September Updates: Economics of Historic Preservation, Support for College Football, & more.
Rochester Area Community Foundation
We lead boldly to realize a more equitable, inclusive, and vital region.
Historic Preservation Grants Protect the Past, Invest in Future
The Community Foundation recently awarded $337,425 in historic preservation grants to 22 organizations. Each project is an investment in an economic future that highlights cultural gems and sustains the organizations that protect them.
Investments in historic preservation can benefit the local economy by:
The Community Foundation is one of the largest funders of historic preservation projects in our eight-county region, thanks in large part to the foresight of donors who established endowment funds years or decades ago. Today, we're finding creative ways to connect compelling projects with the right funding, whether that's through competitive grants, partnering with donors who care about preserving our shared history, or a mix of the two.?
The number of requests coming from the seven counties surrounding Monroe nearly doubled this year.
Preserving a Gathering Space in East Pembroke
East Pembroke Grange has been bringing people together in Genesee County for over a hundred years. Critical renovations to the hall floor and stage made possible by a grant of $15,000 will bring back the celebrations, dinners, and square dances that so many residents remember.?
“East Pembroke’s Grange Hall provides one of the only venues for gatherings in the community. Projects like this help make ours a region where everyone can benefit from historical assets,” says Annette Jiménez Gleason, senior program officer for vitality.???
A Permanent Tribute to Rochester’s Oldest Black Neighborhood
Another grant of $22,155?will transform "Clarissa Uprooted" from a temporary exhibit to a permanent, widely accessible community resource in Rochester. The exhibit preserves and shares photos, maps, artifacts, and oral histories from the Clarissa Street/Third Ward community, Rochester’s oldest Black neighborhood, with a special emphasis on building connections between young people and elders.?
One Gift Built a Stadium. Another Will Keep it Standing.
Days are getting shorter, Wegmans’ shelves are stocked with apple cider, and there are hints of a chill in the air. That can only mean one thing. College football season is here!
One local philanthropist is likely to have his eye on St. John Fisher University’s Fall schedule. Jim Growney, who graduated from Fisher in 1966, has dedicated a portion of his estate to the ongoing support of the Growney Stadium, a facility he helped establish with a leading gift back in the 1990s.
Proceeds from the sale of his second home in Florida established the James P. Growney Fund, which ensures that the stadium will continue to host Fisher’s Empire 8 football, lacrosse, soccer, and field hockey teams long into the future. Grants from the fund are already investing in this lively gathering space for athletes and fans.
This football season, we are grateful for Growney’s generosity and local focus. His foresight means that St. John Fisher’s stadium will be hosting games, celebrations, and unforgettable moments for decades to come.
One Year of Community Connections
This May marked one year of activity for the Community Connections Desk, the physical equivalent of 2-1-1 located on-site at the Monroe County Hall of Justice. A joint effort by Goodwill of the Finger Lakes and the 7th Judicial District, the desk connected over 400 individuals in its first year to things like housing, food, employment, and legal services. Connections Desk navigators look for ways to address other needs that might contribute to a person's presence at the courthouse, and to provide a human touch to what can be an otherwise overwhelming experience.?
The idea for the Community Connections Desk was born when Simeon Banister, the Community Foundation’s president and CEO, spent time observing interactions around the courtroom.
“I was watching and eavesdropping a little, and it hit me like a ton of bricks. Shouldn’t services and resources be available right here in the courthouse when people actually needed them?” Banister said.?
In Rochester, like in many communities, the problem isn't always an absence of resources: It’s often an absence of connections. The Connections Desk makes it possible to support people experiencing distress in real time at the Hall of Justice in a way that just wasn’t possible before. When people leave the courtroom and approach the desk, they are met with a friendly face, and a conversation ensues that gets at the heart of what they need and where they can get help.?
One year into the program,?the number of people stopping by the desk each month continues to grow. While housing assistance remains the most frequent referral, the desk has also guided clients to assistance with things like Social Security, SNAP, credit repair, and divorce. The true value of the desk is that it connects people to the right services at just the right time.?
The Connections Desk was supported by a $74,000 grant from the Community Foundation made possible by unrestricted Community Impact Funds and the Thomas E. Goldman Memorial Fund.?
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ACT Rochester’s New Website Invites Fresh Thinking
This year marks the 15-year anniversary of ACT Rochester. That’s fifteen years since Rochester followed Boston, Toronto, and other cities in launching a data program meant to improve collaboration, enhance progress toward community goals, and help make better policy and financial decisions. As the Community Foundation’s data initiative, ACT Rochester maintains that mission and, this year, embraces new leadership and an updated website.
What should you know about the new website?
For the last decade and a half, ACT Rochester has been the home of our region’s community indicators program, monitoring community well-being over time. ACT’s indicators make publicly available data more accessible than it is on government websites by displaying information using intuitive and interactive visuals.
“People go to the ACT Rochester website because they are looking to highlight an important issue that plagues us or to connect an area of need to their organization’s program,” says Dr. Meg Norris, ACT Rochester’s Executive Director as of August 2022.???
Today, we want to highlight an expansion. The updated website calls all of us to be intentional about our data use, to connect data and narrative, and to remember that this publicly available data is a spark or a benchmark, not an answer. We want to move away from using numbers to support a conclusion we have already made; instead, we want to point toward a finely-tuned question or problem statement.?
Connecting Data and Narrative: Fresh Perspectives?
To connect statistics to their context, www.actrochester.org has expanded to include a section for narrative.?The Brain Food feed presents snack-sized, thoughtfully curated blog posts that are thoughtfully curated, diverse in source, and fresh in perspective.
Here are some sample posts:?
Now what?
Did you read something that made you think differently? Share this post with your thoughts on LinkedIn. Let’s move away from old stories and allow thoughtfully curated information to spark creative new ones.
Celebrating Retirements: Three Women, 56 Years of Dedication
Join us in wishing three inspiring women a happy retirement!
At the end of August, Pat Campbell’s tenure at the Community Foundation came to an end. A former nurse, Pat joined the Foundation as a program officer in 2007, overseeing a portfolio related to health and successful aging, and eventually became the Community Programs Department’s Senior Director. She played a significant role in launching and sustaining the Monroe County Aging Alliance as its original convener in 2012 and became its co-director in 2022, when the Alliance became a joint initiative of the Community Foundation and United Way of Greater Rochester and the Finger Lakes. Pat is quick to share tips about inclusive language and inspiring stories about progress on creating a community where people age well.
Nancy Kaplan has stepped into retirement after 23 years of dedicated service as the coordinator of Rochester’s Child.? She was the force behind developing policies and practices that have improved the lives of our community’s youngest and most vulnerable children. Looking back at her arrival at the Community Foundation and the start of her work with Rochester’s Child, Nancy says, “I knew that I had found my place.” She leaves a legacy of better outcomes and brighter futures, and we’re grateful for the impact of her work on a generation of kids.?
Mary Holleran joined the Community Foundation in 2008 after a 24-year career with the Democrat & Chronicle. Over the years, her role evolved from Senior Director to Vice President, and finally to Senior Vice President of Communications, showcasing her ever expanding contributions and resulting in tremendous growth in the Foundation’s presence across our region. Her involvement with the Developmental Disabilities Giving Circle demonstrated her leadership and created all kinds of opportunities for inclusive experiences. Coworkers, board members, and partners will miss many unique things about Mary, including the notes and kind words she used to tell others that their efforts – large and small – were noticed and appreciated.
Celebration of Giving
November 13,?6 - 9 p.m. at Rochester Riverside Convention Center
This evening event blends the inspiration of our Philanthropy Awards with the festive atmosphere of a Holiday Open House to kick off the giving season.?Don’t miss out on an evening of uplifting stories and celebration alongside like-minded philanthropists who have a shared vision for our region.