In 2014, The Eva & Joseph Bruening Foundation’s board refined the focus of the quarter-century old grantmaking foundation to focus all of its energy on organizations who disrupt the consequences of poverty on a young child’s brain development.

Fifty-four percent of Cleveland children live in poverty. We now know that economic adversity experienced early in life may compromise brain development, health and earnings over a lifetime. The ages between 0-3 are the crisis years. This short window of time is our opportunity to disrupt the consequences of poverty — both for the potential of the child and the continued success of our city.

For the future of each child, for the future of Cleveland, what we do today matters.