The Gay Community Endowment Fund recently awarded grants totaling almost $30,000 to 10 nonprofit organizations in the Akron area.Grants were awarded to projects that increase awareness of domestic violence in same-sex couples and that focus on support groups and outreach for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youths and older adults in the region.Receiving grants were:• Akron Area Pride Collective, $1,700 for its LGBT youth support group.• Akron Film + Pixel Festival, $1,218 for the premiere of Hit So Hard, a documentary about the life of Hole drummer Patty Schemel and her marriage to Christina Soletti. • Battered Women’s Shelter, $1,500 for a community outreach program that educates people about same-sex domestic violence.• Friends of 91.3, $3,500 to broadcast anti-bullying messages on KIDJAM!, an online children’s radio station.• Fusion Magazine, $1,300 for Kent State University’s student-produced publication that strives to unify people of different backgrounds and orientations.• Jewish Family Service of Akron Ohio, $5,000 for counseling and support groups for older LGBT individuals.• Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Union, $5,608 to send Kent State, Stark State, Mount Union and University of Akron students to the 2012 National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Creating Change Conference.• Mobile Meals Inc., $1,250 to promote Mobile Meals’ free food and supplement services to LGBT individuals in Greater Akron.• Summa Foundation, $5,085 to educate forensic nurses about same-sex domestic violence and assault.• Verb Ballets, $3,000 for the creation and local performance of a work that depicts tango from a same-sex perspective.The Gay Community Endowment Fund is a permanent philanthropic endowment of the Akron Community Foundation. It has reinvested more than $156,000 in the community since its inception in 2001.Contributions of any amount are welcome and support future grants. Checks may be sent to Gay Community Endowment Fund of Akron Community Foundation, 345 W. Cedar St., Akron, OH 44307-2407.For information, call 330-376-8522 or visit www.
gaycommunityfund.org.