Three years ago, the University of Georgia joined four community partners in an unprecedented initiative to tackle persistent poverty in Athens-Clarke County. Today, one of the ways UGA employees and students are contributing to that effort is by supporting the Athens Area Community
Foundation.
Creating a community foundation was one of 11 initiatives that Partners for a Prosperous Athens/OneAthens identified as a way to break the cycle of poverty in Athens. Community foundations provide a vehicle to pool donations and invest back into the community, primarily through grant making. AACF-a public, philanthropic organization serving Athens-Clarke and contiguous counties-was established in spring 2008.
Delene Porter, a faculty member at UGA’s Fanning Institute, serves as the president and CEO of AACF. Porter, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degree in social work from UGA in 2002 and 2003, respectively, oversees the foundation’s goal of raising $5 million in five years and manages distribution of grant funds to programs that “support creative approaches” to addressing community needs.
AACF already has established two donor advised funds with UGA connections. Organizations, families or individuals can set up this type of fund in lieu of a private or family foundations and designate how the funds can be used to help the community.
Dexter Fisher, director of services at UGA’s Physical Plant, established AACF’s first family donor advised fund in honor of his late mother, Mamie Fisher, and his late wife, Vivian Fisher, who was emeritus associate vice president for public service and well-known for her contributions to community improvement. Fisher was inspired to use his 50th birthday as a fundraising opportunity-“a party with a purpose.” There was cake and dancing but instead of gifts, guests made donations to the Vivian and Mamie Fisher Educational Fund.
The Kappa Sigma Community Donor Advised Fund is a permanent endowment that supports local and national efforts to improve education, address community needs and build a strong economy. Kappa Sigma is the first fraternity to establish a fund like this.
UGA employees also are contributing to AACF by serving on the board. Currently the board includes Pat Allen, director UGA-community relations; Art Dunning, vice president for public service and outreach; Helen Mills, retired associate vice president for public service and outreach; Tom Rodgers, housing and demographics research center; Regina Smith, associate vice president for research; Carol Winthrop, retired academic affairs; and Joe Whorton, senior fellow at the Fanning Institute.
Lynne Sallot’s capstone public relations class spent spring semester developing a way to connect campus efforts to address poverty.
The class developed lists of all UGA courses and student organizations that relate to poverty and conducted focus groups with faculty and students. For its final product, the class proposed creating a new umbrella organization called OneAthens@uga that will help harness campus energy to support Athens’ efforts towards poverty reduction.
Two UGA programs that aim to improve the county’s high school graduation rate were among the first to receive AACF grants.
The Empowered Youth Programs-created by Deryl Bailey, an assistant professor of counseling and human development services-received $20,000 in January 2009 from AACF and the AT&T Foundation.
EYP is using the grant to support teaching Saturday classes, tutoring and mentoring about 135 students in kindergarten to 12th grade.
In April 2009, the Young Dawgs Program in UGA’s Office of Human Resources received a AACF grant to support work-based learning opportunities for high school students. The program currently serves 60 students but plans to offer 260 internships for high school students by 2011.
These are just a few of the ways UGA is helping to address persistent poverty locally. For more information or to get involved, see www.athensareacf.org or contact Porter at dporter@fanning.uga.edu.