You spoke. We listened. We learned.
In the first five years of the Ruth Mott Foundation’s north Flint strategic plan, we learned from and worked alongside our community with regard to the priorities identified by north Flint residents: youth, public safety, economic opportunity, and neighborhoods.
Now, we are embarking together on the next leg of this journey. In 2020, the Ruth Mott Foundation Board of Trustees voted to extend the north Flint strategy for at least another five years.
We knew that shifting to a more focused place-based approach in Flint would require a long-term commitment—and that was before the water crisis and before COVID-19.
We also know there are no easy solutions to the complex challenges facing north Flint. Important pieces of context such as the levels of segregation and racial disparities evident in our city are continuing to shape our commitment to addressing north Flint residents’ top priorities and to acting within those realms to advance racial equity. The undeniable patterns, statistics, and realities of what it means to be Black in America and in Flint reinforce why we are committed to racial justice.
Our goal is clear: Residents of north Flint neighborhoods create and sustain opportunities to contribute and thrive. To that end, we have also refined our priorities to intentionally support two-generational approaches to improving outcomes for families in our focus area.
As we renew our commitment to north Flint, we vow to examine our efforts to bring about change and we pledge to continue listening to the people who live and work here and directing our resources within the neighborhoods and priorities that need them the most.
The First Five Years
Since October 2015, when the Foundation started phasing in the north Flint strategy, more than $32 million in more than 350 grants have been awarded to community programs, with the largest number and amounts granted to the youth and neighborhoods priority areas. (A full list of the Foundation’s north Flint grants can be found at ruthmottfoundation.org/grants.)
The Foundation will continue to track grant results and community change in order to make data-driven decisions. In one point of progress, many north Flint programs and neighborhood centers have seen additional interest and investment in recent years.
Berston Field House, for example, was one of the first programs supported under the Foundation’s north Flint strategy in 2016. At the time, north Flint resident Bryant Nolden had been voluntarily running Berston for years: mowing the lawn, opening the gym, and acting as facilities director. He’s now the executive director. Since then, the Ruth Mott Foundation has granted $510,000 through the United Way of Genesee County for Berston. In the ensuing years, the historic north Flint community center has attracted additional funds to be able to hire additional staff, build a playground, and develop a fundraising plan.
“It’s been really gratifying to see Berston get the attention and resources it needs to build on its long legacy and continue to be a place where residents, especially our seniors and young people, can access important recreational and enrichment opportunities,” Nolden said. “Berston Field House is an essential part of north Flint.”
Other highlights include:
Youth development programs outside of school hours. The Foundation has funded 45 different north Flint youth programs – ranging from those that serve hundreds of participants to smaller more intensive programs – that provide safe development opportunities for youth when they’re not in school.
Blight elimination. In one example of a blight elimination initiative, the number of north Flint parks adopted and used has increased with the Foundation’s funding to the Genesee County Parks and Recreation Commission. About 39 north Flint parks are adopted annually, and close to 1 million pounds of garbage and yard waste have been collected as part of the programs since 2016 – just one indication of the parks and gateway gardens’ increased use and maintenance. New playgrounds, picnic tables, and sports amenities have been installed in many parks with the Foundation’s funding and several other sources of support.
Neighborhood hubs. Foundation grants have helped eight community centers open and/or operate in neighborhoods across north Flint. The hubs have seen their sources of support increase and their collective revenue more than double since 2016. In addition to Berston, the other hubs are: Asbury Community Development Corp., Flint Development Center, Latinx Technology & Community Center, Neighborhood Engagement Hub, St. Luke NEW Life Center, Sylvester Broome Empowerment Village, and Urban Renaissance Center.
New projects and programs. Since the launch of the north Flint strategy, more than half of the projects and programs we funded were new to the Ruth Mott Foundation. We’re pleased that the strategy fostered new approaches to helping us reach our goal.
As we strive to make a measurable difference, the Ruth Mott Foundation is committed to being a learning organization — learning from our grantee partners, our community, our data, and our own work. At the heart of our pivot to north Flint is a renewed, vigorous, and all-encompassing approach to community engagement, putting the people we are serving at the center of our work. Collecting input and learning from the people who live and work in north Flint is crucial to the Foundation’s strategy.
Another tool we use to measure impact is the North Flint Community Dashboard, an online tool that aggregates publicly available data for north Flint, shows progress or lack thereof by various indicators, and generates visual reports and comparisons.
We have seen progress over these last five years and we also know there is more work to do. Movement in longstanding, entrenched conditions like those in north Flint requires ongoing attention and resources to bring about significant systems-level change.
This last five years were just the beginning. We can’t wait to see where the next five years take us.
