The Community Foundation aims to improve the quality of life in Newaygo County through strategic focus on education, poverty reduction, and community and economic development. By setting long-term goals like increasing education levels, lowering poverty rates, and maintaining low unemployment rates, the foundation seeks to foster a focused community effort towards generational change, requiring collaboration and support for a robust nonprofit infrastructure.
The grant program champions community and economic development with specific goals of lowering unemployment rates and maintaining the area's rural essence. It is structured around encouraging small business growth, fostering entrepreneurship, improving workforce skills, empowering local development organizations, and leveraging natural resources for economic benefit. The foundation prioritizes projects that align with Newaygo County Area Dashboard indicators and fall into one of the outlined focus areas: small business and entrepreneurship development, workforce enhancement, capacity building for local partners, and natural resources promotion. This approach ensures grantmaking efforts are directed towards initiatives that significantly contribute to the economic and community development of Newaygo County.