The Ideals We Must Always Strive For
The last few weeks, not to mention the last year, have brought with them crisis and difficulty. We have experienced violence, terror, and loss of life. All the better to take this moment and give thanks to the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., born on a rainy January day in 1929. Through his life and his words he constantly reminded us not only of our manifest imperfections as a nation but also the ideals we must always strive for. Read more.
Murray Rodes Named Interim Director of Finance
We are pleased to welcome Murray Rodes as the Community Foundation’s interim director of finance. Rodes brings a wealth of local experience in accounting, financial management, and investment reporting, having worked with area nonprofits and foundations. He will work closely with Jan Dorman through the end of the year to ensure a smooth and successful transition in advance of Dorman’s retirement. Read more.
Community Foundation Presented Truist Promise Award
The Southeastern Council of Foundations (SECF), in partnership with the Truist Foundation, has presented the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation with an inaugural Truist Foundation Promise Award. The award came in recognition of the Community Foundation’s “innovative response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to Janine Lee, president and CEO of SECF, “a response that leveraged multiple forms of philanthropic capital and provided [the] community with rapid support when it was most needed.” Read More.
City Schoolyard Garden Receives Shaping Futures Grant; Birth Sisters of Charlottesville Advance Work
City Schoolyard Garden, in partnership with Charlottesville City Schools, has been awarded a five-year, $500,000 Shaping Futures grant from the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation. That group’s project is designed to improve the health of Charlottesville youth through healthy school meals, engagement in school gardens, and cultivating leadership and lifelong healthy living skills. Meanwhile, the Birth Sisters of Charlottesville, a nonprofit organization whose trained doulas provide childbirth education, labor support, and postpartum care to women of color, continue work on their Shaping Futures grant—awarded in 2016 and the first such grant from the Community Foundation. Read more.
Community Recovery & Catalyst Grants Awarded
The Charlottesville Area Community Foundation has awarded Community Recovery & Catalyst Grants to 124 area nonprofit organizations totaling $2,218,250. These grants are made possible through generous contributions from the Bama Works Fund of Dave Matthews Band, the University of Virginia Health System, the Twice Is Nice Fund, Dorothy Batten, and Enriching Communities, which is managed by the Community Foundation. While these four grant programs typically hold independent grant rounds in the fall, this year they have combined into one effort to maximize resources dedicated to community recovery during the COVID-19 pandemic and to help address continued racial injustice. Read more.
