Women and girls on every socio-economic level need to learn to manage their own finances. Now there's help, thanks to an initiative of The Women's Fund that focuses on financial literacy and carries the subtitle "Teaching Women and Girls How to Fish."
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Maximum security prisoners are writing poetry and learning how to draw, thanks to a grant from Community Funds to the Alabama Prison Arts and Education Project. The process transforms both the prisoners and the artists who work with them, according to Kyes Stevens, who started the program after seeing successful models at work across the country. more
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When kids crash land on Planet ZAK, it’s more than an exercise in using their imagination. At Camp Invention in Shelby County, it’s a chance to solve problems creatively as part of a team. more
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HIPPY is a catchy name that stands for an important concept – Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters. As a partner in The Community Foundation’s focus on preparing young children for success in school, HIPPY works with parents in mostly rural areas of Walker and west Jefferson counties. more
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L.G. “Bud” Jones saw a need in Blount County for a one-stop shop where people could get help from a variety of social service and government agencies in a single place. That place turned out to be the former Blount Memorial Hospital complex, now known as Hope House. more
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Adaptive Aquatics on Lay Lake changes lives every summer, and the story of Melanie and her parents is just one example. "It's not about waterskiing," says executive director Joe Ray. "It's about life lessons for the kids – that they can do more – and for the parents that their kids can do more and are not that fragile. When they succeed here, the message is, 'hey, I can do anything!"
A 2006 grant from Community Funds supported the construction of a new pier (Interest area: Health; Priority: Fitness and nutrition for children).
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When Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, The Community Foundation responded quickly to help local nonprofits serve survivors and to help donors make gifts quickly, effectively and securely.
The Community Foundation was a leader in the effort to establish the Nonprofit Resource Center of Alabama in the mid-1990s as a way to provide technical services to strengthen area nonprofits.
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Today, KidOne Transport is an award-winning agency, providing transportation to much-needed medical care for thousands of Birmingham area children. In 1996, The Community Foundation gave this fledgling organization its first grant, fulfilling the dream that founder Russell Jackson saw after a little boy died in his arms.
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In the 1970s and 1980s, The Community Foundation supported Red Mountain Museum and Discovery Place as they developed programs to educate children, especially with hands-on science exhibits. In 1992, we led the way in a public-private partnership to create what has become the McWane Science Center.
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"Community Counts: Measuring Progress in our Region" is a unique report, funded by The Community Foundation, that can be used as a tool to measure quality of life in 12 counties of central Alabama. The 85 indicators included here provide information that can encourage and equip individuals and organizations to make our community a better place for all of us.
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The Community Foundation played a key role in creating the Cultural Master Plan of Greater Birmingham, released in 2003 with one key recommendation out of many – to establish an organization that could provide consistent coordination and leadership for the arts and cultural sector. That organization became the Cultural Alliance of Greater Birmingham.
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Four nonprofits + five-year business plans = more than 1,000 homes and apartments for low to moderate-income families. That's what the The Community Foundation and other funders helped to make possible through the nonprofit incubator program.
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