Posted on September 27, 2009

Erb Family Foundation Awards $1.13 Million to Support Environment, Art in Detroit

The Erb Family Foundation in Birmingham, Michigan, has announced ten grants totaling $1.13 million for environmental and arts initiatives in the metropolitan Detroit region.

Established in 2007, the foundation is focused on nurturing environmentally healthy and culturally vibrant local communities and supporting initiatives to restore the Great Lakes basin. To help inform conservation and restoration activities, the University of Michigan will receive $500,000 over two years to map threats and resources to the Great Lakes. Another three grants totaling $215,000 were awarded to help develop a sustainable food system that provides increased access to fresh, healthy food and food-related jobs in underserved neighborhoods.

To encourage environmental activism through the arts, the foundation awarded a three-year, $150,000 grant to Matrix Theatre Company to develop puppetry and writing workshops about Detroit's buried streams, marshes, and lakes and $85,500 to the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum to partner with Project S.N.A.P. ("share, nurture, act, preserve") to create library-based arts programs in five communities to inspire environmental activism.

For a complete list of new grants, visit the Erb Family Foundation Web site.