Grand Rapids Community Foundation: 85 years of supporting education

The Grand Rapids Community Foundation has a long history of supporting education. Beginning shortly after World War II, the Community Foundation responded to a community need by funding a program to train nurses who would work in the city upon graduation.

Since then, we have awarded $6.6 million to worthy students.

The Good Teachers for Grand Rapids program (or Excellence in Education) has awarded $1.3 million to public and private school classrooms for the past 20 years.

In 2000, the Grand Rapids Community Foundation partnered with the Steelcase Foundation and Frey Foundation to form the Grand Rapids Education Reform Initiative (ERI), an independent philanthropic partnership committed to making sure that all children in the City of Grand Rapids have access to a quality education.

In 2003, the ERI published the Straight A Plan for Education Reform. It served as a community wake-up call about the state of education in the City of Grand Rapids. It called for a transformation, not band-aid approaches, in how we educate students for 21st century work and life.

For details on programs that the Grand Rapids Community Foundation has funded, click here.