Focusing on those most in need…
 

Tell Your Story

The Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland wants to share the stories of the impressive work of its grantee organizations on this site’s homepage. Has your organization earned special recognition? Is there a story involving the people you serve that could be profiled?

 
 
 
 
Foundation News 
 
Keep up to date on Foundation News and Events
  
Promise Neighborhood
Initiative
 Find out about the Promise Neighborhood Initiative in Cleveland by visiting the Cleveland Promise Neighborhood website
 
 

 
 

Grantee Profile:

The Boys & Girls Club of  Cleveland

“The purpose of life is a life of purpose,” Dajah Spence’s said at her Youth of the Year speech earlier this year. Leading a life of purpose has been the driving force behind everything she has done in the past few years.

Defying all statistics, Dajah graduated high school in June, and will attend Bowling Green State University in the fall; a future she is both excited about and ready to embrace.

Dajah grew up in the King Kennedy public housing complex. At 17, she is currently the only member of her family of five that is employed, and she takes responsibility for meeting the needs of her younger siblings.

When she is not working or studying, you can usually find Dajah at the King Kennedy Boys & Girls Club. She became a member when she was 11 years old, and she participated in every program offered. She views the Club as one of the most important influences in her life.

“I feel like being at the Boys & Girls Club keeps you off the street. There is always someone you can talk to, especially when things get tough at home,” she explains. “It is more than just a place to hang out. It is a family here.”

Cleveland Housing Network

  

After escaping an emotionally abusive marriage, my daughter Joy and I became homeless. We lived in a shelter, but I eventually succumbed to depression and turned to drugs and alcohol to mask the pain. I was utterly unrecognizable by any who knew me.

After I was introduced to Cleveland Housing Network and [social worker] Tamika in 2003, my life changed drastically. I have a home. I have conquered my demons. I have returned to college after 10 years, and I have a 4.0 GPA. Eventually I plan to earn a Masters Degree and a Doctorate. My daughter is an honor roll student.

Some people come into our lives to help us fulfill our destiny. I believe CHN came into my life to help me fulfill mine. Every day, I do two things: I wake up and see myself where I want to be and refuse to stop working toward that. And every day, I reinforce to my daughter that she can make it. I teach her to have the confidence that she can do anything.

I know that without the help of CHN, and my strength in God, none of this would have been possible.        —Monique

Collaborative  to End Human Trafficking


Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery in the U.S. and around the world that subjects youths and adults to force, fraud, or coercion for  sexual exploitation or forced labor. Seven religious congregations – Sisters of the Humility of Mary, Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine, Ursuline Sisters of Cleveland, Sisters of the Incarnate Word, Sisters of St. Dominic of Akron, the Congregation of St. Joseph and Sisters of Notre Dame – and lay professionals operate educational and advocacy programs in Cleveland and Canton. Program expansion to Youngstown and western Ohio is planned.

Mission + Vision


The Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland improves the lives of those most in need with special attention to families, women and children living in poverty. Our primary focus is to increase the community’s capacity to meet the needs of the underserved. As a faith-based organization, the Foundation extends the values of Jesus Christ through the mission of the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine and also works to sustain the ministries of women religious.
 
News and Events
August 31, 2010

Women & Spirit: Catholic Sisters in America

The Women & Spirit: Catholic Sisters in America exhibit at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage closed over the weekend. Maltz officials said it was one of their most successful exhibits, bringing in nearly 20,000 people to the Beachwood museum see and hear the stories of the pioneering women who established schools, hospitals and other enduring institutions and continue to work for peace and social justice.

August 23, 2010

Harlem Children's Zone founder Geoffrey Canada spoke in Cleveland on the perils to America if urban schools aren't improved. Canada told the audience of some 1,400 that an entire generation of children could be lost. Read more about what he told the audience about his vision for ensuring children succeed academically. The Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland is waiting to hear about it's planning grant application to the U.S. Department of Education to replicate a Harlem Children's Zone in Cleveland's Central Neighborhood. The Foundation is one of nearly 340 who applied for a "Promise Neighborhood" grant. The department is awarding up to 20 grants. The announcement is expected by the end of September. Read more about a Promise Neighborhood in Central.

 
July 26, 2010

Four New Board Members Elected
 

 
The Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland is pleased to announce that four new members have been elected to its board of directors.
 
The Reverend Abraham D. Allende, Sister Evelyn Flowers, Robyn N. Gordon and Felton Thomas, Jr., begin their three-year terms in September.
 
The four new Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland directors have diverse and unique backgrounds.
                                                                                                                                              More  
 
 
July 7, 2010
 
story on the new Central Community Co-Op, opening Saturday, July 10, appeared in a piece in the  Plain Dealer's website Cleveland.com. The Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland has been a partner in helping to get the program get started. Residents who join the co-op (which costs $50) will get discounts on fresh fruits and vegetables as well as information on free fitness, nutritional and dental programs. The membership drive for the co-op runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Alanbe Food Outlet, 3400 Carnegie Ave.
 
June 24, 2010
 
Local public radio station WCPN 90.3 highlighted the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland's
efforts to get a Promise planning grant from the U.S. Department of Education to replicate a Harlem Children's Zone in the Central Neighborhood.
 
Read about it or listen to the piece here. In September the education department will announce which U.S. communities are awarded the grants.

Grants
June 18, 2010
The Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland awarded six second-quarter grants totaling $170,710 for community efforts, health literacy and religious communities.
 
The grants, approved by the board on June 18, 2010, were awarded to:
Hispanic Round table of Cleveland ($15,000) for programming efforts for the upcoming Hispanic Convention (El Convencion Hispana 2010)
 
ideastream ($15,000) towards expanding the Cleveland public radio station’s health programming
 
Cleveland Department of Public Health’s MomFirst program ($57,710) to continue and expand the “Baby Basics Initiative” that serves high-risk pregnant women and adolescents
 
Project: LEARN ($37,500) for implementing and expanding a program at St. Vincent Charity Medical Center aimed at improving communication with patients
 
Conference of Religious Leadership ($20,000) to create a local exhibit on Sisters in Northeast Ohio to accompany the Women & Spirit: Catholic Sisters in America exhibit at the Maltz Museum of Jewish History in Beachwood
 
Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina ($25,500) to co-sponsor events of the Collaboration for Ministry Initiative including its annual gathering of all women religious in South Carolina
 
 
WOmen & Spirit
 
 
In Cleveland closes 
Exhibit Reveals Role of Courageous Women in Shaping U.S. History
The Foundation is pleased to announce the traveling exhibit, Women & Spirit: Catholic Sisters in America, produced by the Leadership Conference of Women Religious is at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage in Beachwood, OH through August 28, 2010.
 
Women & Spirit: Catholic Sisters in America presents the stories of pioneering women who established schools, hospitals and other enduring institutions and continue to work for peace and social justice. Direct from the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., this fascinating compilation of first-person accounts, rare artifacts; compelling films and important photographs reveals a new perspective on American history.
 
Sue Krey, President of the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland, Lynn Berner, Program Officer of Religious Communities, and Judi Feniger, Executive Director of the Maltz Museum at the opening reception of Women & Spirit

Women & Spirit includes the stories of 2 Sisters from northeast Ohio: Sr. Ignatia Gavin, CSA worked with Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder Dr. Bob Smith. At St. Thomas Hospital in Akron and later, Rosary Hall at St. Vincent Charity Hospital in Cleveland, she opened two of the nation’s first hospital-based programs for alcoholics. Sr. Dorothy Kazel, OSU was martyred in 1980 while serving on the diocesan Cleveland Latin American Mission Team in El Salvador.

At the Maltz Museum, visitors will notice an interreligious approach presented in part through a film created exclusively for the Museum, Women with Spirit. This insightful look at the role of spirituality in the lives and work of area women of various faiths includes interviews with U.S. Congresswoman Marcia Fudge (D-OH) and Sisters of Charity Health System President & CEO Sr. Judith Ann Karam, CSA.
 
The national exhibit is produced by the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) in association with the Cincinnati Museum Center. LCWR has more than 1,500 members, who represent more than 90 percent of the 59,000 women religious in the United States.
 
The contributions of sisters in the Dioceses of Cleveland and Youngstown, Ohio are spotlighted in a supplemental display coordinated by the Conference of Women Leaders in the Diocese of Cleveland. Women & Spirit will remain in northeast Ohio through August 28 when it moves to the Ellis Island Immigration Museum at Liberty Island, NY. The exhibit travels the United States through 2011.
 
 
To date, key sponsors of the Cleveland presentation include Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland, Notre Dame College, Ursuline College/Ursuline Sisters of Cleveland, National City/Now A Part of PNC, Cleveland Clinic/Marymount Hospital, the Cleveland Foundation and Mt. Sinai Foundation.
 
READ about the Women & Spirit exhibit in The Plain Dealer, Sunday, June 20, 2010 edition here.
Regina Brett wrote about the exhibit in her column on May 6. 2010.
 
 
WOMEN & SPIRIT is a project of The Leadership Conference of Women Religious, an association of the leaders of congregations of Catholic women religious in the United States. The Conference has more than 1,500 members, representing about 95% of America’s 68,000 women religious.