DELAWARE — Delaware County commissioners awarded $208,715 to 15 local nonprofits Thursday through the county’s 2026 Community Enhancement Grant program.
The program, established in 2014, distributes money from the county’s general fund to nonprofit organizations for specific capital projects.
“We received a total of 32 applications this year for well in excess of $600,000 seeking funding. The program traditionally does not go that high,” County Communications Director Jane Hawes told commissioners.
The 15 organizations are:
- Big Walnut Historical Society: Awarded $15,000 for the replacement of the Myers Stagecoach Inn and Museum roof.
- Boardman Arts Park: Awarded $10,000 for the replacement of a building’s roll-up door.
- Central Ohio Symphony: Awarded $8,000 for the Link Up education program for county fourth graders.
- Delaware County Cultural Arts Center: Awarded $18,750 for the repair of parlor water damage at the Arts Castle.
- Delaware County Historical Society: Awarded $14,607 for the installation of a snow fence.
- Family Promise of Delaware County: Awarded $6,183 for vinyl flooring replacement in the Promise House.
- Main Street Delaware – Awarded $20,0000 for a social media campaign.
- Mission Warmth: Awarded $5,000 for the purchase of warming supplies for unsheltered individuals.
- Radnor Heritage Society: Awarded $14,775 for the renovation of its museum.
- Recreation Unlimited Farm and Fun, Inc.: Awarded $16,995 for the renovation of lake trail to improve accessibility.
- Stockhands Horses for Healing: Awarded $4,655.73 for the purchase and installation of a refrigerator and water fountain.
- Strand Theatre and Cultural Arts Association: Awarded $15,000 for plumbing repairs.
- Stratford Ecological Center: Awarded $19,750 for the purchase of a new hay mower/conditioner.
- TAG Community Living: Awarded $25,000 for the installation of two back-up generators at residential housing units.
- Women’s City Foundation: Awarded $15,0000 for the paving of a parking lot.
All but two of this year’s recipients — Mission Warmth and the Radnor Heritage Society — have received Community Enhancement Grants in previous years, Hawes said.
“This is such an important motion, because we have so many great nonprofits who help so many people. So, I’m just very glad we can move ahead with this,” Commissioner Barb Lewis said.
Commissioners grant annexation petition for 116 acres into Delaware
In other business, commissioners also approved the annexation of roughly 117 acres of land in Berlin Township to the city of Delaware.
This is only the first step in the annexation process.
Now that commissioners have granted the petition and neither the city nor township objected to the annexation, the proposal moves to the city for approval.
The land is located south of Berlin Station Road and sandwiched between a CSX railroad and Norfolk and Western Railroad. The Communities at Glenross border the property’s southwestern boundary.
