The Oak Park-River Forest Community Foundation-a 50-year-old charitable organization that provides grants to organizations like the Animal Care League and West Suburban PADS-is taking a big step into the future.

The foundation is receiving a $2 million grant from the Grand Victoria Foundation (a 12-year-old program run by the Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin). In addition, if the foundation can raise $2 million, Grand Victoria will match it, bringing the foundation's total to $6 million.

As a result, the organization is talking about taking a new direction, moving from simply reacting to local grant requests, to targeting two pressing needs in Oak Park and River Forest: education and environmental sustainability, said Executive Director Sophia Lloyd.

"We're looking to address community aspirations," she said. "We're also working hard at focusing on the problems of the community."

Community Foundation awarded $2M grant.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 at 9:35 pm and is filed under Capacity Building, Community Foundations, Foundation Management, Grants Awarded. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.