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Successful First Year of Tillie and Pat Bishop Initiative
Supporting High School Extracurricular Activities
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Students from Central High School's Future Business Leaders of America club attend statewide conference in Denver in May. Pat Bishop taught business education at Central High School for over two decades and started the first FBLA club in Mesa County schools. | |
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Last year, our Community Foundation received a generous charitable gift from the estate of the late Pat and Tillie Bishop. The new Pat and Tillie Bishop Legacy Fund supports high school students’ participation in extracurricular and club activities in all five School District 51 high schools. Both Pat and Tillie were career educators. Pat enjoyed a career in teaching business education at Central High School, where she established the first Future Business Leaders of America club in the Grand Valley. She valued student participation in extracurricular activities that provided students with opportunities to explore their interests and develop non-academic skills. Many students find support and develop a sense of belonging in the larger high school setting through involvement in a club.
Western Slope families and teachers are familiar with the burden of travel expenses to get to other parts of the state to compete in competitions. The Bishop Legacy Fund helped offset these costs.
The fund also supported a range of other high school club activities. Central High School used funds to develop an award-winning production of Newsies, winning three Bobby G. High School Music Awards. Grand Junction High School used funding for their Mock Trial Team, the Academic Team, and the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA). Fruita Monument High School supported extracurriculars from fly fishing and Dungeons and Dragons clubs to Future Farmers of America (FFA) activities. R-5 High School utilized funding for extracurriculars that included bike club and climbing excursions for students at the National Monument.
Our development staff worked with the donors and their attorney to articulate the couple’s charitable interests and document their intentions during their lifetimes. Once we received the donation, our Program Team worked through the best way to implement the donors’ instructions, developing program guidelines and reporting requirements on the use of funds. We involved high school principals and activity coordinators in the design and roll-out of this important initiative, and collected data for this first year of implementation. The number of programs funded and students impacted were significant; almost one in five high school students benefitted from the Bishop's generous legacy. Our Community Foundation is honored to be stewards of this legacy program.
For more information about the impact of the Bishop Legacy Initiative, see the report summary here.
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“We were able to sponsor athletes who would not have been able to participate in wrestling due to inability to pay. I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to use this funding because I firmly believe that all students should have equal opportunity to thrive regardless of their financial status.” - Clint Trujillo, CHS Head Wrestling Coach | |
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Impact: 2022 - 2023 School Year
$100,000 in Funding
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1,196
Students Benefitted
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Charitable Interests - Intentions - Impact
Community Foundation staff are available to work with donors and their professional advisors to help people who live in and love western Colorado develop their own unique and meaningful charitable legacy plans. We facilitate conversations with donors about their charitable and community interests. We help them articulate and shape their future intentions on how donated resources can make a difference. And we honor those instructions in overseeing the long-term investment of assets, annual distribution of funding, and development of new programs for maximum impact to improve the lives of others and future generations here in western Colorado.
Interested in exploring a charitable legacy? Please contact Kristin Lynch at klynch@wc-cf.org for a first conversation and to brainstorm ideas. No cost and no commitment. We're here to help you make a difference!
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2023 Scholarship Season
$793,000 Committed to Students Post High School Education
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Fall means back to school for many students across western Colorado. Our Community Foundation committed $793,000 to financially support nearly 100 students as they began their next chapter in their educational journey.
Featured in the photo, Keona R. graduated from Cedaredge High School and will be attending the Surgical Technician’s program at Colorado Mesa University. Keona has had a strong desire to work in the medical field and has worked in a local nursing home this past year. She has been awarded our newest scholarship established by the late Tom Huerkamp, the ProSpace Interiors Scholarship, which supports high school students from Delta County. In its first year, this scholarship awarded three scholarships totaling $15,000 and is one of 38 different scholarship funds managed by our regional Community Foundation.
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A Chance to Succeed
Celebrating 15 years of the Clough Scholarship Program
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Clough Scholarship Recipients - Class of 2023 | |
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2023 marks the 15-year anniversary of WCCF’s largest scholarship fund, the Genevieve Clough Scholarship. In 2008, life-long-Rifle resident Genevieve Clough established this scholarship to support students from western Garfield County, particularly those students with financial need and first-generation students who may not have pursued a post-secondary career without support. Mrs. Clough, who received her college degree in her 50s, believed in the power of education and wanted to give as many students as possible “a chance to succeed.”
Over the past 15 years, the Clough Scholarship has awarded over $5.3 million to 470 students. It has supported young people who have become teachers and coaches, nurses and radiology technicians, dental hygienists, welders, businesspeople, and police officers. Clough graduates also include students from agricultural backgrounds who return to their family ranches and farms after pursuing degrees in sustainable agricultural. Many Clough scholars return to or stay in western Garfield County, contributing productively to their communities.
At this point in its history, the Clough Scholarship Program is now supporting multi-sibling families. This past spring, the Clough Scholarship selection committee awarded a scholarship to the youngest and third Rhinaman sister who will pursue a nursing degree at the University of Kentucky starting this fall. Katie, the eldest, is already working as a third-grade teacher at Walmsley Elementary School in New Castle. Elaina, the middle sister, is pursuing a degree in Wildlife Biology at the University of Montana, and during the summer, interns with Colorado Parks and Wildlife. All three sisters were Clough Scholarship recipients.
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Community Foundation Updates | |
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2022 Annual Report Released
Our 2022 Annual Report is ready! We are excited to share stories of donor generosity and grantmaking impact across our seven counties during our 25th anniversary year.
Click below to view the full version. Extra printed copies are available at our office and a full digital version is available on our homepage at wc-cf.org.
We encourage you to share our work with friends and community members!
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We Did It!
8/11 Closing on our
Center for Philanthropy
August 11th was a day of celebration for us as we executed purchase contracts and loan documents to purchase our own building!
This process has taken 18 months, from our board's first discussion and articulation of a goal to own our own building to exploring many purchase and build options, finding a suitable property, negotiating a lease/purchase deal, raising almost $4 million in capital campaign funds, and negotiating purchase and lease terms. We have been in our new home since February and are already using the various meeting rooms and facilities fully to expand our philanthropic programing.
It sure feels good to own our own place! We were able to purchase the entire building, and now we focus on the best uses of the additional spaces on the ground floor and lower level, as well as an open patio adjacent to the building on 5th Street.
A big thank you to our many friends who helped us get to this successful conclusion of months of hard work! Kim Giannone, Dan Prinster, Susan Corle, Katie Worrall, Tyler Dahl and Tom Oliver, Ed Chamberlin, Tanner and the ProVelocity team, Office Outfitters, and the many generous donors who contributed to our Dreaming Forward... Building our Future campaign - we appreciate you!
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YouthStrong Event
2023 SPARC Forum
Our Community Foundation is once again partnering with CASA of the 7th Judicial District to host the annual SPARC (Strategic Partners Accelerating Real Change) Youth Forum at the Grand Junction Convention Center on Friday, October 13th.
Now in its third year, SPARC brings together youth, parents, educators, advocates, and organizations to hear directly from youth on the issues impacting their lives and ways we can better serve them. This year’s forum features Antwone Fisher, an award-winning writer, speaker, director, and children's rights advocate whose life was featured in the best-selling memoir, Finding Fish, and in the movie Antwone Fisher, starring Denzel Washington. Learn more and register for this free event on our YouthStrong page.
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Reflections from the CEO & President | |
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Fall is in the air, and hundreds of school age children head back to school for a new school year.
As I work with our staff team to select stories and photos to feature in our Back-to-School September e-newsletter, I reflect on the increasing funding and impact our organization is having in the area of education, especially in recent years.
About 18% of our distributed funds support scholarships in any given year, but we do other things to support children and youth to be successful in school. Over the years, our Community Foundation donors have supported the building of a Robotics Lab at Central High School and other STEM programs, ChromeBooks for students, CyberStrong programs for parents, teachers, and students on healthy social media use, special training opportunities for teachers in topics like dyslexia and literacy, and so much more.
We also provided grant funding for after school and summer enrichment programs provided by organizations like Riverside Educational Center, Eureka, YouthZone (Glenwood Springs), Boys & Girls Club (Montrose), and Voyager Youth Program (Ouray) to strengthen and expand those opportunities in our communities.
As the much quoted African proverb reminds us, 'It takes a village to raise a child'. It takes all of us to educate and support our children as they grow into adulthood.
A big thank you to all our donors who support education work in our community! These investments make a true impact on setting up our children and youth for success and building a strong next generation.
Anne Wenzel
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The Western Colorado Community Foundation is confirmed in compliance with National Standards for U.S. Community Foundations by the Council on Foundations.
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