In 2024, the Vernon L. Odom Fund awarded grants totaling $10,500 to 12 nonprofit organizations:
Students With A Goal (SWAG) received a $1,000 grant to support a weekly reading circle.
- Akron Inner City Soccer Club, to support an after-school soccer program for under-served and low-income families in Akron, $1,000
- Akron Urban League, to support the Young Adult Council, a project that connects diverse youth ages 16-26 from historically disadvantaged communities to caring adult mentors who will teach them life and leadership skills, $500
- Akron Youth Mentorship, to support the Fresh Camp summer series, which provides Akron youth with opportunities to creatively express themselves while promoting healthy decision-making, work habits and collaboration with peers, $500
- Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Zeta Theta Omega Chapter, to support Perfecting Our Pearls, a one-day youth leadership program that provides girls from diverse backgrounds with education and mentorship, while improving their self-esteem, $1,000
- Bondage Breakers Inc., to support the All Youth Matter project, which helps children and teens from West Akron improve their social and emotional skills, $750
- Law & Leadership Institute, to increase the capacity of a tuition-free, four-year college preparatory program for promising high school students who are at risk of not graduating high school or attending college, $1,000
- Limitless Ambition, to support a mother-daughter brunch event that will empower Summit County mothers to strengthen their relationship with their teenage daughters $750
- South Street Ministries, to provide reentry services and peer-to-peer support groups for returning citizens, $1,000
- Students With A Goal (SWAG), to support a weekly reading circle that will foster literacy, facilitate meaningful dialogues on race, and introduce students to authors from diverse backgrounds, $1,000
- Summit Artspace, to support the creation and exhibition of "The Aunties," a collection by local artist Sylvia Sykes that explores diverse examples of womanhood, $1,000
- The Village Is Us, to support The FatherHood Meet Up, a transformative program dedicated to empowering Black fathers and fostering positive family environments, $1,000
- Williams Challenge, to strengthen families by providing a fatherhood mentoring program at no cost to low-income, absent or recently incarcerated fathers, $1,000