The latest Batten grant in 2014 provides $450,000 to help Eastern Virginia Medical School
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| Frank & Jane Batten support education. |
Virginia's 92 percent Hispanic growth rate in the past 10 years prompted EVMS to add a language curriculum and testing recognized by the National Institutes of Health. The program will be part of EVMS' M. Foscue Brock Institute for Community and Global Health.
Funding comes from a donor-advised fund started in 2003 with a $20.5 million gift to the community foundation by the late philanthropist Frank Batten and his wife Jane of Virginia Beach, Virginia. Since then the Batten Fund has provided more than $21.8 million in grants to organizations working to improve educational opportunities primarily in Hampton Roads. Recipients include nonprofits focused on improving early education, teaching people to nurture their environment and bringing history alive for more students as well as those providing higher-education opportunities.
(The Hampton Roads Community Foundation is a regional community foundation started in 1950 as the first community foundation in Virginia. It is among nearly 750 community foundation around the country serving specific geographic regions. It is the largest grant and scholarship provider in southeastern Virginia and manages more than 400 charitable funds created by donors from all walks of life. Over the decades it has provided more than $195 million to improve life for residents living in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, including the cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Smithfield, Suffolk and Virginia Beach. It also serves people in Isle of Wight and Southampton counties and the Eastern Shore of Virginia, including Accomack and Northampton counties. Learn more at hamptonroadscf.org. You can click here to locate a community foundation near you. )
