Statement from W.K. Kellogg Foundation on commitment to Detroit's revitalization

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Jan 28, 2014, 04:21 ET

BATTLE CREEK, Mich., Jan. 28, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) has a longstanding commitment to children, families and communities. We realize that healthy and vibrant cities are places where children have an opportunity to thrive. As the birthplace of the WKKF, Michigan is one of our priority places and Detroit has always been an area for our community-based work.

In recent months, we have joined other national and local philanthropic organizations to meet with Judge Gerald Rosen to explore how we might contribute to a fund to support the city of Detroit's pension obligations to current and retired workers and safeguard the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Today, we are announcing our commitment to invest $40 million in this fund, intended to help clear the pathway toward Detroit's revitalization. We see this as an investment in Detroit, its children and families, and our shared future. We have a strong belief that people have the inherent capacity to solve their own problems and our support is meant to come alongside and strengthen the opportunities for success.

In addition to financial resources, we offer our active collaboration with civic leaders and philanthropic partners. If we are to chart a new future for Detroit, it is clear that this will require big ideas, great passion and creative collaboration.

It is our urgent hope and our belief that this investment in the future of Detroit will help stabilize and renew the city at this critical time and also help create conditions that further the optimal development of all children, a mission that is central to our work.

About the W.K. Kellogg Foundation
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), founded in 1930 as an independent, private foundation by breakfast cereal pioneer, Will Keith Kellogg, is among the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States. Guided by the belief that all children should have an equal opportunity to thrive, WKKF works with communities to help break the cycle of poverty by removing barriers based on race or income that hold back children, so they can realize their full potential in school, work and life.

The Kellogg Foundation is based in Battle Creek, Mich., and works throughout the United States and internationally, as well as with sovereign tribes. Special emphasis is paid to priority places where there are high concentrations of poverty and where children face significant barriers to success. WKKF priority places in the U.S. are in Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans; and internationally, are in Mexico and Haiti.

SOURCE W.K. Kellogg Foundation