The Bellevue, Wash.-based Ballmer Group has made more than $16 million in grants in Southeast Michigan in its inaugural round of funding aimed at helping impoverished children and families in the region rise out of poverty.

The grants come after 9-10 months of meeting with other stakeholders to leverage and forge collaborations, fact-finding conversations and data review to inform its grants. The actions are in line with the approach co-founders Connie and Steve Ballmer — the former CEO of Microsoft Corp. — have taken with their grant making in Los Angeles and Washington state.

The group is focusing its grants and seeking collaborations aimed at scaling the country's most effective interventions, accelerating place-based neighborhood interventions and improving the efficacy and efficiency of public systems and programs that support low-income communities.

"We believe this is a strong first step, and we aim to be a long-term partner here, where Steve grew up," the Ballmers said in a letter to grantees.

"... In making these initial commitments in southeast Michigan, we did not seek to create new programs or launch new initiatives. We are dedicated to learning from organizations like yours that are already effectively employing the levers of change we've seen work at the neighborhood, family, and individual levels."

The Ballmer Group's grants are intended to strengthen nonprofits that have built strong community partnerships and extend "the enormous potential of government support," the couple said.