DEXTER, January 31, 2019 – This past summer, the Dexter Community Fund (DCF), a permanent community endowment at the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation, conducted a Community Needs Assessment.
Approximately 30 community leaders (elected officials, Dexter School District, Sheriff’s Department, local churches, and non-profit organizations) came together to identify the community’s needs. This information was then used to identify DCF’s grantmaking priorities for the next 3-5 years.
These priorities include:
- Services/programs for seniors
Dexter Senior Center is awarded a DCF grant - Mental health services for youth and adults
- Improved outdoor recreational opportunities
- Services/programs for teens
- Services/programs for the homebound
- Programs to enhance arts and culture
For 2018, we received many excellent grant applications from area non-profit organizations which were all worthy of funding. In September of 2018, the DCF Advisory Committee reviewed the grant requests. Using the grantmaking priorities above, DCF awarded grants to three organizations.
The funded grants include:
Grievewell to provide workshops in Dexter to support healthy grieving;
Dexter Senior Center to support seniors’ participation in fitness classes; and
Girl Scouts Heart of Michigan to support the establishment of two new troops in Dexter.
These grants were presented at the DCF Annual Donor Appreciation Event held in November 2018 at Frutig Farms. DCF grants are made possible due to the generous donations of many community members. As the Dexter Community Fund grows, it will support even more projects and non-profit organizations to address community needs and enrich the quality of life within the Dexter community.
About the Dexter Community Fund
The DCF is a permanent community endowment at the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation (AAACF) to enrich the quality of life in the Dexter area. The DCF is a source of community capital that will be available to support and invest in a wide range of initiatives and non-profit organizations in arts and culture, education, environment, youth, senior services, health and wellness, human services, and/or community improvement. As a fund at AAACF, it benefits from AAACF’s professional program staff, fund management and investment expertise. Our goal is to raise $2 million by 2020. This will allow the Dexter Community Fund to make grants of $80,000-$100,000 per year to fund community initiatives and local non-profit organizations to address critical areas of need and enhance the
quality of life within our community. To learn more, please visit our website page at www.aaacf.org/dexter.
