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?
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 Fruits Fund, a component fund of BMCF. As promised, we are announcing grant awards over the next few weeks.
Commitment to Community, a grassroots movement, commonly known as C2C, serves four Walla Walla neighborhoods, namely Blue Ridge, Edith Carrie, Jefferson Park and Washington Park. The residents of these neighborhoods are predominantly low-income and roughly 60% of the residents are white and 40% are Latino.
The goal of C2C is to develop a sense of ownership among neighbors through ongoing relationship building and project activity, based on the neighbors’ priorities and initiatives. C2C also seeks to build relationships with new and existing major stakeholders, including funders and service providers.
The neighborhoods recently identified goals specific to their area. Examples are a Spring graffiti clean-up and Summer trash clean-up in the Blue Ridge area, organizing the fourth season of the community garden in the Edith Carrie neighborhood, Spring clean-up, Summer BBQ and December Tree Lighting at Jefferson Park and the 6th Dia de los Ninos (Children’s Day) held in Washington Park.
Funds from this grant will provide ongoing program support for C2C.
The First Fruits Fund
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.
2012 First Fruits Grantees:
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 is ending this week and the winners are…
Professional Entry Winner: Park Plaza, creator Bonnie Blum
The Park Plaza Gingerbread House, a replica of the Historic Train Depot in Dayton, received $164 in donations. This beautiful house was a favorite throughout the competition. Park Plaza will be given a trophy to display for the year.
Amateur Entry Winner: Power House Theater, creator Colleen Monette
This darling entry, a replica of the newly opened Powerhouse Theater, was chosen as the amateur entry winner by the staff of the Marcus Whitman Hotel. Notice the tiny peanut butter cup seats! Colleen won a gift certificate for two for dinner at the Marc.
Most exciting is that the event raised a total of $600 that will be given to Catholic Charities of Walla Walla to help meet the needs of Homeless Teens. According to Jennifer Northam of the Downtown Walla Walla Foundation, donations were 3x higher than last year!
If you haven’t yet visited the Marc to see the houses time is running out. They will only be displayed until 12 noon, Friday December 30th.
A special thanks to all the participants who entered houses this year:
Frosted, The Cupcake Shop
Park Plaza Retirement Home
Powerhouse Theater
Olive Marketplace & Cafe
Marcus Whitman Hotel
Girl Scout Troop #3717
Colleen Monette
Sage & Elijah Kline
Symone Leal & Rachel Nicholas
Emily Wickham
To view the photos of all the entrants visit the BMCF Facebook page.
Blue Mountain Community Foundation, P.O. Box 603, Walla Walla, Washington 99362 509-529-4371 Fax: 509-529-5284
© 2006-2011 Blue Mountain Community Foundation | Design : Morrison Griffith Design Partners