DCF Co-Hosts First National Urban Fellow in Delaware
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he Delaware Community Foundation, in partnership with the Community Education Building, is proud to be hosting Rebeccah Schermesser, the first National Urban Fellow to work in Delaware. The National Urban Fellows program develops people of color and women to become leaders and change agents in the public and nonprofit sectors. Through the program, fellows earn a Master of Public Administration degree at Baruch College in New York and spend nine months serving in unique immersion experiences in government and nonprofit organizations across the country. Ms. Schermesser, a former foster youth and a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, began her career as an environmental scientist in California. She recently moved into nonprofit development, working with Strive For, a mentoring program for foster youth, and Marine Applied Research & Exploration, a marine deep-water monitoring and engineering nonprofit. At the DCF, Ms. Schermesser is participating in the Youth Philanthropy Board's grant making processes, and assisting in marketing and fundraising efforts for The Next Generation and the African American Empowerment Fund of Delaware. At the Community Education Building, she is facilitating conversion of the kitchen to serve the food needs of tenant and area charter schools and developing concepts for greening the building. After the fellowship, Ms. Schermesser hopes to leverage her experience to help turn her passion for helping foster youth into action by developing a residential charter school for foster youth. Two Delawareans have participated in the National Urban Fellows program in past years: Dr. Tony Allen worked at the William Penn Foundation in Philadelphia in 1997, and Antoine Oakley worked for the City of Chicago in 2010. Ms. Schermesser, a native of Oakland, California, is the first Urban Fellow to work at an agency in Delaware.
DCF Community Grants DCF Awards $262,000 in 2012 Capital Grants
The Delaware Community Foundation is proud to have awarded $262,000 in capital and equipment grants this year to 32 nonprofit organizations around the state. Over the years, the DCF has awarded more than $5 million in capital and equipment grants, helping nonprofit organizations turn their passion into action. Capital grants support projects such as construction, renovation or repair of buildings, and/or land purchases. Equipment grants are awarded for items essential to the organization’s delivery of services. This year's recipients are:
Capital Grants Arden Club Biggs Museum of American Art Can-Do Playground at Milford Clarence Fraim Senior Center Connections, CSP Delaware Museum of Natural History Dover Library Foundation Episcopal Church of Saints Andrew and Matthew Friends of the Bear Library Junior Achievement of Delaware La Esperanza Latin American Community Center Little Sisters of the Poor Lutheran Senior Services Milton and Hattie Kutz Home Nemours Fund for Children's Health Ronald McDonald House of Delaware Supporting Kidds UrbanPromise Wilmington Hope Commission Wilmington Housing Partnership YMCA of Delaware (Dover)
$10,000 $5,000 $5,000 $10,000 $5,000 $5,000 $10,000 $15,000 $10,000 $10,000 $20,000 $11,000 $12,800 $14,000 $10,000 $10,000 $10,000 $10,000 $10,000 $15,000 $10,000 $20,000
Equipment Grants Delaware Center for Homeless Veterans Delaware Center for Horticulture Delaware Community Reinvestment Action Council Delaware First Media Delaware Housing Coalition Family Promise of Northern New Castle County Goodwill Industries of Delaware Kent County SPCA SmartDrive Foundation Waggies by Maggie & Friends
$3,000 $1,800 $2,500 $2,000 $2,000 $1,700 $5,000 $3,000 $1,500 $2,500
Applications are posted each December at www.delcf.org/grants. Connecting people who care
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