Skilled trades foundation, hip hop academy get $500K each in 2024 Michigan budget

Two Lansing-based nonprofits received matching $500,000 grants in the 2024 Michigan budget. One offers training in the skilled trades, the other uses hip hop as a youth development tool.

Michigan’s 2024 state budget is $80.4 billion, and about $1.8 billion of that is pork spending via earmarks to specific projects and organizations. These range from a $5 million grant to a museum of racist memorabilia at Ferris State University to $900,000 for a cricket field in Troy.

Mikey23 Foundation is a Lansing-based organization that has been awarded $500,000 from the 2024 state budget. The foundation’s website says it was created after Mikey McKissic II died at 23 years of age. McKissic worked for the family business, McKissic Construction.

The foundation was created to “improve the lives of young people through innovative education and training in the area of skilled trades.” Licensed builders, electricians, plumbers, and others working in heating, ventilation and air conditioning fields help youth develop trades skills.

The foundation was granted tax-exempt status in 2017.

All of the Above Hip Hop Academy, a nonprofit based in Lansing, was granted $500,000 in Michigan’s 2024 budget.

The nonprofit’s mission is to “serve communities as a Hip Hop cultural resource for the purpose of youth development.”

The organization was granted tax exempt status in 2017. Members of the organization were not paid for services provided, according to a 990 form for 2019 published by GuideStar. Those working with the academy likely do so on a volunteer basis.

The academy received $86,663 in government contributions in 2019. It also received $114,810 from nongovernment entities the same year.