For nearly a decade, MRC has been a multifaceted youth center for music education that offers a truly unique experience.  Through music, MRC staff mentor teens giving them tools to express themselves through writing, recording, radio broadcasting and/or performing music.  

Membership is open to teens in grades 7-12 who pay a nominal $2 a month fee.  They take music lessons, record, learn audio engineering, produce radio shows to air on 95.7 MRC, make beats, have a snack and meal, get help with homework and life skills mentoring.  MRC served over 350 teens at its East Walnut Hills studio and through outreach programs in 2017.

Grants made in July:

Adopt A Class Foundation, $30,000.  Employee groups at companies and other organizations adopt a class/classroom and provide students with mentoring support and field trips.

Alliance for Catholic Urban Education, $25,000.  A new math curriculum will be introduced at six urban elementary schools in the Covington Diocese where half of the students are at or below the poverty line. 

American Diabetes Association, $20,000.  Camp Korelitz is a one-week summer residential camp for children ages 8 to 15 at Camp Joy. Besides enjoying tradition summer camp activities, campers are taught self-management skills and they learn to be more independent as they build confidence in dealing with their disease.

Arthritis Foundation, $20,000.  Kids Get Arthritis Too is a program that includes a JA Days, Fall Family Camp and the JA Power Pack filled with educational materials and other information about resources and support for children with arthritis and their parents.

Cancer Family Care, $20,000.  Treehouse Children's Services, a core program for youth ages four through 18 who are coping with their own diagnosis, a loved one’s cancer diagnosis or the death of a loved one from cancer.

Children’s Theatre, $50,000.  The 2018-19 Main Stage season features four productions and 60 performances that will be seen by an expected 100,000 students, children and families at the Taft Theatre. Students from low income families attend weekday school performances free or at a nominal charge.

Cincinnati Art Museum, $25,000.  Family Learning at the Museum includes Art in the Making, Baby Tours, Family First Saturday, Summer Camp, Family ARTventures Young Artist Open Studio, and Wee Wednesday outreach to young people throughout the community.  

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, $50,000.  The Translational Core Laboratory is actively involved in moving cell and gene therapies into clinical trials.  The Foundation has made grants of more than $850,000 in this area since 2002.

Cincinnati Public Radio:

• WGUC/Classics for Kids, $25,000. Classics for Kids is a program designed to introduce elementary schoolchildren to classical music in a fun way and featuring weekly radio programming and a comprehensive, interactive web site. 

• WVXU/Democracy and Me, $50,000.  This program is an initiative to give young people a sense of their civic responsibility by providing teachers with tools and curriculum and students with concrete learning experiences.  

• Additional children’s programming on both WGUC and WVXU and announcements that promote the good work being done by other Dater grantees is also supported.  $25,000.

Cincinnati Nature Center, $25,000.  A robust school program serves 6,000 students annually and is designed to spark a passion for nature and the environment.

Cincinnati Works, $20,000.  The Job Readiness program assists 1,100 at risk young adults in identifying their strengths and skills, and then moving forward with specific goals and strategies toward employment and economic self-sufficiency.

City Gospel Mission, $25,000.  Whiz Kids is a one-on-one, volunteer-based tutoring and mentoring after-school program at 58 locations that impacts 1,100 children who are academically at-risk due to disabilities, poverty, homelessness and other barriers to success.

Civic Garden Center, $25,000.  The Youth Education Program enables young people to foster an appreciation and respect for nature and the environment, understand where food comes from, and engage in healthy, outside activity.  Offsite programs at schools and during the summer at community gardens is a major part of the outreach.

Community Meal Center, $15,000.  Hot, homemade evening meals are served every on Fridays and the last Monday of each month at two Hamilton churches to homeless and low-income individuals and families.  Food is served to guests at their table and seconds are encouraged.  

DCCH Center for Children and Families, $15,000.  As part of its care for victims of child abuse, the Center uses PATH-certified equine therapy in its residential treatment program.  Research shows that interacting with animals has many real and lasting benefits for children in therapy. 

DePaul Cristo Rey High School, $25,000.  The Counseling Program is a partnership with Beech Acres and features a fulltime Family Engagement Coordinator who works with DPCR staff to identify students in need of crisis support.

LifeCenter, $15,000.  The Celebrate Life Calendar 2019 is a publication distributed strategically in the community to raise awareness levels about the organ donation network by sharing the stories of donor families and recipients.

Literacy Center of Greater Cincinnati, $25,000.  The Children’s Basic Reading Program uses the Orton-Gillingham multi-sensory structured language technique to provide assistance to children in kindergarten through grade five who have severe reading difficulties or symptoms of dyslexia.

Music Resource Center-Cincinnati, $25,000.  Support of staffing and a facility for after-school music education and recording resources creates a sense of empowerment and accomplishment for teenagers.

People Working Cooperatively, $15,000.  The Summer Student Service Group Project provides supervision and resources in leveraging the one-week time contribution of young philanthropist volunteers as they work on projects that further PWC’s goal of helping keep elderly people in their homes. 

School House Symphony, $25,000.  Teaching Tomorrow’s Audience Today brings over 250 live musical performances by members of a six-person ensemble to schools throughout Greater Cincinnati. Fees are kept low through contributions and grants, and part of the Dater grant will fund programs at underserved inner-city schools. 

Society of St. Vincent de Paul – Cincinnati, $25,000.  As volunteers make home visits to families in need, over 1,000 beds will be provided to children who are sleeping on the floor.  This grant will fund over 200 beds.

Sweet Cheeks Diaper Bank, $25,000.  Mindful that diaper need can be more stressful than food insecurity, a largely volunteer organization works to raise funds and leverage in-kind support to provide diapers for low income families who cannot afford one of life’s most basic needs.

Visionaries and Voices, $25,000.  The Teaching Artist Program prepares about 30 artists with disabilities to engage the scholastic and broader community with two and three-dimensional fine arts instruction.  The program reached over 6,000 students and 1,500 adults last year.

The private foundation was established by fourth-generation Cincinnatian, businessman and philanthropist Charles Dater (1912-1993) to ensure that his resources would continue to fund worthwhile community programs after his death.  The foundation has made more than 2,900 grants totaling over $46 million since its inception in 1985. 

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For additional information regarding this news release, contact Roger Ruhl (513/598-1141).

The Charles H. Dater Foundation, Inc. is located at 602 Main Street, Suite 302, Cincinnati, OH 45202.