Improving Life in Norfolk and Beyond

With $2,350 in donations The Norfolk Foundation (now Hampton Roads Community Foundation) formed to

Norfolk SPCA benefits from grants.

benefit Norfolk and a 50-mile radius. That was 66 years ago when seven Norfolk civic leaders had the great idea to establish the first community foundation in Virginia. It was the 1950s when community foundations were spreading across the country doing good work in specific geographic regions. Although the community foundation is regional, it retains a big footprint in Norfolk.

 

Dozens of Norfolk-based nonprofits helped by the Hampton Roads Community Foundation and include the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk Botanical Garden, Virginia Opera, Virginia Stage Company, Virginia Symphony and Virginia Zoo. These cultural icons are among recipient organizations whose footprints extend far beyond the city. All have received multiple grants from foundation donors that have helped them grow to serve residents of all ages from throughout our region and beyond.

 

Community foundation grants were also instrumental in the 2014 opening of the Salvation Army’s Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center. Other grants have helped nonprofits focused primarily on Norfolk such as the Norfolk SPCA and ParkPlace Health & Dental Clinic.

 

The 2015 opening of the Slover Library in downtown Norfolk took the community foundation back to its

Slover Library is a welcome addition to downtown Norfolk.

roots as its first big grant from donor funds in 1959 was $100,000 to build Kirn Memorial Library, which was torn down a few years ago in anticipation of the Slover – a bigger, more technologically advanced library. More than $1 million from community foundation donors helped build the new library that is a community hub and has won national accolades.

 

Many Norfolk-based organizations started with help from community foundation grants, including:

• ACCESS College Foundation
• Eastern Virginia Medical School
• Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia
• ForKids Inc.
• Virginia Arts Festival
• Virginia Wesleyan College
   
  These and many other nonprofits have all expanded their programs and facilities over the years with help from millions of dollars in community foundation grants.
   
  In addition to helping Norfolk-based nonprofits, the community foundation invests in the city’s students and their futures. This past year 92 students from Norfolk attended college helped by $317,000 in scholarships provided by community foundation donors. Many past recipients now work in the region as educators, bankers, physicians, social workers and other important professions.

Doing Good: Norfolk Couple's Scholarship Helps Students Today

Meet Raven Bland, Norfolk's first Youth Poet Laureate,
and a Hampton Roads Community Foundation scholarship recipient.

	Raven Bland  (photo by Glen McClure)

Raven is a senior at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia who has been helped by a Joseph A. and Bertha W. Harry scholarship since her freshman year of college. She is among 413 students going to college in the fall with more than $1.3 million in Hampton Roads Community Foundation scholarships started by donors like the Harrys.

Raven, a Granby High School graduate, grew up in the same Norview neighborhood in Norfolk where the Harrys lived. Joseph made his living as a grocery buyer and owner of  rental houses. He and his wife Bertha had no children but left a $1.7 million bequest to start a permanent scholarship fund for ODU and Virginia Wesleyan College students. So now the Harrys have hundreds of children who have all have benefited from their generosity.

Bertha and Joseph Harry

Raven will be among 40 students helped by the Harry Scholarship in 2016-17. She has written poetry as a hobby since age 12 and last year won Norfolk's inaugural Youth Poet Laureate contest sponsored by Teens With a Purpose, Urban Word, Hampton Roads Youth Poets and the Norfolk Public Library. This 1-minute-27-second video produced by ODU gives a glimpse into Raven's poetry.

Winning the 2015 contest led to Raven's first published book of poetry When the Raven Sings and public readings of her work where she saw first-hand how her words help people deal with life issues.


Raven is a history major who aspires to a career in government. She works at ODU's Student Success Center and this summer is interning with the City of Norfolk in its Department of Neighborhood Development. 

The Power of Endowment: Feldman Chamber Music Society

In 1991 the Feldman Chamber Music Society board took a visionary leap of faith by starting a

Dover Quartet performed in 2016.

$70,000 endowment at the Hampton Roads Community Foundation.

Pete Morford, the Feldman’s board president, applauds that action by saying: “We would not be able to operate today without the endowment. We can count on it being there when we need it. Without the far-sighted people and the endowment they created, the Feldman would not exist.”

 

Since its establishment, the Feldman board has drawn nearly $150,000 from its charitable endowment to bring high-quality chamber groups like the Dover Quartet to perform in southeastern Virginia. Through investment growth and additional gifts, the Feldman endowment today is valued at more than $415,000.

 

The Feldman Quartet started in 1946 in Norfolk, VA.

The Feldman, which dates to 1946 when it formed as the Feldman Quartet under the direction of violinist Israel Feldman, was the first nonprofit to start an organizational endowment at the Hampton Roads Community Foundation. Today it manages more than 45 similar endowments. Each fund is designed to grow over time while benefitting the specific nonprofit that created it with the option to take an annual distribution.

 

If you want to explore how an endowment can help your organization, contact Kay Stine or Debbi Steiger at kstine@ hamptonroadscf.org or dsteiger@ hamptonroadscf.org.

Helping End Homelessness: Housing First Grants

Housing First looks to alter the traditional practice of moving homeless people into crowded

James Lewis is helped by Fatima Tomlin of JCOC.

shelters and transitional housing before locating permanent housing.

Since 2009, an effort in southeastern Virginia and the rest of the United States has focused on making “homelessness rare, brief and nonrecurring,” stays Suzanne Puryear, president of The Planning Council and a Hampton Roads Community Foundation board member.

The shift benefits both clients and shelters. Quickly securing permanent housing and providing services to help clients settle into stable lives, frees space in homeless shelters for emergency cases and lets agencies help more people. The average stay in Judeo- Christian OutreachCenter’s shelter in Virginia Beach has dropped from six months to 66 days, says Todd A.J. Walker, executive director of JCOC. This allows the nonprofit to serve 100 more people a year.

Samaritan House reports similar trends at its Virginia Beach family shelter, which like the JCOC has received Hampton Roads Community Foundation grants to help  implement Housing First strategies.

“Our clients are moving out of our shelters in 40 days now instead of 60. It’s about 30 percent less expensive for us,” says Angela Kellam, Samaritan House executive director.

Long-term success has improved with 86 percent of clients placed in permanent housing “still doing well after 24 months.” Community foundation funding has helped nonprofits leverage other resources. Samaritan House recently parlayed a $175,000 foundation grant into six national and state awards totaling $450,000, Kellam says.

Hampton Road Community Foundation grants have also helped boost the region’s supply of low-rent housing. Virginia Supportive Housing has built five studio apartment complexes in Hampton Roads that provide homes for formerly homeless citizens. The Richmond-based nonprofit is planning a sixth complex in the region.

“We couldn’t have done it without the foundation,” says Allison Bogdanovic, executive director. “We never had a partner with such a commitment to our work.”

“In all aspects, the foundation has been a critical player,” observes Andrew M. Friedman, director of Virginia Beach’s Department of Housing and Neighborhood Preservation. A foundation grant paid for a 2013 Virginia Beach housing crisis response study that led to positive changes. James Lewis, a former Judeo Christian Outreach Center client, knows personally the results of such efforts. The formerly homeless man now lives in a comfortable home and says: “The oars are there for me, and there are no holes in the boat,” he says. “Now I can get across the river.”

Helping Others: $1.8 Million in Grants Awarded to Area Nonprofits

The Hampton RoadsCommunity Foundation is looking forward to the impact its latest round of grants will have on southeastern Virginia. Grants were awarded in April 2016 from field-of-interest funds created by our generous donors. This round of Community Grants focused on environmental and facilities grants.

Habitat for Humanity South Hampton Roads was one of the nine area nonprofits awarded more than $1.8 million. Look for a Habitat for Humanity’s blitz build later this year to help nine Suffolk, Virginia families accomplish their dream of owning homes. The Hampton Roads Community Foundation awarded a $50,000 grant to Habitat's South Hampton Roads affiliate to underpin a blitz build fueled by area volunteers with caring hearts and building skills.

See all nine grant recipients and learn how they will utilize their awards to benefit our region.

Don’t miss our next grant opportunities:

• Our Community Leadership Partners giving group is accepting applications through May 24 for organizations that help youth lead better lives. Learn more.
• The next round of Community Grants focuses on health and human services in Hampton Roads. Applications are due July 1. Learn more.

Planning Ahead: Leaving a Charitable Bequest to Carry Out Your Wishes

We are sadden by the recent passing of internationally renowned musician Prince at age 57.

We’re also  surprised to hear Prince left no will with provisions for how he would like his estate (worth millions) as well as his music and other intellectual property (also worth millions) to be used going forward.

Wills, trusts, and other legal instruments can be an effective way to carry out your wishes even after you are gone -- whether you have millions of dollars or not.

Perhaps Prince's lack of a will shouldn’t come as such a surprise in 2016 considering that statistics show at least one of every two Americans does not have a will. Notable examples of famous people who died without wills or estate plans include Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., Howard Hughes, Jimi Hendrix and Bob Marley. In each instance, a last will and testament would have ensured the deceased's final wishes were carried and also have avoided controversy and legal battles among family members. 

As you consider what you’d like to do with your estate when you are no longer here,  think about the good a charitable legacy would do. Is there a nonprofit you eagerly donate to each year with gifts? Is there a cause you have been meaning to support? Using a will or trust or designating them as a beneficiary of your Individual Retirement Account or insurance policy could be a wonderful surprise for any nonprofit organization.

The Hampton Roads Community Foundation makes it easy for you to support a single organization or multiple causes with a future charitable gift. You can also leave a flexible gift to meet future needs you can't imagine today. Our bequest guide makes it easy to learn how to do this.

Our staff can work with your attorney, accountant or other advisors to help you plan ahead so you can help others forever. By adding a charitable gift to your will, you have the opportunity to continue to support your community and specific causes or organizations long after you are gone. There are many ways to plan for a future estate gift:

• Bequests
• IRA and Retirement Plans
• Life Insurance
• Charitable Gift Annuity
• Charitable Remainder Trust
• Charitable Lead Trust

While gifts of all sizes are welcome at the community foundation, if your bequest is for $25,000 or more, you can have a charitable fund named for you or another family member or special person. Your endowed fund will grow forever while providing grants to nonprofits or scholarships to students following the directions you set in place in your plans. Your legacy will let you have a lasting impact on our community.

If you’re interested in earning more or ordering printed copy of "Adding Charity to Your Will or IRA," please contact Kay Stine, vice president for development at 757.622.7951 or kstine@hamptonroadscf.org. You can also learn more at leaveabequest.org.

Doing Good: Teaming Up to Tackle Dental Issues

The Hampton Roads Community Foundation and United Way of South Hampton Roads have

Dental care is a critical need in Hampton Roads.

teamed up to improve dental care and access for low-income residents of the South Hampton Roads region of Virginia

The two regional funders have issued a joint request for proposal from area nonprofits to help economically disadvantaged individuals have free dental treatment and preventive care. May 20 is the deadline for nonprofit organizations, including coalitions, to apply for a total of $50,000 in grant funding.

“This is the first time the community foundation and the United Way have joined forces with a single proposal request,” says Dr. Deborah M. DiCroce, president and CEO of the Hampton Roads Community Foundation. “We are leveraging the strengths of two long-standing organizations and modeling the power of collaboration to improve life for area individuals with tremendous dental needs and no resources to address them.”

The community foundation and United Way focused on dental issues as a critical need they could effectively address together. Statistics show that 197,949 Hampton Roads adults have not visited a dentist in the past two years, and 55,000 area youth have not seen a dentist in at least a year. Approximately the same number of youth already have cavities in their teeth.

The American Dental Association reports that record numbers of Americans go to emergency rooms for dental treatment, which can cost up to 10 times more than preventative care. Neglecting dental care can lead to a lifetime of health problems and make it difficult for individuals to eat, speak, get jobs and feel good about themselves.

“Many of us have never known what it is like to live with constant dental pain and to be embarrassed by not having teeth,” says Carol McCormack, United Way of South Hampton Roads president and CEO.  She has seen clients at dental clinics come because “they couldn’t have the heart surgery or kidney transplants they needed until their dental problems were fixed.”

The dental RFP grant guidelines and application are posted to www.hamptonroadscf.org. Both the United Way and Hampton Roads are funding grants and will review applications. Both organizations have separately funded dental needs in the region previously.

“We are thrilled to work with the community foundation as partners tackling one of our community’s most significant needs,” McCormack says. 

 

The Hampton Roads Community Foundation is the largest grant and scholarship provider in southeastern Virginia and supports causes ranging from arts and education to health and human services. The United Way is the largest private funder dedicated solely to human service needs in South Hampton Roads.