9/18/2025

The Community Foundation for Northeast Michigan (CFNEM) awarded a new round of Community Impact grants in September 2025 covering a four-county area that includes Alcona, Alpena, Montmorency, and Presque Isle Counties. The 36 new grants totaling $115,795 are:

• Alcona Historical Society - $1,500 for educational programs to keep the community engaged in Michigan's history.
• Alpena Childcare & Development Center - $2,500 to purchase a new drinking fountain with a bottle filling station.
• Alpena County - $2,500 for inmates at Alpena County jail to participate in a gardening program.
• Alpena Montmorency Alcona Educational Service District - $2,500 to provide supplies for infants and toddlers that promote cognitive, communication, social-emotional, and motor skills.
• Alpena Senior Citizens Center - $5,000 to offset the increased costs associated with meals on wheels.
• Ana's Treasures - $5,000 for an event to provide foster children with a Christmas.
• Chelsea's Closet - $1,000 to be able to purchase more formalwear for teens to borrow, and to expand their location.
• Food Bank of Eastern Michigan - $5,000 to build a new regional warehouse In Gaylord.
• Friends Together - $4,172 for community outreach and continual mission to aid those with cancer.
• Habitat for Humanity Northeast Michigan - $5,000 to fund a promotional video that will help raise money to build more homes.
• Harrisville Arts Council - $1,500 to create a second mural in downtown Harrisville. (Pictured below, right: The first mural in Harrisville, Mich. Funded with help of a previous Community Impact Grant.)
• Harrisville United Methodist Church - $5,000 for the trucking from the Michigan Food Bank to distribute food to Alcona County.
• HeadWaters Land Conservancy - $5,000 to purchase an additional 210 acres to add to the Hess Nature Preserve. (Pictured left: Susanna Glass of HeadWaters Land Conservancy operates a drone, also purchased with a CFNEM grant, to get aerial photos of the Hess Nature Preserve while HLC Executive Director Dianne Farner looks on.)
• Hope Shores Alliance - $3,290 to purchase 1 freezer, 2 refrigerators, and 2 stoves for their new building.
• Hospice of Michigan, Inc. - $5,000 for the expansion of the pediatric hospice program that provides medical, emotional, social, and spiritual support to children.
• Hubbard Lake Baptist/Bible Church - $3,500 for the trucking from the Michigan Food Bank to distribute food.
• Huron Humane Society Inc - $2,850 to provide housing for pets of those who are experiencing temporary homelessness.
• Iosco County Coats for Kids - $2,500 to provide winter coats, boots, and accessories to kids in Alcona County.
• Long Rapids Township Fire Department - $5,000 to purchase a generator for the Long Rapids Township Hall for future emergencies.
• Michigan Works! Northeast Consortium - $1,500 to provide mobile resource kits for rural communities.
• Montmorency County Commission on Aging - $3,000 for computer upgrades.
• NEMCSA - $5,000 to provide winter gear for Lewiston Elementary students in need.
• New Beginnings Ministries - $2,600 to replace food lost due to the ice storm.
• Northeast Michigan Center for Fine Arts, Inc. (Art in the Loft) - $1,000 for an interactive, hands-on culinary arts program for dementia, Alzheimer's patients, and their caregivers.
• Northeast Michigan TNR - $1,500 to spay/neuter cats in Northeast Michigan.
• Park Family Foundation, LLC - $1,000 to purchase equipment for the Fitness Center at the Aplex.
• PoWeR! Book Bags - $3,300 to provide more learning materials that encourage literacy in children.
• Presque Isle County Historical Museum - $5,000 to replace the HVAC system at the museum.
• Rogers City Area Schools - $5,203 for the improvement of the Pickleball supplies and to provide sensory tools within the school.
• Sunrise Side Co-Op Market - $2,932 to create an educational, tourism, and hangout space at the Alpena Marina.
• the Poetics Lab - $2,000 to host an open mic night at Presque Isle Farm Cider Taproom and a formal reading and Q&A with two published poets.
• The Sunset Project - $4,000 for their program that would raise awareness, end stigmas, and provide education about mental health.
• The Thin Gold Line Foundation - $3,000 to provide resource baskets to 9-1-1 centers for dispatchers to focus on their mental health.
• Thunder Bay Curling Club - $1,948 to purchase ice time for their Learn-to-Curl community events.
• Thunder Bay Theatre - $2,000 to purchase new sound equipment.
• Thunder Bay Transportation Authority - $3,000 to provide free transportation to those over the age of sixty to encourage them to remain social and mobile.

Community Impact grants are awarded at CFNEM through two different grant cycles. For granting purposes, the Community Endowment Fund consists of the Community Endowment Fund, Genite Family Fund, Chuck and Kathy Ingle Fund, Lappan Fund, Neva Nelson Memorial Fund, Panel Processing Fund, Pfeiffenberger Fund, Marianne Kalivoda Hall Memorial Fund, Reitz Family Fund, Stevens Fund, and Weinkauf Fund. Additional funds supporting grants for this cycle include the Ann M. Kuntz Fund, Mr. and Mrs. O.B. Eustis Memorial Fund, Montmorency County General Fund, Wayne Wire Cloth Products Fund, Alcona General Fund, Alcona County Health Care Initiative Fund, United Communities of Presque Isle Fund, Lewiston Industrial Development Fund, Presque Isle General Fund, Huron Shores Health Fund, and the Spendable Tobacco Fund.

The next opportunity for submitting grant applications is through the Northeast Michigan Youth Advisory Council for youth programs in Alcona, Alpena, Montmorency, and/or Presque Isle County. Apply online through the Community Foundation Grant Portal at cfnem.org. Applications are due by October 15, 2025.

About the Community Foundation

CFNEM is a charitable organization committed to providing people who care about the future of our area with unique and effective ways of supporting their community now, and for generations to come. Led by a volunteer board of local citizens, the foundation oversees a group of permanently endowed funds from a wide range of donors. Gifts of all sizes from individuals, families, businesses, and agencies are invested in a balanced, well-managed portfolio to build endowments, enabling support for students and local community nonprofits now and forever.

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