Foundation expands in Detroit

Love from a major West Michigan foundation is spreading to Detroit, just in time for Christmas.

Battle Creek-based W.K. Kellogg Foundation said that it opened an office this month in downtown Detroit, at 28 W. Adams Ave.

The office will house the foundation’s Detroit staff: Lan Pham, program manager, and program officers Sharnita Johnson, Linda Jo Doctor and Edward Egnatios.

"The issues facing children and families in Detroit appear locally and require local solutions, and our new office in Detroit will position the Kellogg Foundation and its local team to be an even more effective community partner," said La June Montgomery Tabron, W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s incoming president and CEO.

W.K. Kellogg Foundation, one of the country’s largest foundations, is no stranger to the bankrupt city.

The foundation invested $25 million in grants to Detroit last year to better conditions for the city’s children.

Since its inception in the 1930s, the foundation said it has invested about $260 million in the city of Detroit.

"At the Kellogg Foundation, we strive to identify and support community-led solutions and to make grants that are responsive to community needs, particularly in our priority places like Detroit," Montgomery Tabron said.