For the 8th time, the Children’s Forum will examine the condition of children, families and our community. The Forum begins at 8:30 AM, April 12 at the William A. Grant Water & Environmental Center at the Community College. Seating is limited. Contact Teri Barila for more information.
In addition to a review of a comprehensive data book on community health indicators, the Forum will discuss community wide initiatives to improve conditions for local children and families.
This year give a gift that continues giving throughout the year. Join us in making a gift to a Blue Mountain Community Foundation Impact! Fund. Your gift will go directly to local non-profits working to strengthen our communities.
Blue Mountain Community Foundation has launched our first ever year-end giving campaign!
Lawson will be on KUJ Monday morning at 7:30 a.m. visiting with Jim Bock to talk about the first ever Blue Mountain Community Foundation year-end giving campaign. Tune in at 1420 a.m. to listen in and learn about how you can make an Impact! on your community this Holiday Season.
Blue Mountain Community Foundation held it’s Annual Meeting on October 18th where it announced the grantees for it’s 2012 grant cycle. There were approximately 130 people in attendance which included, Grantees, Volunteers and Donors.
Lawson announced the grants by Impact! Area which include:
Arts!
Needs!
Economy!
Education!
Health!
Earth!
Neighbors!
Over $233,000 in grants were awarded.
To read more about the grants or to see a list of grantees please click here.
The Foundation’s Annual Report is also available on our website.
Susan Kralman, Homelessness/Poverty Response & Grant Coordinator for Walla Walla County Department of Human Services released 2012 data for the annual Point-in-Time Survey on homelessness. The survey attempts to assess at nearly the same point each year the total number of people who are homeless along with other information. In addition to the 2012 Counts, here is a comparison to past years. What does the data say to you?
Blue Mountain Community Foundation welcomes you to its 2012-13 Grant Year. It is our goal to make the grant application process easy for the grant seeker and also greener for our environment, requiring much less paperwork. Please read the Guidelines for Grant Applications carefully before submitting an application to determine if your organization is eligible and if the Foundation’s funding timeline suits the needs of your program.
Submit the following items to Blue Mountain Community Foundation by JULY 2, 2012:
Do not use a binder. Staple each application and program/project description sheet together in the upper-left hand corner. Upon review of your submission, BMCF may request additional information, including but not limited to financial statements, project budgets and a list of members of your governing board.
All grant applications must be postmarked or received in the BMCF office at 8 South 2nd Avenue, Suite 618, Walla Walla, WA 99362, by JULY 2, 2012
Grant awards will be announced at the Foundation’s annual meeting in October, 2012. Declined proposals will be notified in writing by or before the annual meeting.
The following eleven grants represents Blue Mountain Community Foundation‘s recent awards from its First Fruits Fund.
The 2012 First Fruits Grantees:
The First Fruits Fund was established in 2008 with a generous grant from the Vista Hermosa Foundation. Since that time, the Fund has made 66 grants exceeding $550,000.
The stated goal of the First Fruits Fund is to “encourage collaborative and innovative approaches to building self-sufficiency for the most under-served in our communities, including improved access to such basic needs as housing, food, education and livable wages.” Founders believe that the most impactful way to achieve that goal is to support community-based initiatives that empower people themselves to identify their needs and collectively own the process of change.
Blue Mountain Community Foundation recently awarded grants from the First FruitsFund, a component fund of BMCF. As promised we will be announcing recent grant awards over the next few weeks.
The Blue Mountain Community Foundation’s service area includes all of Walla Walla County. Historically, the Foundation’s grantmaking has not reached the banks of the Columbia and Snake Rivers, specifically Burbank.
To understand why I visited Burbank to learn about its nonprofit sector, which might be traditionally defined by 501(c)3 public charities. In reality, there are few charities in Burbank. Most are 4-H clubs and churches.
Even though there are no public charities based in Burbank that, in my judgement, meet the guidelines of the First Fruits Fund, there most certainly are people and institutions that do. My outreach took me to the office of Columbia Elementary School Principal, Ian Yale.
It doesn’t take long to see that Ian knows his children, families and community. As a staff, the Columbia School District struggles to meet the needs of children that extend beyond the classroom to categories like mental health and hunger. But, they do. The limits to their efforts right now are bounded only by financial resources not effort or resourcefulness.
This grant takes a step to empower district leadership to help their students in ways they see fit. It will be exciting and fun to learn from their experience. I expect to see remarkable ingenuity and innovation in the use of these resources. The grant from the First Fruits Fund of $10,000 is to support students at the discretion of the Columbia School District Administrative Leadership Team.
2012 First Fruits Grantees:
The Downtown Walla Walla Foundation’s Annual Gingerbread Contest hosted by the Marcus Whitman Hotel is always a fun family event. While the Professional entries are always impressive, each year there are a number of fun entries which are often created by children. This year, one such entry was created by Girl Scout Troop #3717. The troop of Daisies and Browines, lead by Tiffany Jenes, has 15 Kindergarten through 2nd graders.
Each girl built and decorated a house which makes up the village. The houses are made from graham crackers and frosting and were decorated with candy donated by Bright’s Candies, which Tiffany owns with her husband Paul. This darling display was a fun holiday activity for the troop and the girls have been delighted to see their creations at the Marc!
Voting for professional entries is coming to a close. Friday, December 22nd will be the last day you can cast your vote for your favorite professional entry.
The Gingerbread Houses will be on display in the lobby of the Marcus Whitman Hotel until December 30th. Voting is by donation for your favorite entry. To date $400.55 has been raised all of which will go to help our area’s homeless.
Take this opportunity to visit the Marc and see the houses on display and cast your vote to help our area’s homeless!
Blue Mountain Community Foundation, P.O. Box 603, Walla Walla, Washington 99362 509-529-4371 Fax: 509-529-5284
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