In 2025, the Vernon L. Odom Fund awarded grants totaling $11,400 to 12 nonprofit organizations:
A grant to Citizens Akron Church will provide boxing lesson scholarships through Popeye's Boxing Gym.
- Akron Inner City Soccer Club, to support an after-school soccer program for under-served and low-income families in Akron, $1,000
- Akron Youth Mentorship, to support a series of fine art summer day camps for Akron youth, promoting healthy decision-making, work habits and collaboration with peers, $1,000
- 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
- Centenary United Methodist Church, to support a three-week drama camp for youth in the Sherbondy Hill neighborhood, $1,000
- Citizens Akron Church (The Vincent House), to provide boxing lesson scholarships through Popeye's Boxing Gym for children in the Middlebury neighborhood, $1,000
- Dancing Classrooms Northeast Ohio, to support social-emotional learning for Akron Public Schools students through a ballroom dance residency program, $400
- Fair Housing Contact Service, to reduce housing discrimination by providing mobile educational services through the Fair Housing Bus, $1,000
- Girls on the Run Northeast Ohio, to provide financial assistance to Akron-area girls for a program that combines physical activity with discussions about self-confidence, stress management and healthy relationships, $1,000
- Limitless Ambition, to support community engagement events designed to strengthen relationships between parents and their daughters, $1,000
- South Street Ministries, to provide reentry services and peer-to-peer support groups for returning citizens, $1,000
- Summit Artspace, to support an exhibition by emerging local artist Janoi Daley and to provide art supplies, $1,000
- Williams Challenge, to support a free fatherhood training program for justice-involved fathers, $1,000