Tipp City Foundation board member, Jim Ranft, and Laura Letton of ThinkTV are bringing the future of workforce readiness into focus! The Tipp City Foundation proudly funded the Miami County focused segment of Community Town Hall: Workforce Ready—The Future Is Now, a four-part documentary highlighting workforce opportunities across Southwest Ohio.

For two years the Tipp City Foundation has seen a trend in donor sentiment and grant requests that we didn't predict. Therein lies the beauty of a community foundation when it reacts to changing needs. In this case, the trend has spun around the topic of workforce development. 

The economic strength of the region (and thus our community) is being challenged due to a shortage of skilled workers. Today, starting in middle school, educators are stepping up to give the next generation of workers a running start towards success. Tipp City and Bethel Schools are teaming up with the Miami County Educational Service Center in this effort. Edison State Community College is expanding the nursing program and modernizing the Advanced Engineering and Manufacturing labs. The foundation has awarded grants to each of these programs. 

Interestingly, some of our donors have established endowment funds focused on similar workforce development goals. So when ThinkTV asked us to collaborate on a 4-part documentary looking at the future of SW Ohio, kicking off with workforce readiness, we immediately saw the link. It was also our opportunity to ask that the lens of the show broaden to the northern Miami Valley by featuring our grant-making partners.

A huge thank you to Wawa and the Tipp City Police Department for the $1,000 donation the Tipp City Foundation received from the Hoagies for Heroes competition. This event was held during the Wawa grand opening. What good community citizens!

Read the full article in the Tipp Gazette here (& photo credit to the Tipp Gazette): Click below

By Kevin Tucker

The above tagline both commences and culminates each of the brand new “So Far, So Good” podcasts hosted by Tipp City Foundation (TCF) board members Jim Ranft and Sarah Gillenwater in their attempt to demystify a community foundation.

“The Foundation is the connector, not the story,” said Gillenwater. “The people are the story and without the people, the Foundation wouldn’t have a future. We want to peak curiosity in our listeners so that they want to continue to learn more about what is happening in our service area.”

A grant opportunity from the Tipp City Foundation gave the Downtown Tipp City Partnership its first ever DTCP float in the Tipp City Mum Festival Parade. The Foundation's additional support, is what DTCP needed to turn the idea of the float into reality. But the float itself was a community effort. Chris Snider, a past DTCP board chair, volunteered his time to help build and prepare the trailer and base for the float and worked alongside other volunteers to bring the design to life. His behind-the-scenes work provided the foundation for what eventually made its way down the parade route.

Tipp City Foundation is proud to support the groundbreaking of the Upper Valley Medical Center/Premier Health Nursing Wing Addition at Edison State Community College. Tipp City Foundation President, Richard Bender, was on hand to dig in. We are thrilled to see the long lasting impact of this project, and proud to support the expansion of our region's workforce. 

The Tipp City Foundation supports the Tipp City Enrichment Program. The TCEP kids had a summer packed with adventures, creativity, learning, laughter, and LOTS of fun!

From TCEP: A HUGE thank you to the Tipp City Foundation for supporting our summer enrichment program through grant funding. Your generosity helped us bring special experiences directly to our kids and create memories that will last long after summer is over.

Thank you for helping us make TCEP a place where kids don't just spend their summer — they experience it!

A big thank you to Main St. Financial/Thrivent, who are at the Silver-level sponsorship since 2014! We are deeply grateful for their ongoing commitment and sponsorship!