Posted on June 23, 2012

Community Foundation Update (6/23/12)

Arkansas

Janell Robertson has been appointed assistant executive director of the Carroll County Community Foundation, a local affiliate office of the Arkansas Community Foundation.

The Fresno Regional Foundation has announced eight grants totaling $120,000 to support youth-serving organizations in the San Joaquin Valley. Grants ranging from $5,130 to $25,000 were awarded to Community Services and Employment Training; California State University, Fresno; Boys and Girls Clubs of Fresno County; Spring Valley School - Chawanakee Unified School District; Life Skills Training and Educational Programs; Community Youth Ministries; Encourage Tomorrow; and Coalron Lyceum.

The Boston Foundation has announced that while the second annual report from the Healthy People/Healthy Economy Coalition found progress in fourteen areas that can be linked to improvements in public health, much work remains to be done. According to the Healthy People/Healthy Economy Second Annual Report Card (68 pages, PDF), Massachusetts scored higher in seven areas than it did in 2011, but budget and service concerns dropped the grade for the development of "healthy transportation systems" and the state received failing grades for its handling of sugar-sweetened beverages and public health funding for the second straight year. In terms of a letter grade, the state improved from a C- to C+.

The Sturgis Area Community Foundation has raised more than $204,000 during its first "Match Day," which was conducted in celebration of the foundation's fiftieth anniversary, the Sturgis Journal reports. The foundation had set a match pool of $50,000, but as the number of gifts quickly exceeded expectations, officials decided to boost the match. A precise figure was not immediately available, but more than seven hundred individuals made donations.

The Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation has announced grants totaling $289,433 to community organizations and programs that support the arts, environment, seniors, and youth. Recipients include the Cancer Support Community of Greater Ann Arbor, Hands Across the Water, Fiddle Ensemble Inc./Saline Fiddlers, and Recycle Ann Arbor.

The Otto Bremer Foundation has announced two grants totaling $770,000 in support of ongoing recovery efforts in Minot following last year's devastating flood, which left 25 percent of the city's population homeless. The grants build on a $250,000 grant from the foundation in June 2011 to the Minot Area Recovery Fund, which was created and is administered by the Minot Area Community Foundation. Grants were awarded to the Domestic Violence Crisis Center ($400,000) to help replace transitional housing facilities and enable the center to consolidate its programs and activities at a single site, and to the Minot Park District ($370,000) for repairs to the Roosevelt Park Pool, the city's only outdoor public swimming pool.

The Rhode Island Foundation has announced that its Black Philanthropy Initiative, a permanently endowed fund, awarded inaugural grants totaling nearly $25,000 to Youth in Action and the National Coalition of 100 Black Women-RI. Established in 2009, the initiative aims to help support long-term solutions to challenges facing the African-American community in the state.

The Greater Green Bay Community Foundation has announced three-year grants totaling $563,600 to five new collaborative projects working to address the root causes of poverty in Brown, Kewaunee, and Oconto counties. The projects involve twenty nonprofits and businesses and are being funded by the Basic Needs Giving Partnership, a joint effort of the U.S. Venture Fund for Basic Needs, the J.J. Keller Foundation, and foundation donors, volunteers, and staff. In addition, the partnership is funding five ongoing collaborative projects funded previously.