Colorado

Community First Foundation in Arvada has announced that it is awarding $314,000 to mitigate the impact of the closure of 15 Jefferson County public elementary schools on students, families, and staff. The grants will support efforts to ensure successful transitions between schools and help build a sense of belonging for families impacted by the closures. Earlier this year, the foundation also invested $118,500 in engaging school communities and providing a unique opportunity for students at Emory Elementary School (a closing school) and Lasley Elementary School (a welcoming school) to build community through Boys & Girls Club spring break and summer camp.

Connecticut

The Connecticut Community Foundation has announced that the annual Give Local Greater Waterbury and Litchfield Hills event will take place on April 25 and 26. The 36-hour online give-a-thon co-hosted with Ion Bank Foundation enables individual donors to support nearly 300 local charities that serve the region. Since 2013, the event has raised more than $13 million for nonprofit organizations that serve the more than 340,000 residents of the foundation’s 21-town service area.

Illinois

The Chicago Community Trust has announced the appointment of three new members to its executive committee, which governs the trust’s use of donor-advised and endowed funds. Brett J. Hart is president of United Airlines. Jesse Ruiz is a partner, general counsel, and chief compliance officer of the Vistria Group, a private investment firm. And Gretchen Crosby Sims is a Chicago-based executive with Hakluyt, a global strategic advisory firm.

New Hampshire

The New Hampshire Charitable Foundation has announced that its Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund recently awarded 46 grants totaling more than $916,000. Established in 2006, the Tillotson Fund is one of the largest permanent rural philanthropies in the country. Recipients include the Colonel Town Players of Lancaster, AdaptiveSports Partners of the North Country, Copper Cannon Camp, and the Granite Outdoor Alliance.

Ohio

The Columbus Foundation has announced Frederic Bertley, president and CEO of the Center of Science and Industry, as the recipient of the 2023 Spirit of Columbus Award. Created in 2013 in honor of pilot Jerrie Mock, the first woman to fly solo around the world, the award recognizes those who exhibit exemplary community spirit through their efforts and accomplishments. Bertley was selected in recognition of his commitment to central Ohio in the areas of science literacy, education equity, and the workforce pipeline.

Texas

The San Antonio Area Foundation has announced that 20 Webb County high school juniors and seniors have been selected to receive $40,000 each in college scholarships. The recipients of the 2023 San Antonio Area Foundation Legacy Scholarships have all committed to attending a Texas college (public or private) as required. As long as they maintain set academic standards, they will receive $10,000 for each of their four years of study.

Virginia

The sixth annual Great Community Give, an initiative of the Community Foundation of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, raised $2 million this year, WHSV reports. Recipients include NewBridges Immigrant Resource Center, to which donors provided more than $27,000 during the event.

Washington, D.C.

The Greater Washington Community Foundation has announced grants totaling $810,000 through its Sharing Community Funds. Grants were awarded through the Sharing DC, Sharing Montgomery, and Sharing Prince George’s initiatives to address three key intervention areas of the racial wealth gap—basic needs, economic mobility, and community wealth building.

Wisconsin

The Greater Green Bay Community Foundation (GGBCF) has announced that journalists with the Northeast Wisconsin (NEW) News Lab were awarded top prizes at the Wisconsin Newspaper Association’s 2022 Better Newspaper Contest for their work advancing in-depth local reporting. The NEW News Lab is a collaborative effort launched in 2021 with funding from Microsoft, in partnership with GGBCF and THE Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region, and includes the Green Bay Press-Gazette, Press Times, Fox Valley 365, Appleton Post-Crescent, Wisconsin Public Radio, and Wisconsin Watch. First-place prizes were awarded to reporters and editors from the Press-Gazette and Post-Crescent for ongoing/extended coverage through their “Home is Here” series, which used U.S. Census Bureau numbers to look at how the region is changing demographically; reporter Jeff Bollier for enterprise/interpretive reporting of the affordable housing crisis in northeast Wisconsin as part of the “Unaffordable: No Place to Call Home” series; and Heather Graves, Janelle Fisher, and Josh Staloch of the Press Times for ongoing/extended coverage of homelessness, including the six-part “Disregarded” series, which took a deep-dive look at the state of homelessness in Brown County.