disrepair, now glows again with life.
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Saginaw, MI (December 2025)—At the edge of Michigan’s Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge, five rivers converge, their waters winding through farmland before spilling toward Saginaw Bay. Here, where rivers and sky meet, thousands of birds migrate, feed and rest — mallards, pintails, trumpeter swans and bald eagles tracing wide arcs over the marsh.
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Grand Rapids, MI (December 2025) —When a student at STEM Greenhouse solved a math problem that stumped even Dr. Keli Christopher – a Ph.D. engineer and the program’s founder – it wasn’t just a classroom victory. It was proof of what can happen when young people are given the right tools, time and belief.
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Discretionary Grant - Michigan (June 2025) — Across the country, millions of river miles wind through landscapes and lives, providing drinking water, fish habitat, recreation and a sense of place. Yet until recently, there was no way to truly understand how well those rivers were being protected, or where the greatest opportunities for restoration remained.
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Discretionary Grant - Detroit, MI (June 2025) — Before she ever dreamed of a career in veterinary medicine, Le’Airra was a quiet middle schooler with little experience around horses. That changed when she joined Detroit Horse Power (DHP), a nonprofit that connects Detroit youth to horses to help them grow confidence, empathy and perseverance.
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Alpena, MI (June 2025) —A third grader crouches beside a tank, steadying the controls of an underwater robot he helped build with his classmates. As it dips beneath the surface, he guides it through a simulated mission – focused, confident, completely immersed. In that moment, he isn’t struggling to sit still or catch up on reading – he’s a navigator, a problem-solver, a leader. “That’s what drives me,” says Daniel Moffatt, Stewardship & Education Specialist at the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary. “Watching a kid suddenly light up because he’s building something, doing something, solving something. You know you’re witnessing transformation.”
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Discretionary Grant - Raleigh, NC (June 2025) -Alana was living in a car with her mom when she first walked through the doors at Designed for Joy, unhoused at just 20 years old. She had been referred through a local nonprofit to participate in Designed for Joy’s seven-day Day Work Program – a lifeline made possible, in part, by a grant from the Walters Family Foundation.
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Detroit, MI (April 2025) — Every morning used to be a struggle for one Detroit father. His son, resistant to school, dreaded the idea of learning. But everything changed when the boy joined the Center for Success Network, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering youth through literacy. Before long, he was so excited about attending that he’d grab his backpack even on weekends, forgetting the Center wasn’t open. Stories like this are exactly why the Center for Success Network exists: to make literacy a fun, life-changing experience for youth in Detroit and Pontiac.
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