Beacon Journal staff report

The Burton D. Morgan Foundation — the Hudson organization that supports entrepreneurship and free enterprise programs — has announced $1.2 million in grants.

Nearly half of the grants are targeted at young people.

''The current economic crisis that confronts our nation underscore the need to engage students in entrepreneurship education to encourage economic independence,'' foundation President Deborah Hoover said.

Grant recipients are:

• Ashland University, $70,500, for entrepreneurship programming.

• BioEnterprise Inc., $250,000, to help fund business development and internship programs.

• Boys and Girls Clubs of Cleveland, $30,000, for a financial literacy program.

• Cuyahoga Valley Countryside Conservancy, $50,000, for programs to help farm entrepreneurs.

• E CITY, $32,500, to teach inner-city high school students entrepreneurship skills.

• Entrepreneurship Education Consortium, up to $45,000, for a summer entrepreneurship program at John Carroll University.

• Girl Scouts of North East Ohio, $45,000, for a financial literacy program.

• Heart of Ohio Council, Boy Scouts of America, $100,000, to support the Entrepreneurship Merit Badge program.

• Hudson Community First, $14,000, to fund three career panels and to expand the Intern for a Day program.

• Hudson City School District, $18,500, to send 10 teachers to the national Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education Forum and create an after-school program for middle school students.

• Hudson Community Foundation, $15,000, for legal work.

• Hudson Montessori School, $7,900 for an annual literary magazine, and $150,000 to enable the school to keep a house it owns at Middleton and Darrow roads.

• Junior Achievement of Greater Cleveland, $31,500, for elementary and middle school programs.

• Junior Achievement of East Central Ohio, $27,000, for economics programming.

• Junior Achievement of Lorain County, $16,500, for business mentoring program for high school students.

• National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation, $77,000, for Camp Invention.

• Northeastern Educational Television of Ohio (PBS Channels 45 & 49), $48,300, to support Nightly Business Report and the youth entrepreneurship program Who's Your Boss?

• Scholarship of Entrepreneurial Engagement, up to $80,000, for program expenses and for two high school science/technology forums.

• University School, $53,000, for entrepreneurship programs.

• Westside Industrial Retention and Expansion Network (WIRE), $75,000, to support the Great Lakes Wind Network.