Skillman Foundation
Created in 1960, The Skillman Foundation is a private philanthropy committed to helping children in metropolitan Detroit.
In a departure from traditional grantmaking and a move to dramatically improve the lives of Detroit children and families, The Skillman Foundation’s Good Neighborhoods Initiative, launched in January 2006, provides full-scale support to six city neighborhoods where many children live. The initiative’s chief objective is to transform Detroit’s neighborhoods into healthy, safe and supportive environments for children, youth, and their families by working directly with concerned citizens and organizations in specific neighborhoods.
The Good Neighborhoods Initiative will support neighborhoods with lots of children and few resources, develop partnerships with individuals and organizations who are working at the grass-roots community level on behalf of children, and support best practice models in these neighborhoods
Goals:
- Maximize the assets, capacity and impact of resources and institutions in targeted communities through neighborhood-wide collaboration and partnerships.
- Enable a cadre of “natural helpers” who are committed to providing services or supports for children.
- Establish effective neighborhood-based human service delivery systems for children, youth and families.
- Improve the availability of child-friendly spaces and the physical infrastructure in neighborhoods with large concentrations of children.
- Increase the opportunities and availability for quality out-of-school time and developmentally appropriate programs for children and youth.
- Increase public and private investments in neighborhoods to strengthen services for children and families.
- Use wealth-building strategies to build the resiliency of children and their families.
