California

The California Community Foundation has announced sixty-seven grants totaling more than $7.8 million to Los Angeles County organizations working to address the needs of the region. Grants were awarded in the areas of the arts, education, health, housing and economic opportunity, immigrant integration, nonprofit sustainability, and smart urban growth, including those awarded through the Centinela Valley Medical and Community Funds and the Los Angeles Scholars Investment Fund.

Colorado

The Rose Community Foundation in Denver has awarded 157 grants totaling $2.4 million, including thirty-four program area grants totaling $1.8 million in support of Jewish life, aging, child and family development, education, and health. In addition, donor-advised funds administered by the foundation approved 123 grants totaling $634,825.

Indiana

100 Women Who Care Clay County, an affiliate giving circle of the Wabash Valley Community Foundation, has announced a $10,600 grant to the Clay County Community Foundation, a WVCF affiliate. The award, which was made from the giving circle's 100 Women Who Care Clay County Community Fund, with additional contributions from giving circle members, will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the Lilly Endowment.

Louisiana

The Greater New Orleans Foundation has announced a $978,000 grant from the Kresge Foundation to create a network of human services providers that is easy for clients to access and navigate. With the grant, GNOF will expand its Organizational Effectiveness Initiative to help nonprofits strengthen their operations and management and support the human services sector in the region in addressing major challenges, developing new strategies, and implementing new management and leadership approaches.

Michigan

The LGBT Fund at the Grand Rapids Community Foundation has announced that it recently awarded its first grant to a collaborative project between Arbor Circle and the Lesbian Gay Community Network of Western Michigan. The $20,000 grant will fund the Safe and Supported project, which will work to identify youth in need of care and to implement an evidence-based therapeutic program focused on the Family Acceptance model, which is designed to prevent health and mental health risks for LGBT youth, including suicide, homelessness, and HIV.

New York

The Rochester Area Community Foundation has announced a $525,000 grant from Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation in support of efforts to collect, analyze, and share data that leads to positive community change. Of the gift, $500,000 will establish the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation Fund for Smart Strategy, while the remaining $25,000 will be used to jump start the data collection and analysis.

Pennsylvania

The Crawford Central Community Foundation has awarded grants totaling $4,239 to the Crawford Central School District in support of six pay-it-forward projects, the Meadville Tribune reports. The projects include STEAM Stations, in which students will use a robotic ball to teach coding and engineering at the elementary school level, and Operation READ, an afterschool program designed to boost the reading skills of second- and third-grade students.

Rhode Island

The board of the Rhode Island Foundation has elected Marie Langlois to a three-year term as chair, succeeding Fred Butler, effective January 1. Langlois, who retired as managing director of Washington Trust Investors in 2010, has served on the board since 2011 and currently chairs the foundation's investment committee and serves on its nominating and corporate governance committees. Langlois also serves as vice chair of the board of Salve Regina University, chairs the board of the Miriam Hospital Foundation, is a member of the board of the Rhode Island Philharmonic and Music School, and previously served as a trustee of Brown University and as vice chancellor of the Brown Corporation.

South Carolina

The Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina has announced the appointment of Darrin Goss, Sr. as its new president and CEO, effective February 15. Raised on James Island, South Carolina, Goss currently serves as president and CEO of Capital United Way in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. A graduate of Wofford College and North Greenville University and a U.S. Army veteran, Goss also led the community impact program at the United Way of Greenville County and directed multicultural affairs at Wofford.

Washington

The Seattle Foundation has announced the launch, in partnership with the Bridgespan Group, of Leading for Impact – Seattle, a capacity-building program designed to help executive leadership teams at fifty area nonprofits hone their strategic and organizational management skills. The first and second cohorts selected for the program will begin their training in January and September 2016, respectively, with additional cohorts to be selected in 2017 and 2018. The Bridgespan Group will partner with local capacity builder 501 Commons to train its team and model the approach.