MacKenzie Scott awards millions of dollars to Detroit nonprofits
(CBS DETROIT) - MacKenzie Scott's organization, Yield Giving, is donating $640 million this year to nonprofits across the country, including several in Michigan.
The Downtown Boxing Club in Detroit is one of those nonprofits and was awarded a $2 million grant by the foundation.
"I'm ecstatic," said Khali Sweeney, the founder of Downtown Boxing Gym in Detroit.
Sweeney said he is humbled and grateful that his nonprofit was selected as a recipient.
MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, has donated more than $17 billion to more than 2,300 nonprofits since its inception.
The founder of the Downtown Boxing Gym, Khali Sweeney, said he couldn't be more humbled and grateful that his nonprofit received the award of $2 million.
"I am grateful; I really appreciate this show of support," Sweeney said.
Sweeney said right now there is a waitlist of roughly 2,000 students, and that has really bothered him, despite the success of the program.
"The waitlist has been a thorn in my side. I know for a fact there is no waitlist for the county jail; I know for a fact there is no waitlist for the morgue, so right now we have to make sure we can keep our doors open," Sweeney said.
Sweeney said this grant will allow Downtown Boxing Gym to get more kids into the program, which was recently recognized by the Library of Congress for its achievements in teaching literacy.
"And then we had the National Science Foundation invest heavily in our STEAM program, so that's major too," Sweeney said.
Sweeney founded DBG back in 2007 as a way to get kids interested in other important subjects besides sports like financial literacy, reading, writing, STEAM, and even music.
"I used the boxing as a hook to get the kids in the door, and let's build a community with resources, and we're going to use something to keep them interested," Sweeney said.