Children's Fund of Michigan

Philanthropic foundation created by Senator James J. Couzens and administered by William J. Norton to fund organizations in Michigan involved in child health and child guidance.

From the description of Children's Fund of Michigan records, 1929-1965 (bulk 1929-1961). (University of Michigan). WorldCat record id: 34423385

The Children's Fund of Michigan (CFM) was a charitable corporation created April 11, 1929 by Michigan Senator James Couzens with a gift of ten million dollars. The fund was to be used primarily for the benefit of the children of Michigan and was to be totally consumed within a period of twenty-five years. According to the terms of the trust, the fund was intended to "promote the health, welfare, happiness and development of the children of Michigan primarily, and elsewhere in the world." The fund was to be governed by a board of trustees. Officers of the organizations were to be chosen mainly from the trustees, but other individuals, not trustees, could be elected or appointed. The day-to-day administration of the fund rested in the capable hands of its executive vice-president and secretary, William J. Norton, himself a distinguished philanthropist.

In practice, the trustees divided the distribution of funds into three areas or divisions, each headed by a director. These were the Child Health Division administered by Bernard W. Carey (1929-1948) and Kenneth R. Gibson (1948-1954); the Child Guidance Division administered by Maud E. Watson (1930-1943) and John M. Dorsey (1944-1954); and the Research Division headed by Icie G. Macy-Hoobler (1930-1954). Special project grants were also awarded from time-to-time outside of these divisions.

The Child Health Division each year made the greatest expenditure of funds mainly in the area of dental care, rural health nursing services, and health education, and with the establishment of children's clinics at Marquette in the Upper Peninsula and Traverse City in the northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan. The division also made various yearly grants-in-aid to independent health agencies (such as the Visiting Nurse Association of Detroit) to help in financing their programs.

The Child Guidance Division was largely concerned with behavioral problems of "maladjusted children." Through different child guidance centers established in the state, the fund hoped to address the psychological problems afflicting children at risk because of the depression and because of other emotional and family-based difficulties. The largest of these centers was the Children's Center of Detroit. Eventually the work of these centers was taken over by the state department of mental health. Under the Child Guidance Division, the Edith Thomas Book Project was also funded, providing a circulating loan collection of sets of children's books to school districts and parent-teacher groups in communities of less than two thousand inhabitants.

The Division of Research, under the leadership of Dr. Icie Macie-Hoobler, conducted studies into problems pertaining to nutrition and maternal and infant growth. Initially undertaken in a laboratory operated by the fund, subsequent research was administered in a Child Research Center jointly created by the Children's Fund and the Children's Hospital of Michigan. Types of research funded included causes of the decay of children's teeth, research into orthodontic problems, problems relating to childhood tuberculosis, and causative factors leading to incidence of juvenile delinquency.

Although not a formal division, the Children's Fund distributed various grants-in-aid to groups concerned with providing recreational opportunities. These included the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of Detroit, the Young Men's Christian Association, the Green Pastures Camp of the Detroit Urban League, the Bay Cliff Health Camp in Marquette, Michigan, and Camp Stapleton operated by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, among others.

Further details regarding the work of the Fund can be found in Biography of a Foundation written by William C. Richards and William J. Norton (1957). As specified in the trust instrument, the Children's Fund of Michigan ceased operation twenty-five years to the date of its creation having expended all of the organization's assets.

From the guide to the Children's Fund of Michigan, records, 1929-1965, 1929-1961, (Bentley Historical Library University of Michigan)