Category: Charity and Philanthropy

The 1525 FOUNDATION, sister fund to the Second Foundation, was incorporated in Cleveland in 1971 by KENT HALE SMITH. The foundation emphasizes higher education, environment and conservation, and institutions supported by the founder in his lifetime. It especially favors agencies which promote self-help by recipients.

The ACHIEVEMENT CENTERS FOR CHILDREN, a nonprofit agency founded nationally in Elyria in 1907 and locally on July 7, 1940 as the Society For Crippled Children, has provided outpatient rehabilitation for disabled individuals from birth through age twenty-one. The death of his only son and the injuries of others in a streetcar accident on Memorial Day 1907 led industrialist Edgar F.

ADDISON, HIRAM M. (21 Nov. 1818-14 Jan. 1898), was an early Cleveland settler, educator, and reformer. He was born to the pioneer Western Reserve family of William and Hannah Addison in EUCLID, educated in local schools, and began teaching in eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania where he achieved a considerable reputation as an educator. He married Anna McCaslin (13 Nov. 1825 - 1 Aug.

ADULT REHABILITATION CENTER. See SALVATION ARMY.


The AHS FOUNDATION funded Cleveland educational and cultural activities for 15 years. AHS was founded in 1968 by Leland and Helen Schubert, retirees and active volunteers since their arrival in the city in 1956. AHS has emphasized education, especially alternative projects, social and community relations, and health care. The foundation has consistently preferred to fund projects (but not individuals) for 3 or more years.

The AIDS TASKFORCE OF GREATER CLEVELAND, a nonprofit established in 1983 as the Health Issues Taskforce of Cleveland (incorporated in February 1984), is the oldest organization in Ohio to serve people with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Its mission is to provide compassionate and collaborative responses to the needs of people infected, affected, and at risk of HIV/AIDS.

AIKEN, SAMUEL CLARK (21 Sept. 1791-1 Jan. 1879), the first resident pastor of Cleveland's FIRST PRESBYTERIAN (OLD STONE) CHURCH, was one of the most prominent clergymen in the city in the mid-19th century.

The AIR FOUNDATION was a nonprofit organization that specialized in grants and scholarships for space- and aviation-related purposes. The foundation was incorporated in 1945 by FREDERICK C. CRAWFORD (of Thompson Products), Alvin C. Ernst (Ernst & Ernst), W. Trevor Holliday (Standard Oil), and Albert J. Weatherhead (the Weatherhead Co.).

ALI-BEY, OMAR (17 Oct. 1954-3 Sept. 1994), a leader in Cleveland's African-American community, was an example of how a person can convert a life of crime into one of social service. Born Harold Iverson in Cleveland, son of Arthur Iverson and Louise (McBride), he attended East Technical High School, but dropped out before graduation.

The AMERICAN LUNG ASSOCIATION OF NORTHERN OHIO, formerly known as the Northern Ohio Lung Association, was founded in 1904 and formally organized on March 3, 1905 as the Anti-Tuberculosis League, which fought tuberculosis (TB) before expanding its work in the 1960s to other respiratory diseases. With Dr. John H.

The AMERICAN RED CROSS, CLEVELAND CHAPTER, was organized by SAMUEL MATHER in 1905 to provide volunteer aid to the army and navy, to act as a channel of communication between families and members of the armed forces, and to carry on a system of disaster relief. The local chapter directly linked to the national organization in 1910.

AMERICANIZATION. The heavy influx of immigrants into cities such as Cleveland before and after the Civil War tested the belief that America could easily assimilate foreign newcomers. Hector Crevecoeur, an 18th-century French writer, had popularized the image of America as a mix of races and nationalities blending into and forming a new culture.

The ANIMAL PROTECTIVE LEAGUE, founded in 1912 and incorporated in 1913, is a voluntary organization that accepts, picks up, and shelters unwanted or homeless animals, putting them up for adoption or destroying them if not adopted. Miss Stella Hatch and Mrs. Virgil A. (Edith) Dustin organized the league, which cared for 3,661 animals in 1917.

ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETIES, BLACK, formed in the Cleveland area in the 1850s, were distinct from the earlier, integrated groups such as the CLEVELAND ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY and the CUYAHOGA COUNTY ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. John Mercer Langston of Oberlin was a leader in forming these organizations.

ASIAN SERVICES IN ACTION was founded in 1995 to address the needs of a small but growing Asian American community in Akron. The non-profit agency expanded in response to a refugee stream and soon developed into the largest human services agency in the Asian American/Pacific Islander community (AAIP) of Ohio.

ASSOCIATED CHARITIES, est. 1 June 1900 as Cleveland Associated Charities, evolved from a merger of BETHEL UNION (est. 1867) and the CHARITY ORGANIZATION SOCIETY (est. 1881) into the Bethel Associated Charities (1884).

ASSOCIATION FOR THE CRIPPLED & DISABLED. See ACHIEVEMENT CENTER FOR CHILDREN.


B'NAI B'RITH is the oldest service organization in Cleveland. Ten years after its founding in New York City, Solomon Lodge No. 16 of the Independent Order of B'nai B'rith was organized in Jan. 1853 by SIMPSON THORMAN, its first president, Abraham Wiener, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN PEIXOTTO, and Dr. Jas. Horwitz. Montefiore Lodge No.

BAKER, EDWARD MOSE (MAX) (18 Aug. 1875-17 Feb. 1957), broker and philanthropist, was one of the founders of the Fed. of Jewish Charities. Born in Erie, Pa., to Isaac and Bertha (Ernhorn) Baker, he received his bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago in 1898, afterwards studying philosophy and sociology and for the rabbinate under his uncle, renowned Reform rabbi Emil Hirsch.

BAKER, HENRY M. (2 Jan. 1856-12 Aug. 1929), active in Jewish benevolent associations, was born in Erie, Pa., the son of Kennard and Barbara Beitman Baker. He came to Cleveland in 1886, and after the turn of the century, became involved in real estate.

BALDWlN, JOHN (ca. 13 Oct. 1799-ca 28 Dec. 1884) was a successful businessman and educator who used his wealth to promote righteous and intellectual living. Baldwin was born in North Branford, Connecticut, the son of Joseph and Rosanna (Meloy) Baldwin. Although largely self-taught, he acquired enough academic training to hold several teaching positions.

The BAPTIST BROTHERHOOD was active in Progressive Era moral reform efforts, with its most substantial work directed toward stopping Sunday liquor sales. In 1911 a mass meeting of Baptists at the Euclid Ave. Baptist Church decided to wage an all-out war against drinking and vice. During that year over 200 Brothers visited 1630 of the 1950 saloons in Cleveland and found 1534 of them open on Sunday Sabbath.

BAPTIST HOME OF OHIO. See OLD AGE/NURSING HOMES.