2024 Annual Meeting and Grantee Panel | |
As we reflect on the 2024 Annual Meeting held May 21, we share key takeaways so that you can find inspiration in our renewed strategic vision to serve Memphis and the Mid-South, as well as learn more about our newly launched grant initiative, Reforming the Housing and Justice Systems.
For those who were able join in person, the thoughtful and enlightening panel discussion provided insights into the intricacies of systemic reform in housing and justice. Our panelists explored the critical need for safe, affordable housing and a fairer, more efficient justice system.
Pictured: moderator Aerial Ozuzu, panelists Gisela Guerrero, Josh Spickler, Jamie Johnson, and Shirley Bondon
We appreciate your engagement in this essential dialogue and hope the information shared enhances your understanding of the urgent need for reform in these areas.
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Annual Meeting Highlights | |
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Another Impressive Year of Community Investment
Community Foundation president Bob Fockler shared with attendees that, for our fiscal year just ended, we distributed almost 7,000 grants totaling more than $120 million. It marks the tenth straight year in which our grants exceeded $100 million. Only about a dozen community foundations in the country can say that.
This year nearly 84% of our grants stayed in our immediate service area: West Tennessee, eastern Arkansas, and northern Mississippi.
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Reforming the Housing and Justice Systems | |
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In December 2023, the Community Foundation’s Board of Governors voted to approve $475,000 in grants in a new funding category, Reforming the Housing and Justice Systems.
Through this initiative, we invest FOREVER Funds dollars in tackling the root causes of some of our biggest issues to create transformational change.
Grant decisions were made by volunteer committee members whose backgrounds and perspectives reflect the diversity of the Mid-South.
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Greater Memphis Housing Justice Project · $165,000
to address the housing crisis in Memphis
The Greater Memphis Housing Justice Project is a multi-year advocacy project designed to conduct research, raise awareness, tell renters’ stories, and explore policy and structural changes to address the housing crisis in Memphis. With this grant, its co-grantees will change attitudes, practices, and structural barriers that are impediments to housing security for Memphians by shaping narrative, building community power, and advocating for changes in policy and practice.
The Greater Memphis Housing Justice Project is an initiative of the Black Clergy Collaborative of Memphis and the Memphis Public Interest Law Center.
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Just City · $100,000
to transform our local criminal justice system
Just City will use this grant to contribute to reducing the complex community problem of crime and poverty by transforming our local criminal justice system so it's fair for all people, regardless of wealth, race, or ethnicity.
Each of its program areas—Clean Slate, Bail Fund, and Court Watch—is designed to directly support people, but more importantly, to further inform its advocacy efforts and address the root causes of harmful policies.
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MICAH · $210,000
to address the root causes of inequality
With this grant, MICAH will address root causes of inequity in our economic, education, and legal/justice systems through a dual approach of organizing issue-based campaigns for social justice and developing leaders who are powerful agents of change in their communities.
Its goal is to deepen organizing work by increasing staff and volunteer leader capacity to develop more long-term strategic issue campaigns, expanding its impact from the local to the state level.
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GiVE 365 Grant Announcement
At the Annual Meeting, GiVE 365 announced $57,600 in grant awards to eight nonprofits advancing the theme Mind Matters: initiatives that provide preventative and restorative mental health services and foster collective healing.
Congratulations to Apple Seeds, Inc., Carpenter Art Garden, CasaLuz, I Am My Sister's Keeper, Indomitable Families Affected by Incarceration, Memphis Child Advocacy Center, Refugee Empowerment Program, and Samaritan Counseling Centers of the Mid-South.
Seventy-five percent of funded agencies are led by executive directors/CEOs of color. Click below to learn about this year’s grants.
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Click here to read The Memphis Flyer's coverage of the event.
To see photos from the event, click here to view the Facebook gallery.
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Hospitality Hub Activation
Guests had the chance to explore FOREVER Funds grantee Hospitality Hub's cozy Hub Studio, temporarily on display at Crosstown Plaza.
The Hub Studio is the latest innovative solution for emergency shelter and transitional housing for those experiencing homelessness. Although the Hub Studio is no longer on view, we encourage you to visit the Hospitality Hub's website to learn more about its impactful work and planned Hub Village community.
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Couldn’t make it in person? You can watch the full event on the Community Foundation’s YouTube channel by clicking below. | | |
The Community Foundation is committed to actively address the needs of the community by examining community issues, securing and distributing resources, advocating for positive change, and convening meetings and conversations which encourage donors and the community to respond. | | | | |
