California

The Sacramento Bee has established a special projects fund at the Sacramento Region Community Foundation, the Sacramento Business Journal reports. The donor-supported Impact Media Fund will enable the Bee to hire a team of reporters, even as its parent company, the McClatchy Company, reduces head counts across the newspapers it owns and recently warned of a $500 million shortfall in its pension fund that could affect the company's cash flow in 2020. The Tipping Point Lab, as the investigative team will be known, will work on the kind of in-depth stories that have been part of the "Tipping Point" series the paper started running in July. According to the Business Journal, donors to the fund will have no say over the Bee's editorial choices or be able to veto content.

Colorado

The Community Foundation of Northern Colorado in Fort Collins has launched the Hach Center for Regional Engagement, an initiative aimed at bringing residents of area together to collaborate on community development projects, the Loveland Reporter-Herald reports.

Connecticut

The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving has announced a grant of $750,000 in support of Our Piece of the Pie, which administers the Hartford Youth Service Corps. Created in 2016 by Mayor Luke Bronin, the youth service initiative works to reengage at-risk or disconnected youth. In collaboration with the City of Hartford and state and local community partners, OPP will use the grant to integrate service-learning projects and wraparound support for at least two hundred and fifty youth. 

Indiana

At its annual Celebration of Philanthropy event, the Hamilton County Community Foundation, an affiliate of the Central Indiana Community Foundation, honored three local leaders with its Community Pillar Awards. Scott Fadness, Lauren Guynn, and Dan Clark each received $5,000 to direct to a local charity of their choice. Fadness, the mayor of Fishers, Indiana, directed his award to the Youth Mentoring Initiative, while Guynn gave hers to Hamilton County Area Neighborhood Development and Clark gave his to the Good Samaritan Network. At the event, HCCF also announced a campaign to raise $1 million for its Endowment for Hamilton County. If the campaign meets its goal, the funds will be matched 2:1 by Giving Indiana Funds for Tomorrow, an initiative of the Lilly Endowment.

Kansas

The Hutchinson Community Foundation has announced grants totaling nearly $210,000 to twenty-five organizations providing services and programs in Reno County. Grant recipients include the Family Community Theatre, Haven Gathering Place, Circles of Hope Reno County, and the Kansas Children's Service League.

Ohio

The Columbus Foundation has announced the appointment of Danielle Tong as a community research and grants management officer. Prior to joining the foundation, Tong owned and operated a consulting firm, The Kind Elephant, that specialized in building the capacity of nonprofits in the state.

Pennsylvania

The Coles House Fund at the Philadelphia Foundation has awarded $100,000 to local women's shelter HAVEN Women. The organization will use the grant to provide female veterans with a stipend for furniture and a security deposit, enabling them to transition into permanent housing.

The Pittsburgh Foundation has announced the winners of the 2019 Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Awards, which recognize the work and achievements of an established and an emerging artist from the region. The established artist award was given to Adriana Ramirez, an acclaimed Mexican-Colombian literary artist, while Cameron Barnett, an African American poet and educator whose work explores the lives of Black people in North America, was honored with the emerging artist award. Offered as part of a joint program with the Heinz Endowments, the awards include a $15,000 prize for each honoree.

Texas

The Greater Houston Community Foundation has announced the launch of Understanding Houston, the city's first regional community indicators project. Supported by GHCF's strategic research partner, Rice University's Kinder Institute for Urban Research, the initiative is designed to equip residents of Fort Bend, Harris, and Montgomery counties with the knowledge they need to make informed giving decisions, create positive impact, and promote a more vibrant Houston. To that end, the project will develop and maintain a data platform organized around eight topic areas — arts and culture, civic engagement, community context, education, economic opportunity, environment, health, and housing — and more than two hundred community indicators.

The Communities Foundation of Texas has announced the creation of the Collin County Leadership Council, which will bring community issues, needs, and ideas to CFT for discussion and offer advice and counsel to the foundation focused on strengthening philanthropy in the region. Council members will not serve in a fiduciary capacity but will be expected to share their perspectives and knowledge to help shape CFT's future work in the county.