OVERVIEW: The Mourning Family Foundation supports youth development, youth advocacy, education, and youth enrichment in South Florida.
IP TAKE: Although the founding couple has parted ways, their foundation is still active on the youth philanthropy scene in South Florida. This is a big youth funder that only conducts work locally. While it’s not accessible, this funder is approachable, so reach out if you have questions about how to get on it’s radar or if they consider introductions. It likes to make close partnerships with local organizations that serve it’s mission in the community at the grassroots level.
PROFILE: Established in 1997, the Mourning Family Foundation (MFF) is a private foundation based in Miami, Florida founded by Tracy and Alonzo Mourning, a former NBA basketball star who played for the Miami Heat. Alonzo Mourning graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in sociology. He was the second overall pick in the 1992 NBA draft by the Charlotte Hornets, and he spent three seasons with the team before being traded to the Heat. A seven-time NBA All-Star, he won a championship in 2006 with Dwyane Wade and Shaq. Tracy Wilson Mourning graduated from Howard University. She is a mentor, designer, broadcast journalist, and motivational speaker. She launched Honey Child, her lifestyle brand, and Myka and Me, a natural hair and body product line inspired by her daughter. Alonzo and Tracy Mourning, now divorced, have three children and have been deeply involved in philanthropy.
The Mourning Family Foundation aims to “empower youth through advocacy, education and enrichment.” It funds local efforts for youth development that intersect with community development, health and education efforts.
Grants for Community Development and Youth
The Mourning Family Foundation focuses on disenfranchised communities in its home region of South Florida. MFF also has an anti-poverty initiative that is a county-wide effort to eradicate poverty in Miami-Dade County. Through the Overtown Youth Center Capital Campaign, MFF works to expand and to support the endeavors of the Overtown Youth Center. for which MFF hopes to create a brand new facility. The center engages the local community in creating a safe place for families and youth, especially foster youth.
Grants for Health and Wellness
The funder partners with the private, public, and nonprofit sectors to promote health and wellness among youth so that all children, regardless of their backgrounds, can lead healthy and active lives. MFF often provides program support, but has also funded a capital campaign with millions of dollars for a youth center.
Shortly after the 2000 Olympic Games, Mourning was diagnosed with focal glomerulosclerosis, a disease that affects the filtering process of the kidneys. He later received a kidney transplant at Columbia University Medical Center and had a successful NBA comeback. In the past, Mourning supported Columbia.
In addition, MFF conducts related grantmaking through it’s Anti-Poverty Initiative, which is focused on youth and families in Miami Dade County.
The foundation also sponsors Thanksgiving drives to feed families in South Florida, as well as the Health and Basketball Clinics that serves more than 2000 children each year in South Florida to learn “key basketball fundamentals from top athletes from around the league. Youth participants take part in numerous interactive activities that include numerous drills, helpful hints, workout tips, motivational sessions that include a broad-spectrum of messages about discipline, sportsmanship, persistence, teamwork that can apply to all aspects of life.”
Grants for Education
Across all of it’s grantmaking, MFF emphasizing supporting youth. Part of that support includes grants for educational and extracurricular activities in South Florida.
Since 2016, MFF has offered an Education Scholarship Fund to help children from marginalized communities of color. The 4-year college scholarships assist with academic expenses and are awarded to rising high school seniors that MFF and it’s partners identify locally. Unfortunately, the scholarship is not accessible, but it’s worth calling MFF to see how students who fit it’s demographic priorities might qualify from beyond MFF’s sphere of partnerships.
Grants for Women and Girls
MFF funds a program dedicated to women and girls through a partnership with Honey Shine, Inc., which runs a program by the same name. The program invests in girls’ afterschool, education and camp opportunities to help girls develop into empowered women. MFF does not appear to fund grant for women and girls beyond this partnership, but this isn’t a hard and fast rule.
Important Grant Details:
Grants range between about $300,000 and $600,000. Learn more about this funder’s local giving by examining its recent tax records. Grantmaking focuses on the Miami area and South Florida. Past local grantees include the Overtown Youth Center and Honey Shine.
This foundation does not appear to accept unsolicited grant applications from nonprofits. It also does not provide grantseeker guidelines or deadlines on its website. Direct general questions to the staff at info@mourningfamilyfoundation.org or 305-476-0095.
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