The Martha Holden Jennings Foundation was founded in 1959 by Mrs. Andrew R. Jennings, a Cleveland lady with a deep interest in aiding in the improvement of elementary and secondary public school education in Ohio.

She envisioned the Foundation as a means to provide greater accomplishment on the part of our youth and their teachers. She hoped this, at the same time, would bring greater recognition to the teaching profession at the elementary and secondary levels.

Mrs. Jennings lived for many years in Europe, where her husband was manager of foreign operations for International Business Machines Corporation. She returned to Cleveland in 1930 and lived at Wade Park Manor until her death in 1962.