A Good Foundation - The Newsletter of CFMT - Spring 2020

A GOOD FOUNDATION THE NEWSLETTER OF THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE

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THE BIG PAYBACK RAISES MORE THAN $4.3M FOR MIDDLE TENNESSEE NONPROFITS

7th Annual 24-Hour Online Giving Event Tops $20 Million Over Time In the wake of recent deadly tornadoes and catastrophic winds and amid a worldwide pandemic and economic collapse, generosity continues to help define Middle Tennessee.

The Big Payback’s seventh annual 24-hour online giving event ended Thursday night by raising more than $4.3 million in funds for participating area nonprofits, a record for the event.

In its seven-year history, The Big Payback has helped hundreds and hundreds of area nonprofits raise more than $20 million — $20,953,623 — in cumulative donations.

In the Fifth Third Bank’s Big Reveal, the preliminary final amount totaling $4,347,441 came from 31,694 total gifts. The total includes funds raised and prize totals.

This year’s total topped the event’s previous record set in 2019 of $4,106,182 from 28,458 total gifts.

A record 988 Middle Tennessee nonprofits — including schools and religious institutions — from 34 counties signed up to participate in this year’s The Big Payback, an initiative of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (CFMT).

“The most striking thing was that each of the 988 local nonprofits received no less than $50 from the get-go,” said Ellen Lehman, president of The Community Foundation. “And for all who were able to participate in a chaotic year, we will be forever grateful of your willingness to make the economic fall less steep and less painful.

“On behalf of the participating nonprofits and those they serve, THANK YOU FOR YOUR KINDNESS AND SUPPORT. Good things will happen as a result,” Lehman said.

The Big Payback is a community-wide online giving day designed to give the public the opportunity to pay back the nonprofits that make this a place we are

proud to call home. Starting at 6 pm Wednesday, May 6 and continuing to 6 pm Thursday, May 7, there were 24 hours to make donations to a wide array of participating local nonprofits at TheBigPayback.org. There were 10,027 donors who reported giving to an organization for the first time, upping the seven-year total to 39,693.

This year’s record total of nonprofits included 108 organizations from 15 counties that were participating in The Big Payback for the first time.

Categories included human services, education, community improvement, arts and culture, youth development, animal welfare, health, housing and shelter, and the environment.

“In 2014, the first year of The Big Payback, it was a leap of faith. Would our neighbors work together to improve and maintain our quality of life here?”

Lehman recalled. “We started hosting this event in 2014 because we knew we didn’t have enough discretionary dollars to help many of the local nonprofits on whom our 40 counties relied. So we created a shared service, The Big Payback, to avoid duplication of expense and effort. Local nonprofits could share in the 24-hour event rather than each one spending money on their own event.

“But this Big Payback was a very different one …

We know that this is a tough time to be doing this in the middle of tornado recovery, COVID-19 and the economic fragility we are experiencing, Lehman continued.

“The good thing was that The Big Payback 2020 was perfectly suited to the rules of our changing society,” she said. “While we were sheltering at home on the days leading up to May 6th and May 7th, we could all still be working on behalf of the Middle Tennessee community. We needed to encourage people and friends and families to participate in getting the word out.

“We hoped that people would sit on their couch and serve as ambassadors for the 988 local nonprofits who had signed on to participate,” Lehman said.

“The first good thing about this was that all of this was online, so no one needed to leave their houses and the second good thing about this was gifts to support these participants could be as small as $10.

No great wealth needed… just great hearts.”

The Big Payback, and an online leaderboard tracked donations in real time, both online and on digital billboards throughout the area.

This year’s incentive prize pool totaled about $250,000.

Generous sponsors included: Kharis Foundation, The Jane and Richard Eskind and Family Foundation, The Frist Foundation, Jerry and Ernie Williams, The HCA Foundation, Fifth Third Bank, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee, The Memorial Foundation, Bongo Nashville, Kraft CPAs, Lipman, Nashville Soccer Club, and Susan and Luke Simons.

Donors were able to search and select organizations based on mission, location and focus area, Donors also could support multiple nonprofits and make gifts of any size with ease, from $10 and up.

With all donations restricted to online giving and in the absence of live events, The Big Payback’s Wilson County affiliate hosted a virtual giving party Thursday.

Virtual prize patrols honoring winning nonprofits included several appearances by Tennessee Titans great Eddie George, a CFMT board member.

For a complete list of nonprofit giving totals and additional prizewinners, visit www.thebigpayback.org.

IN THIS ISSUE Scholarship Honors the 'Jackie Robinson of Journalism' CFMT Tops $1 Billion in Giving Building a Community Partnership with Robertson Co. Middle Tennessee Tornado Relief & Recovery Efforts

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CFMT Happenings

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Staff Spotlight

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Statewide Quest Toward Improving Child Care Board Spotlight

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Gifts to nonprofits from the public were boosted with additional financial prizes from sponsors of CFMT.org • 1

SCHOLARSHIP HONORS THE ‘JACKIE ROBINSON OF JOURNALISM' been honored with numerous awards, including the Helen Thomas Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Society of Professional Journalists. His papers were donated to Emory University in Atlanta.

In the mid-1990s, long after his retirement from the Banner in 1981, Churchwell was coaxed into writing a regular column for the newspaper’s editorial pages.

He did so until the afternoon Banner folded, ending its 122-year run, in February 1998.

Attention, would-be journalists who want to make a difference in their communities: The Community Foundation annually offers a scholarship named in part after one of the country’s trailblazing journalists — Robert Churchwell Sr. — a soft-spoken education news reporter whose legacy and relevancy remains strong today, decades after his retirement and 11 years after his death.

Established by members of the Churchwell family a decade ago, the Robert Churchwell Sr. and Mary Churchwell Scholarship Fund offers financial relief to juniors, seniors, graduate-level or PhD. candidates in the field of journalism who are committed to a career in the profession.

Robert Churchwell Sr.’s impact in journalism created a legacy that extends well beyond this scholarship opportunity.

His trench coat, fedora, and typewriter are encased and on display at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which opened in 2016 and continues to attract crowds on the National Mall in Washington, DC. The display’s plaque reads: "One of the first black journalists to work at a white-owned Southern newspaper, Robert Churchwell (1917-2009) was hired by the Nashville Banner in 1950 to cover news in the black community. Despite prejudice from co-workers, censorship of his articles on Civil Rights activities, and other hardships, Churchwell remained at the Banner for over 30 years. For his pioneering role in desegregating the mainstream press, he became known as the ’Jackie Robinson of journalism.'”

The history-making journalist went on to work for more than two decades as an editorial writer at the R.H. Boyd Publishing House in Nashville. He has

Upon Churchwell’s return to the Banner’s pages, he wrote in unvarnished, direct prose about: not having a desk at the newspaper until several years after his hiring; being shunned by many of his co-workers; and witnessing but not being able to report on the Civil Rights movement of lunchroom sit-ins and the Freedom Riders that flourished in Nashville.

Remember, this was in the early 1960s at what was then a very conservative, historically segregationist newspaper.

After his death at age 91 in 2009, the Metro School Board changed the name of Wharton Elementary School in North Nashville to the Robert Churchwell Museum Magnet Elementary School.

It was one year later, in 2010, that Dr. Kevin Churchwell, now CEO of Boston Children’s Hospital, and wife and children’s author Gloria Respress-Churchwell, established the Churchwell scholarship at The Community Foundation.

“After Dad's death, we wanted to make sure Robert Churchwell's journalism legacy was recognized and supported,” says his daughter-in-law, Gloria, who has written a children’s picture book, “Robert Churchwell Writing News, Making History: A Savannah Green Story.”

“Dad always felt that education was of paramount importance, especially in educating the next generation of thinkers and leaders,” she continues. “Without hesitation, we knew that establishing a scholarship fund in Pop's honor at The Community Foundation would go far in making a significant difference in helping to prepare students for future opportunities in journalism” Robert Churchwell Jr., retired Metro school administrator and the eldest of Robert and Mary Churchwell’s five accomplished children (three doctors and two educators), works at the Churchwell Magnet School one day a week. Growing up, he recalls, "If we had homework, we had to complete that before we could go outside and play.”

His father graduated from Fisk University with an English degree, while his mother, Mary, earned both

her undergraduate and Master’s of Education degrees from Tennessee State University.

“Both set a living example of how their journey in education helped them achieve their life dreams.

It made their emphasizing the importance of getting a quality education easier,” Robert Jr. says. "Our mother was the education architect for all of us, and Daddy supported it. She would look at what academic programs would be best for each of us, and Dad would make sure her plan was put into action.”

His mother Mary, a retired Metro elementary schoolteacher of more than 30 years, passed away in February 2020 at age 89.

She was aspirational to hundreds of Middle Tennessee students, having taught in Metro Nashville Public Schools for 30 years. As an award-winning teacher who had a love for teaching children to read, like her husband, she valued education.

CFMT’s scholarship helps carry on the Churchwells’ core values of the profession by showing the importance of journalists being representative of the communities they serve, as well as his belief that regardless of race, gender and generation, it is important everyone participates in the profession.

In fact, to be considered a candidate for this scholarship, students must compose an essay on “The Role of Professional Journalism in Today’s Society” and provide samples of journalistic work.

His parents “would be humbled about this [scholarship] honor,” Robert Jr. says, “and would do whatever they could do to make sure it served the students in our schools.”

UPDATE: The Churchwells no doubt would be mighty proud of the school that bears the family name, and its students.

Robert Churchwell Museum Magnet School, located on D.B. Todd Jr. Boulevard, was damaged and closed by the March 3 tornadoes that caused heavy damage through its North Nashville neighborhood. It soon became a drive-through tornado relief center run by nonprofits the Community Resource Center and Hands On Nashville.

Churchwell students temporarily were assigned to attend Park Avenue Elementary School.

Many of those same students were volunteers who helped hand out clothing, toiletry and food items after it became a tornado relief center.

TEAM SAVANNAH BRINGS ROBERT CHURCHWELL SR.’S STORY TO LIFE What can music do for a story?

Plenty, as children’s author Gloria Respress-Churchwell has discovered as she speaks to schools and institutions across the country about her picture book “Robert Churchwell Writing News, Making History: A Savannah Green Story.”

Gloria, her adult daughter, Alexandria Churchwell, and Nashville musician Bryard Huggins compose Team Savannah, which brings to life the story of Robert Churchwell Sr., a trailblazing Nashville Banner reporter known as the "Jackie Robinson of Journalism.”

Visit CFMT.org/Stories for the full story and photos.

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LUNCHEON Benefiting The Women’s Fund of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee

Presented by

The 22nd Annual Power of the Purse® Luncheon scheduled for April 7th was cancelled in light of the unpredictable nature of COVID-19. Although it was necessary, it remained a tough decision. Spring was not the same without the opportunity to gather with supporters and grant recipients to celebrate the work of The Women’s Fund.

The Women’s Fund Board expresses a deep gratitude for The Power of the Purse® committee who gave their time and creativity to plan what was certain to be an amazing day for friends of The Women’s Fund. Power of the Purse® exists to grow the initiatives of the fund. The generosity of those who committed to sponsorship, tables and tickets, to a cancelled event, allows the support to continue as the nonprofits serving women and girls adapt to serving in a changing environment.

An additional thank you goes to Carole Bucy, the 2020 scheduled speaker. Celebrating the influence of women in our community through her expertise about women’s suffrage in Tennessee was certain to entertain and empower the event guests.

2020 THE POWER OF THE PURSE® COMMITTEE Co-Chairs

Angela Bostelman and Leigh Ann Witt Committee Lori Badgett

Jennifer Osland Hillen

Kristen Perkins

Thallen Brassel

Beth Johnson

Mimi Pohlman

Krystal Clark

Ashley Klekamp

Suzanne Rivera

Allison Fowler

Ellie Lentz

Susan Sabiston

Sarah Gardner

Linda Payne

Amanda Schwartz

For more information about The Women’s Fund events and initiatives, please visit TheWomensFund.com.

THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE TOPS $1 BILLION IN GIVING CFMT Celebrates Donor Generosity and Its Impact on Organizations Successfully Putting Grant Dollars to Work Thanks to the generosity of its donors, The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee is proud to announce a major milestone: $1 billion in giving to nonprofits across the 40 counties of Middle Tennessee and beyond since its inception 29 years ago.

“It’s funny, but in 1990 when we began and in 1991 when we got our 501c3 status, we never talked about any goals. We never even discussed how much The Community Foundation might one day accomplish for our community,” says Ellen Lehman, president and one of the founders of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.

“We never set any bars — we just said thank you,” Lehman continues.

“And over the years, we have gotten to say thank you thousands of times.”

It was Ellen’s friend, Ida Cooney, the founding executive director of the then HCA Foundation (known today as the Frist Foundation), who shed light on the fact that the Nashville region was one of the last major metropolitan areas without a community foundation in place for those with charitable hearts.

And it was Ida who brought together others — such as Ted Lazenby, Alyne Massey, Betty Brown, George Bullard, Elizabeth Queener, Richard Eskind, Judy Liff Barker, and Ben Rechter — who had known the value a community foundation could offer.

After further research and discussion, these founders recognized this as an opportunity for people wanting to do good to join forces to work collectively and collaboratively, efficiently and effectively, and to make the word community work: both as one word and as two: “common unity.”

It also was clear that working on gifts that mattered to an individual helped others realize that they too could make gifts that mattered to them.

“$1 billion is quite a milestone,” says Amy Fair, CFMT’s vice president of donor services. “It is something we are proud to be part of, and most meaningful is the fact that behind that single, significant number is a collection of thousands and thousands of donations large and small and corresponding stories of motivation for giving. These stories enrich our work and inspire us to help our donors reach the next charitable milestone.”

As The Community Foundation reflects on decades of grantmaking and reaching this $1 billion milestone, its team — especially the staff trailblazers: Laundrea Lewis and Melisa Currey — knows it could not have been accomplished without the generosity of its donors, community partners, and friends of The Foundation. Tens of thousands of grants have filtered through its doors, impacting organizations working tirelessly on a broad range of needs ranging from arts to zoology.

“We set out to make giving comfortable, convenient, and cost-effective.

And we worked to promote and facilitate giving with confidence. And after those early years, we also sought to connect generosity with need,” Lehman says. “But all in all, we just worked to help people help others by customizing philanthropy to fit the donors’ intentions. That’s our mission … all of it.”

Introducing

GIVE BLACK, GIVE BACK Imagine a decade or century from now where you can see clearly how your actions improved the lives of so many generations ahead.

Black leadership in philanthropy is key to engaging in authentic and informed giving in communities of color.

We invite you to join us as we work together to strengthen our family, neighbors and friends through Give Black, Give Back, a new initiative at The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.

Learn more at www.BlackGivingBack.com

The Community Foundation continues to look ahead at making its community’s charitable giving stronger by building permanent endowments to support causes critical to our present and our future. The team which, blissfully, still includes Melisa Currey and Laundrea Lewis is indeed dedicated to protecting Donor Intent while keeping the funds up-to-date in the face of changing needs and opportunities.

“It’s a good thing we never set any goals for ourselves, because we would have broken all of them,” Lehman says. “Today, thanks to thousands of individuals, families, companies and corporations, we certainly are proud to announce that we have been able to distribute grants to nonprofits totaling a whopping $1 billion.”

“We are grateful for the opportunity to help you help others as we continue this work into decades ahead,” Lehman continues. “For Now. For Generations.”

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BUILDING A COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP WITH ROBERTSON COUNTY When Margot Fosnes and Ralph Illges set to create a community foundation, they underestimated the challenges they would face — especially after their newly-formed board voted to run it without the support of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.

"At our best our people are independent. At our worst, we're stubborn," Ralph said, describing the choice to go it alone. "When we began, Margot handled the entire back office and I was chairman … it was like trying to run through mud. We couldn't get any traction."

The idea was hatched after a local resident bequeathed a gift to the Robertson County Heart Association, and it was quickly realized that Robertson County did not benefit from the impact of this sizable donation at the local level.

"The donor’s financial advisor shared the story and felt we would benefit from a local foundation, so these types of gifts could make a difference in our community," Margot said.

In 2006, when Margot became the president and CEO of the Robertson County Chamber of Commerce, she and Ralph became serious about creating a community foundation. While there were many accomplishments, the setbacks were daunting.

"We did a lot of good but never secured any form of permanent endowment," Ralph said. "This meant we couldn’t receive anything unfettered or make large grants, which in turn meant there was no publicity.

It was just wash and repeat."

Just before Ralph turned age 59, he decided The Community Foundation of Robertson County needed to make some very big changes or call it quits.

"I looked at our board and knew we needed new blood, and I wanted to step down as board chair in hopes of recruiting someone younger," he said. "We were either going to shut it down or affiliate, because we could not keep doing it this way."

The next step was to contact CFMT's Regional and Affiliate Initiatives Liaison, Scott O'Neal, to discuss the benefits and process of affiliating with The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.

CFMT affiliate foundations are overseen by a committee of local leaders charged with educating their neighbors about establishing a “charitable savings account” and making decisions about grant distributions to local nonprofits based on its community needs.

Affiliates benefit from the administrative support, guidance and philanthropic expertise provided by CFMT, as well as the dedication and vision of local leaders within the counties being served.

Quickly realizing Robertson County was the only independent foundation in the area, Ralph and Margot were surprised they didn’t transition sooner.

In August 2019, The Community Foundation of Robertson County effectively became an affiliate of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.

"We told our board that if they wanted to leave now was their chance, and we hired six or seven new people,” Ralph said. “Some of the funds that existed under the old foundation branched off to become independent nonprofits, while others transferred their funds to CFMT.” Less than a year after affiliating, Robertson County is looking to expand their efforts even further.

"We're in the formative stages right now, but we're trying to grow into a larger advisory board and look for seed donors so we can start making grants," Margot said.

The Robertson County Community Foundation has always been and remains dedicated to providing both the vehicle and vision for residents to leverage their accumulated assets and charitable hearts to make the county a better place to live.

And now, by becoming an affiliate of CFMT, their dedication to their county can have an even greater impact.

“More than anything our administration and back office responsibilities were relieved,” Ralph said.

“We had more opportunities for causes and projects to find funding by virtue of being a part of the larger foundation in Nashville. Plus with the publicity of The Big Payback and the leadership and financial guidance of CFMT, the partnership helps market our success.”

EXISTING AFFILIATES AND THE YEARS THEY BEGAN INCLUDE: Affiliate Funds are designated to benefit a particular geographic area, be it a county, a community, or a region.

The Cheatham County Community Foundation (1998) The Community Foundation of Dickson County (1999) The Goodlettsville Area Community Foundation (1999) The Tullahoma Community Foundation (1999) The Cumberland Plateau Community Foundation (1999) The Community Foundation of Christian, Todd and Trigg Counties (2003) The Community Foundation of Clarksville/Montgomery County (2007) The Community Foundation of Wilson County (2014) The Community Foundation of Rutherford County (2017) The Community Foundation of Robertson County (2019) The Community Foundation of Williamson County (2019)

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MIDDLE TENNESSEE EMERGENCY RESPONSE FUND The Community Foundation of Middle Tennesee has been committed to helping people hit by the tornadoes that swept through our region in the early hours of March 3, 2020. We are working diligently to connect your donations with the needs of tornado victims through local organizations meeting a broad spectrum of need.

Here, we hope you’ll learn how The Community Foundation is helping people rebuild and restore their lives.

Thank you to the more than 22,000 donors who have made this work possible.

THROUGH A TRIPLE DOSE OF DISASTERS, WE’RE FIGHTING BACK

The Middle Tennessee community has been hit with a deadly and devastating one-two-three punch: first the eight early March tornadoes, then the devastating effects of the worldwide COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic and quarantine, then the free-falling economic disaster that may well outlast them all.

Our friends and neighbors are suffering and will be suffering.

We are all suffering.

The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee began our work as a disaster recovery partner with Metro Nashville’s Office of Emergency Management in the early hours of March 3, 2020, just hours after the tornadoes hit the region, as well as with officials in Wilson, Putnam and other affected counties.

The Middle Tennessee Emergency Response Fund was quickly established for both immediate relief and ongoing recovery efforts as issues are identified. An advisory committee soon was established and continues to meet regularly.

Online donors have crossed the 21,500 mark. The Foundation has made initial first-response grants of more than $3.2 million to scores of area nonprofits.

We continue to make grants to affected communities to provide relief and recovery. Nonprofits, with the help of these grants, have been able to react quickly and responsibly.

We deeply appreciate the many donors who have supported the Middle Tennessee Emergency Response Fund, no matter the size of the gift.

Each and every dollar matters. For those interested in keeping up with our disaster recovery work and a list of CFMT grantees funded to provide essential services to those impacted by the March 3 tornadoes, and stories about those grantees, or to make a gift to the Middle Tennessee Emergency Response Fund, please visit our dedicated website TornadoResponse.com.

The Community Foundation has been involved in disaster relief since not long after we began in 1991.

And this work has been a big part in our recently passing more than $1 billion in grants made to our communities over these past 29 years.

We're not alone in this work. From city and county government to the smallest churches, to food banks and housing solutions, we're working alongside important partners that exist to ease our collective suffering.

Thanks to cooperation and coordination through disasters, we're building a unified front, tackling disasters through collaboration and cooperation.

We’re here to help as we fight back from this onetwo-three punch.

COVID-19/Coronavirus Response As has been the case with our courageous doctors, nurses, grocery store employees, truckers and many others, the coronavirus has reshaped, NOT stopped our important work to support the Middle Tennessee community.

We want you to know we are open for business, even though our office will not be open in our usual form.

Many have inquired whether we have established a fund for COVID-19 response. So that we may continue focusing our energy on Tornado Response, we are happy that the United Way of Greater Nashville has accepted that important role to partner with Mayor John Cooper’s office to establish the COVID-19 Response Fund.

Hospitality Industry Relief Efforts We also are working closely with our nonprofit and civic partners to help aid Middle Tennessee’s tourism, arts and entertainment and hospitality industries and to determine where we might make grants to nonprofits that are directly supporting the many thousands of workers suddenly unemployed due to tornado damage and the COVID-19 shutdown.

Those affected include the Middle Tennessean’s who work at festivals, bars, nightclubs, concert touring, restaurants, convention business, the hotel industry, art galleries, performing arts groups, museums, and movie theaters. Canceled events have represented a staggering financial loss of millions and millions of dollars and counting in direct spending, with the Music City Center canceling scores of events as it transitioned into a temporary hospital for COVID-19 patients as a result of the pandemic.

The Foundation recently established the Tennessee Action for Hospitality Assistance Fund (aka A Fund for Us) to promote donations and outreach about the fund to independent restaurants, bars, and caterers across the state of Tennessee. For more information, please visit tnactionforhospitality.com.

Also, NowPlayingNashville.com, a longtime initiative of The Community Foundation, has been capturing the details of postponed and canceled events to help inform both residents and visitors as well as the many streaming events that are being improvised by the creative members of our community.

We look forward to staying connected, but know we will enjoy it more when we can get back to shaking your hand and offering the occasional hug.

We will fight back, and we will heal. Together as one.

— Ellen Lehman is president of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HAVE DONATED TO THE MIDDLE TENNESSEE EMERGENCY RESPONSE FUND.

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MIDDLE TENNESSEE EMERGENCY RESPONSE FUND

With disasters and recovery, it’s also about being prepared for the next time The timing couldn't have been worse.

Two months before the city would commemorate the 10-year anniversary of a historic flood that devastated the Nashville region, a series of tornadoes struck Davidson, Putnam and Wilson Counties in the early hours of March 3. Nashville, it seems, must brace itself for a major natural disaster every decade or so; before the Great Flood of 2010, a tornado swept through downtown and East Nashville.

It was in part why on March 2, just hours before the tornadoes hit, The Community Foundation — on behalf of the VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Assisting in Disaster) — began renewed efforts on disaster preparedness. It was intended to be a spark to fire up a plan for preparedness for a thriving nonprofit community that works in chorus on disaster recovery.

$10,947,273 GIVEN TO THE MIDDLE TENNESSEE EMERGENCY RESPONSE FUND

It’s often a long, arduous journey, no matter the disaster.

The trek to recovery isn’t easy, full of many days and nights in unknown circumstances and almost always includes rebuilding homes, emerging legal issues and counseling people through the challenges that hinder a disaster survivor from moving forward.

Recovery is a joined effort, spearheaded by our region’s nonprofits alongside government entities. Through this work, and the large, giving hands of organizations, those affected by disaster can attain a new normal.

$3,516,900 GRANTED FROM THE MIDDLE TENNESSEE EMERGENCY RESPONSE FUND TO DATE

In the days after March 3, many organizations came forward to help: Hands On Nashville deployed thousands of volunteers; Community Resource Center collected gifts of items, including diapers, wipes and household necessities to help people through their displacement; The Community Foundation deployed its disaster funds so donors could help; newer organizations such as Gideon’s Army and Equity Alliance worked to ensure the residents of North Nashville were cared for and future rebuilding would be done with community input; Project Connect, Salvation Army and Second Harvest fed thousands of people; the Mayor’s Office and the Office of Emergency Management made sure that our community was safe; and the United Way’s 2-1-1 would answer even more calls about where to get help.

This chorus of work is a portrait of immediate disaster response.

But mapping the recovery process is just beginning. Many of those same organizations are now convened as the Long-Term Recovery Group (LTRG), a consortium of government, nonprofit and religious entities. The LTRG continues its dedication to disaster survivors, leading each one of them through their long road to recovery.

114 GRANTS DEPLOYED TO 98 NONPROFITS TO CONTINUE THEIR TORNADO RELIEF EFFORTS (AS OF MAY 15)

There is no template for recovery as each survivor’s situation may be different, and the process may last up to 18 months, and as long as two or three years depending on the size and scope of disaster.

LTRG’s goal is to create a single point of contact through which case managers align the survivor’s need with an organization that is able to help. This work is often focused on a community’s most vulnerable populations — those who don’t have a safety net for recovery.

Part of this effort includes the Tornado Recovery Connection, a hotline (615-270-9255) that helps tornado survivors with unmet, long-term needs, often focusing on rebuilding homes, one of the most expensive parts of recovery.

Disaster work happens on a continuum that begins with preparedness. And through a strong network of organizations that communicate regularly, working collaboratively, rebuilding lives happens with greater efficacy and ultimately, greater results for a disaster survivor.

Learn how The Community Foundation is working collaboratively to help people rebuild and restore their lives.

At TornadoResponse.com, you'll find: - List of Grantees + MTER Advisory Committee

In retrospect, the timing for preparedness couldn't have been better.

- News + Stories of Grantees Hard at Work

Rebecca Finley and Greg Bailey Principals, Finley + Bailey Strategic Communications

- Nonprofit Application for Funding

Rebecca and Greg are convening the Long-Term Recovery Group **Rebecca worked for The Community Foundation for 12 years working closely with leadership developing community disaster preparedness, response and communications strategies during the 2010 flood and other disasters. **

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- Resources for Survivors

UNMET NEEDS: CALL TORNADO RECOVERY CONNECTION AT 615-270-9255

DESTRUCTION Eight tornadoes touched down across Tennessee in the late night hours of March 2 into the early morning of March 3, claiming the lives of 25 people, and leaving a devastating path of destruction.

Hopewell Baptist Church, a longtime North Nashville landmark, received heavy damage.

A young boy stands in front of a collapsed row home on the corner of Ramsey and Myrtle streets in East Nashville.

Two pedestrians embrace after surveying the damage of the East Nashville Smoke Shop and Lee Nails on the corner of 9th and Main streets.

A leveled building on Jefferson Street in North Nashville overlooking downtown.

A tree knocked over during the tornado onto a parked car in East Nashville.

Only a fitting room mirror remains in the family owned business, Molly Green, on Main Street.

A side view of a decimated Lee Nails in East Nashville.

REBUILDING While the coronavirus pandemic has forced many businesses and organizations to slow down or put their work on hold, Tennesseans continue to grapple with the aftermath of the storm as they rebuild their homes and lives.

The view from 14th and Fatherland streets of homes covered in blue tarps after the storm to keep rain from entering damaged areas.

Construction workers begin construction to a damaged roof on a home in East Nashville.

Construction begins on a damaged home on Holly Street.

Two boarded-up homes on South 11th Street.

Workers begin roof repairs on The Church at Lockeland Springs, which was built in 1903.

MIDDLE TENNESSEE EMERGENCY RESPONSE FUND GRANTEE HIGHLIGHT

GIDEON’S ARMY Gideon’s Army is a community-based, grassroots organization that uses restorative justice programs to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline through social activism by children, families, and the community.

Its programs address school-push-out, youth violence, policing, and juvenile justice. Based in North Nashville, the organization to date has received $115,000 to support the relief efforts and to provide housing placement and other direct financial assistance to individuals and families living in North Nashville directly impacted by the March 2020 tornadoes. https://gideonsarmyunited.org

Gideon’s Army mobilizes its neighborhood troops It didn’t take long.

Not long for Rasheedat Fetuga, a former schoolteacher and founder of the grassroots nonprofit Gideon’s Army, to spring into action just hours after a tornado ripped through the organization’s North Nashville neighborhood before she posted this on Facebook: 3:47 AM "Friends and family. This is Rasheedat, the founder of Gideon’s Army. We are out here in North Nashville and families are devastated. People with nowhere to go in cars with windows busted out from the storm. People clearing the streets.

Mothers walking to safety with crying children.

"Gideon’s Army is positioned to be ready to provide as much support as possible. Please stay tuned for next steps and please donate and share. All money will be used to support families impacted by the storms and tornado tonight. A lot of people have lost absolutely everything and will need help rebuilding their lives.”

Were they ever ready.

Armed with work gloves, garbage bags and cleaning bags, Gideon’s Army staff and volunteers immediately set to clearing streets and neighborhoods of debris. They have been a constant presence at drop-off sites such as AME Lee's Chapel and the Northwest Family YMCA, and later at the Metro Nashville Disaster Assistance Center at Hadley Park Community Center.

They collected sleeping bags for set up overnight locations for the hungry and homeless. Rasheedat Fetuga and team were present the first night after the devastation at the Northwest YMCA. With a constant barrage of messaging on social media, the telephone, and word of mouth, the call went out for hot food, clothing, blankets, pillows, cots, air mattresses, and stuffed animals for children. Donations.

And, always, volunteers. More and more volunteers.

“I just want to say THANK YOU for everyone who has donated.

It has really been a bittersweet day,” she says late that first night of March 3 in a Facebook video posted at 11:31 PM. “Bitter for what everyone has been going through. Sweet for how much everyone has shown up.'

One hundred flashlights. Two-hundred pizzas. Help is on the way. And continues still.

Tee Wilson, Chief Programs Officer for Gideon’s Army, says that since that first 24 hours, the organization has remained steadfast in providing goods and services to the neighborhood.

Here is a snapshot of what happened in the next month: - Provided direct services and support to over 3,000 individuals and families … and counting - Distributed 41,365 hot meals - Canvassed over 300 homes

8 • CFMT.org

- Provided $2,400 in gift cards directly to community members - Distributed 50 WeGo Passes for transportation - Placed six families in emergency housing for 15 days - Distributed over 18,000 food boxes, supplies, and nonperishables “This was all in response to the tornado, but we are now moving toward long-term recovery while still providing support for basic needs such as food, shelter, clothing and supplies to families who request it,” Wilson says.

The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic and quarantine quickly followed the tornadoes, affecting the efforts of Gideon’s Army as they have the rest of the world.

“One of the most challenging things about providing service to our community during this time is our inability to canvass, go door to door and engage and interact with the families in real time as they need us,” Wilson says. “Our work has always been: See a need, fill that need. It's harder to see the need when we can't see the people.

“However, we are still serving,” she continues. “We have moved toward a needs-based model for distributing supplies and support to the community. Within four days of the tornado, we had a website up so that our community could stay informed, find resources, and request assistance.”

The website RebuildNorthNashville.com receives daily requests from families in need. Wilson says: “We send those requests to our case managers and volunteer coordinator to contact the family. Every Saturday, our volunteer team heads to our storage facility to pick up items to deliver to families who have submitted a request,” she continues. “For families without internet access, we also have a hotline that they can call for immediate assistance. We held a virtual volunteer training [recently] to mobilize our volunteers.”

Wilson emphasizes that the organization is doing everything it can to adhere to the Centers for Disease Control's recommendations for social distancing by doing "no-contact" deliveries and keeping volunteer groups to five people or fewer, as well as wearing protective gear.

“We will continue to help the people of North Nashville,” she says, “by any means necessary.”

Photo Captions (Left to right): Gideon’s Army Deputy Director Jamel Gooch – Site Coordinator at McGruder Family Resource Center takes calls while managing an overwhelming surge of donations in the aftermath of the tornado; Volunteer Coordinator Kate Briefs directing hundreds of volunteers to begin canvassing the community for clean up – over 600 volunteers showed up on March 7; Volunteer Briefing at McGruder Family Resource Center; Kids receiving free haircuts at distribution site at Dodge City Community Housing.

CFMT.org • 9

DICKSON COUNTY 20TH ANNIVERSARY

GIRLS GIVE GRANT PARTY

The Dickson County Community Foundation celebrated its 20th anniversary late last year. The event thanked Dickson County citizens for their support, making it possible for the Foundation to award over $500,000 to local nonprofits. The Quest Center for Art and Community Development, a grantee, provided music for the event. Board members (past and present), grant recipients, sponsors and community members were in attendance. (Photos L to R) former board member Linda Frazier and her husband Henry with current board member, Mark Denney; former US House Representative Bob Clement with wife Mary, Wilson Overton and founding board member Dana Ramsey.

Girls Give, an initiative of the Women’s Fund, held its inaugural Girls Give Granting Event late last summer. Girls Give encourages multigenerational relationships between women to teach and inspire a love of giving back to community. From front left around the table: Karlen Garrard, Ellie Lentz, Liza Lentz, Tricia Carswell, Mary Lindley Carswell, Suann Davis and Irwin Fisher.

JOE KRAFT LUNCHEON Last year Seven Women of Wonder were honored at the Joe Kraft Humanitarian Award luncheon. Each honoree worked tirelessly to better Nashville in the spirit of Joe Kraft, setting the stage for the next generation. Together, the work these women accomplished spanned 50 years. “All of us are deeply honored to continue to work to complete our goals and our dreams, as we follow in the footprints of Joe Kraft,” honoree Janet Ayers said. 2019’s honorees were: Clare Armistead, Janet Ayers, Colleen Conway-Welch, Inez Crutchfield, Annette Eskind, Carrie Gentry, and Rosetta Miller-Perry.

(Photos L to R) Beth Crutchfield-White and brother Carlton Crutchfield, children of honoree, Inez Crutchfield; Honorees Janet Ayers (left) and Annette Eskind; Honoree Carrie Gentry (front) and granddaughter Ryan Gentry, son Howard Gentry Jr, and daughter Carol Gentry Johnson. Carrie Gentry passed away at age 95 on Dec. 14, 2019.

SUSAN AND LUKE SIMONS

For more information and to purchase seats or a table, please visit CFMT.org/events or call 615-321-4939.

During this time of uncertainty and being at home, NowPlayingNashville, an initiative of The Community Foundation, has continued to be a resource for the community for What to Do at Home! Discover the following happenings: Live Music to Stream Right Now • Online + Streaming Events Online Resources for Children • Rescheduled Events • Restaurant Reopenings

Visit NowPlayingNashville.com for Where to Go and What to Do as Nashville and Middle Tennessee reopen!

CFMT.org • 9

Staff Spotlight

GINA TEK Gina Tek is the Senior Manager of ChildcareTennessee. She oversees ChildcareTennessee's many projects, grants and teams. Through a partnership with the Tennessee Department of Human Services, Tek and the ChildcareTennessee team have awarded more than $13.6 million in grant money to child care agencies across the state.

You’re the Senior Manager of ChildcareTennessee, an initiative of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. Can you tell us about all of the exciting things that happened in 2019 with ChildcareTennessee?

We have established a partnership with the Tennessee Department of Human Services (TDHS), and they gave us funds to expand the reach of ChildcareTennessee.com, a shared services platform. Previously, it was a paid membership site, and now it is free to all 2,300 licensed child care agencies across the state. We’ve been working since October to get the word out about this wonderful administrative resource for child care directors.

Another part of our project is managing the Enhancement Grants program to help child care agencies get long-needed equipment and supplies to enhance the quality of their programs. That has always been our goal here at The Community Foundation – to fill the gaps of service to help child care programs remain and become sustainable, which means they can focus on the quality of their programs. ChildcareTennessee.com aims to help programs with paperwork, bookkeeping and staffing. Now we have opportunities to provide them with these resources and provide funds to help the children of our state.

You were a child care director for 20 years. How did your career bring you to The Community Foundation?

I was in the child care field for all of my career. I graduated from the University of Alabama with a degree in Human Development and Family Life with an emphasis as a Child Development Specialist. I worked as a teacher and educator for a number of years and then moved to working as a child care agency director. We moved around with my husband’s work, and so I was a director in many places including Florida and Connecticut. Once we moved to Nashville, I was the child care director for the West End Church of Christ.

From there, I decided I wanted to step back from the day-to-day running of a child care program and found out about an opportunity at The Community Foundation. It felt like a way to take my experience and expand my impact from helping a few families and children at a time to helping many children and supporting child care directors by making their jobs easier.

For many years, the work of ChildcareTennessee was done primarily by two or three team members. Can you talk about the expansion of the ChildcareTennessee team as part of the partnership with TDHS to promote ChildcareTennessee.com and the Enhancement Grants?

It’s been a big expansion. ChildcareTennessee.com is a shared services platform.

Shared services pool resources and operations that are used by multiple people to reduce redundancy and streamline operations. Before receiving the grant and support from TDHS, our team was operating very much like child care directors themselves, wearing many hats and spending a little time on a lot of projects.

With the help of this grant from TDHS and their support, we could expand our staff and hire qualified professionals to start wearing some of those hats. We have coordinators working in the field with providers and support staff in the office to assist child care directors and answer their questions. We have a shared services coordinator looking for new vendors and negotiating discounts for centers, and a marketing coordinator pushing our messaging out to centers and the public at large through various channels.

What early success stories can you share about the grants?

The applications are wonderful, the enthusiasm is wonderful. Remember, the licensed programs that have 7-12 children get the same $4,000-$5,000 grant, just like a large franchise or program with several hundred children.

As we review the applications, we feel the excitement they have about improving their classrooms. One director asked for tables for their children to sit around. Not new tables.

They had no tables at all for their program. Another director has been in business for 18 years and never purchased new books, so she asked for money to update her library.

Perhaps the most touching story so far has been a director who has a child in a wheelchair.

She asked for a wheelchair ramp so this little boy can go out on the playground at the same time that his friends do.

You’re known for your shoes. What is so special about them?

My shoes are a statement. We all have to remain professional at work, but shoes are a chance to let some of my personality shine through. There’s a story behind most every pair of shoes I have. The ones I have on now, I got in Brooklyn while visiting my daughter.

I have a very small foot. I wear a 5-1/2 AA. When I was a little girl, I could never find shoes that fit me. I would go in stores and cry, because I would have to buy “old lady shoes.” And now, I’m an old lady, but I can wear whatever I want to!

So I determined that I will never wear shoes that aren’t “fun” shoes. They’re always great conversation pieces.

10 • CFMT.org

THE STATEWIDE QUEST TOWARD IMPROVING CHILD CARE IN TENNESSEE Child care in Tennessee is in crisis.

The percentages are scary: The Center for American Progress reports that 48% of the state has three times as many children as licensed child care slots, making for what is referred to as a “child care desert.”

“This state is booming, particularly in the Nashville area,” said Gina Tek, Senior Manager of ChildcareTennessee, an initiative of The Community Foundation, “and we don’t have enough quality programs available.”

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that from 2000-2018, Davidson County’s population increased by about 21% — 692,587 from 570,434 — while the number of child care centers has decreased by 16% — 518 to 435, with 3,360 children’s slots lost, according to figures compiled

by The Community Foundation.

Always looking for opportunities to connect generosity with need, The Community Foundation, through its ChildcareTennessee initiative, is expanding its mission to support child care centers’ administrative, programmatic and operational services from Middle Tennessee to the entire state.

The expansion has been made possible by the awarding of a grant from the Tennessee Department of Human Services (TDHS) with the shared goal of improving the quality, accessibility and sustainability of services and care offered to children and families of Tennessee.

A piece of this partnership is the administration of the state’s Support and Enhancement Grants. These grants allow TDHS-licensed child care agencies to apply for up to $4,000 (up to $5,000 in economically distressed counties) to improve their equipment and programs, including supplies and consultants and coaches.

The lists for art supplies, learning tools and playground equipment are long.

The lists got longer in March as deadly tornadoes that struck Middle Tennessee, followed quickly by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Community Foundation, through ChildcareTennessee, and TDHS expanded their partnership to administer $18 million in disaster and emergency relief grants.

These grants enabled licensed child care agencies to apply for funding to reimburse lost income due to closure, replace equipment and materials, reimburse operation costs and substitute staff, and pay for coaches or consultants related to the March tornadoes or COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are honored to work with TDHS to support our vital child care agencies in Tennessee,” Tek said. “This grant provides immediate relief to maintain educator salaries and relieve families of the debt of paying child care fees during this difficult time.”

Meanwhile, ChildcareTennessee supports child care centers far beyond the disaster and emergency relief grants:

• The initiative has hired a shared services coordinator to negotiate discounts with vendors so child care centers can stretch their dollars farther and do more to improve their programs.

• Three regional coordinators are in the field expanding the reach of ChildcareTennessee across the state, a first for the initiative.

The coordinators train child care directors and agency owners to utilize ChildcareTennessee.com, which is a free administrative website, as well as to assist with Support and Enhancement Grant applications.

• Another dedicated staff member provides financial back-office services to support full enrollment and full tuition collection.

This translates to financial solvency for agencies, helping ensure their success.

• To assist with finding quality programs, The Community Foundation’s initiative ChildcareNashville.com, a child care finder, was developed to help parents in their search for quality programs. The website has recently been customized with a grant from the Blueprint for Early Childhood Success, a partner of the United Way of Greater Nashville.

“We all know how important those early years are,” Tek said. “It’s like building a house — you’ve got to have a good, strong foundation before you can talk about third grade literacy or juvenile delinquency.”

Continued Tek, “We have really important work to do at the ground level … We all have to come together and do things like this grant and work like The Community Foundation has done for over a decade in this field, and keep it going.”

The Community Foundation and ChildcareTennessee are excited to continue doing just that by serving those that serve the children of Tennessee.

Interested in the ChildcareTennessee initiative?

Learn more at cfmt.org/childcaretennessee.

C

Searching for child care just got even easier.

Board Spotlight

DECOSTA JENKINS Decosta E. Jenkins started working at Nashville

Electric Service in 1991 and has been its President and CEO since 2004. He joined The Community Foundation board in 2010, has served as its treasurer, and will start a two-year term as board chairman in Summer 2020.

Now you can filter your search for quality child care with ChildcareNashville.com’s new open/closed program feature. In addition to this exciting new feature, you can search by quality rating, location and more.

Our easy-to-use interface allows you to: * Access by mobile, tablet or computer * Search by address, age of your child, hours, or days needed * View child care center profiles * Quickly connect to an enrollment coordinator * Now Available: Search for information about child care in Spanish!

You’re a Nashville native, which sometimes seems like an unusual trait these days.

Where did you grow up, and what was your childhood like?

I grew up in the inner city: zip code 37208, the most incarcerated zip code in the nation according to the Brookings Institute. Needless to say, I had a few challenges, but I was able to earn an accounting degree from the University of Tennessee at Nashville in December 1979. I was fortunate to get a job with Touche Ross which later merged with Deloitte. In 1991, I had an opportunity to move to Chicago with Deloitte for a possible partnership opportunity, or take a position as president of one of my clients, or come to NES. The NES decision over the long term has proven to be one of my best decisions.

Nashville is a wonderful place to raise a family, and it is an exciting time to be a part of the Nashville community and to be part of the future success of Nashville.

You’re a CPA. When did you decide that you wanted to be a numbers guy, and was there a teacher or mentor along the way who helped influence that decision?

I was always good in math, statistics, etc. My mentor was Bill Hawkins, retired managing partner at Deloitte. I was fortunate that he assigned me to a number of his clients that filed reports with the Securities & Exchange Commission. To do this for a minority back in the ‘80s was unheard of. It gave me the breadth and depth of experiences that I have that allows me to do my job today.

Like clean water and free air, electricity is something we take for granted.

Describe some of the challenges NES faces in making sure our lights and electricity are always on.

It takes a significant amount of time, effort, and money to keep the distribution system up and running. Making sure that we stay ahead of the robust growth in Nashville, and that we have properly planned for the expansion of the distribution system to meet the needs of a growing and vibrant city like Nashville, requires significant resources and planning.

What’s more disruptive to the power grid: ice, snow, high winds, extreme cold or extreme heat?

From a disruptive perspective, trees provide the power grid with the most challenges.

[Editor’s note: At the peak of the outage caused by early May “Derecho” high winds, 131,000 NES customers were without power, the most in Jenkins’ tenure; the March 3 tornadoes caused 61,974 customers to lose power.]

You serve on a number of nonprofit boards in town. What’s your philosophy on public service, and what’s your sense of the health of area nonprofits overall?

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”

— Winston Churchill My parents taught us to give our tithes, talent, and time. The importance of giving to others can’t be understated, and that’s because the secret to living is giving. It’s not about what you do for yourself, it’s about how you’re able to better the lives of the people around you — your loved ones, the people in your community.

I believe that The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee sets the standard for the nonprofit community. Nashville has a strong philanthropic base, and as a result I believe the overall health of the area nonprofits is good.

What does Decosta Jenkins like to do in his spare time?

I enjoy golf, Tennessee Titans, University of Tennessee sports, and I am the proud grandfather of an 8-month-old baby girl.

of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee

Find childcare now at

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Go to CFMT.org and look near the footer of the website.

ChildcareNashville.com CFMT.org • 11

A GOOD FOUNDATION THE NEWSLETTER OF THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE

SPRING • 202 0

Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage Paid Nashville, TN Permit No. 2065

The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee 3833 Cleghorn Avenue | Nashville, Tennessee 37215 615-321-4939 | 888-540-5200 | cfmt.org OFFICERS Susan W. Simons, Chairman Jana J. Davis, Secretary Decosta E. Jenkins, Treasurer Ellen E. Lehman, President BOARD OF DIRECTORS Will Alexander Hugh Atkinson Lyle Beasley Jamie Cheek Waverly D. Crenshaw, Jr. Beth DeBauche Shari Dennis Mark Emkes Sara Finley Ben G. Freeland Julie Frist Herb Fritch Eddie George Jim Gingrich Max Goldberg Jose D. Gonzalez Ray Guzman Christine Karbowiak Robert S. Lipman Will Morrow Larry Papel Wayne Smith Paul Stumb Steve Underwood Stephaine H. Walker Jay Williams Alan Young

BOARD OF TRUSTEES Judy Liff Barker Jack O. Bovender, Jr. Charles W. Cook, Jr. Ronald L. Corbin Richard J. Eskind Farzin Ferdowsi John D. Ferguson Stephen F. Flatt Thomas F. Frist, Jr. Alberto R. Gonzales Joel C. Gordon Kerry Graham Carl T. Haley Aubrey B. Harwell, Jr. Carol O. Hudler Catherine Jackson William C. Koch, Jr. Kevin P. Lavender Ralph W. Mosley Donna D. Nicely Ben R. Rechter Deborah Taylor Tate Charles A. Trost Deborah F. Turner Jack B. Turner Betsy Walkup Jerry B. Williams

This year our nonprofit community needed our support more than ever.

Together, we answered the call by raising $4.3 million for 988 organizations through The Big Payback. We appreciate your commitment to helping us connect generosity with need during this year’s community-wide day of giving. Thank you!

$4,347,441 Total Dollars Raised 2.1%

3.2%

5.2%

25.1%

34 Participating Counties

$274,720 in Prizes

8.5%

$131.44

13.9%

7.2% 10%

12.7% 12.2%

988

Participating Local Nonprofits

10,027 Gifts were made by first time donors to an organization

Average Gift Amount

$10 - $100,000 Range of Gifts Made

31,694 Total Gifts

Visit The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee online at www.CFMT.org.