MacArthur Foundation honors small nonprofits

Two organizations here, North Lawndale Employment Network and Chicago Rehab Network, are among nine winners in this country and abroad of a new award for small nonprofits from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

The Creative and Effective Institutions Awards range from $250,000 to $500,000. The winners have annual budgets of $2.5 million or less, and, though small, they are considered comers in their fields.

The awards are an extension, of sorts, of the foundation’s famous five-year, $500,000 grants for creative individuals, but those “genius” grants have no strings attached. The grants to the nonprofits were sized to meet specific needs or purposes.

The North Lawndale Employment Network plans to use its $400,000 award to retire debt and create a cash reserve. The 9-year-old organization, with a budget of $1.2 million, trains and helps the hard to employ, especially ex-offenders, find good-paying jobs, including those at its beekeeping and honey-making operation.

“This award says that a lot of remarkable things can happen on the ground in communities,” said Brenda Palms-Barber, the group’s chief executive director.

Kevin Jackson, executive director of Chicago Rehab Network, said his group plans to use its $350,000 award to establish a cash reserve and perhaps to hire a full-time development staff. The 25-year-old group, with a $1-million budget, is a collective of community development organizations and an advocate for affordable housing.

The other winners are:

* CLEEN Foundation, Lagos, Nigeria, $300,000. CLEEN is devoted to police accountability and reform in a country still struggling with its recent past as a military dictatorship. The award is to acquire and equip a training facility.

* Fundar: Centro de Analisis e Investigacion, Mexico City, $500,000. This group tracks public spending related to human rights, reproductive health and AIDS prevention. The grant is to be used to equip an office.

* Independent Council of Legal Expertise, Moscow, $250,000. The group promotes legal-system reform and human rights. The grant is to be used for a permanent Moscow office.

* Knowledge Ecology International, London, Geneva and Washington, $500,000. Now a joint venture of two groups, it monitors intellectual-property developments. The award will help it gain independent nonprofit status.

* Peruvian Society for Environmental Law, Lima, $325,000. The award will go for training and technical assistance.

* RealBenefits, Boston, $500,000. The Web-based service is used to help enroll the needy in suitable assistance programs. The money is to help bolster back-office operations.

* Society for Education, Action and Research in Community Health, Maharashtra, India, $300,000. The group is to use the award to study maternal morbidity and youth sexual and reproductive health.