Local nonprofit gets funding for mission of increasing job opportunities for students of color

CHARLOTTE — A local nonprofit is getting a huge grant that will help minority students find jobs.

Charlotte-based GardHouse is getting a $100,000 grant from the Ally Charitable Foundation. The nonprofit will use that money to help increase job opportunities among college students of color by maximizing work-based programming.

“We are honored to receive an award from the Ally Charitable Foundation Grant,” said Jonathan Gardner, Founder and Executive Director of GardHouse. “The funds received from the grant will allow us to serve our mission of increasing post-graduate employment opportunities amongst college students of color by maximizing work-based programming.”

The grant is part of the Foundation’s plan to invest $1.5 million over the next two years in 16 Black-led grassroots organizations in Charlotte and Detroit, which are Ally’s hometown markets.

GardHouse was established in response to the statistic that over the last 51 years, students of color who graduate from college are twice as likely to be unemployed. At the time of the nonprofit’s inception, there were no programs of its kind.

“Many of these organizations operate on very tight budgets to provide critical, on-the-ground support, and we wanted to make the funding process simpler and more accessible,” said Mike Rizer, president of the Ally Charitable Foundation. “These unrestricted grants will put game-changing funds in the hands of organizations aiming to close the opportunity and wealth gaps in their areas. This targeted, yet agile, approach to community giving starts to meet the pressing needs of smaller organizations led by Black leaders that are often overlooked by other funders.”

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