CATHY BARRETT, president of the Community Foundation of Cleveland and Bradley County.
Posted Tuesday, February 25, 2020 9:55 pm
By TIM SINIARD
Driving by the federal-style building that houses the Community Foundation of Cleveland and Bradley County, you would not immediately assume the work being done inside helps weave a network of individuals, families, businesses and foundations that, while they possess disparate interests, together enrich the life of the community.
According to president Cathy Barrett, the "foundation’s donors come from every corner of the community to achieve their charitable goals and impact a broad range of needs.”
The Community Foundation is leading the community in making positive, sustainable change, Barrett said.
“Our success is connected to the generosity of our donors and the expertise of our grantee organizations," she said.
Barrett said the foundation established several new projects, as well as managed other ongoing projects last year.
• The City Fields Revitalization Fund was recently established at the Community Foundation as a renewable source of funding for new home builds or renovation of existing properties.
Currently focused on the Blythe Oldfield neighborhood, City Fields is a 501(c)3 community development corporation dedicated to revitalizing long-overlooked areas of Cleveland.
“As a CDC, City Fields can develop affordable housing to grow homeownership in the target area. Dollars from the Fund were recently used to purchase a home for renovation in the target area,” Barrett said. “Over the next few years, City Fields is committed to renovating and building around 50 homes in Blythe Oldfield. The Community Foundation is proud to partner with City Fields as this particular renovation moves forward and looks forward to many more collaborations in the future.”
Barrett said a donation from the Community Foundation to Habitat for Humanity of Cleveland is able to add an additional house to its 2020 build schedule.
“Volunteers from the foundation’s board of directors and its Emerging Leaders Council will participate in two build days during the construction of the home,” she said.
• The Community Foundation joined together with other generous donors to fund the Cleveland Bradley Public Library’s new bookmobile "which hit the streets last month," Barrett said.
The bookmobile is outfitted with shelves of books and DVDs and a mobile check-out system which allows people to check out materials off-site.
“The vehicle is handicapped accessible, allowing it to go to new locations like senior activity centers and assisted living facilities, as well as its traditional stops at preschools and daycare centers,” Barrett said.
• Construction is ongoing at Taylor Spring Park, a project funded by the foundation. The park project was launched by local residents together with the city and county governments to create an educational venue where the community can view the historic spring, celebrate the birthplace of the city and learn about the history of one of Cleveland’s original settlers, Andrew Taylor.
“Upon completion, Taylor Spring Park will provide both the residents of the City of Cleveland and Bradley County and visitors to the area, a unique location to learn about the settlement of this particular region of East Tennessee,” Barrett said. “The park will be open to the public and have free access, so anyone either working in or visiting downtown can easily stop there.”
• Also under construction in the Valley View area is Freedom Park, another project fund of the Community Foundation.
“Freedom Park is a community-led, grass-roots effort to bring publicly accessible park and recreation space to a community that is greatly in need of such amenities,” Barrett said. “The park will offer local residents and Valley View students an outdoor facility for hosting events and community gatherings and will ultimately include a pavilion/outdoor classroom with restroom; a nature exploration area with native and fruiting plants and nature-themed play pockets; a playground with an adjacent outdoor fitness area; amphitheater-style seating for the existing ball field and a revitalized walking track.”
Work on Phase I of the park, the construction of the pavilion, is near completion. In addition, Barrett said construction of the playground section of Freedom Park is scheduled to begin in spring.
Nonprofits
In addition to its project funds, the Community Foundation supports local nonprofits providing vital community services by building and endowing charitable resources to support their missions, and connecting them with donors passionate about the causes they’re serving.
Some of the foundation’s nonprofit partners include:
• ATS — the Bridge – A community organization dedicated to protecting the next generation from substance abuse and to prepare them to become responsible citizens.
• The Cleveland Orchestra of Tennessee — Provides musicians from the surrounding area with the opportunity to play and present fine orchestral music to local audiences.
• MainStreet Cleveland — Committed to a thriving, diverse, livable and economically robust central business district. The project fund with the Community Foundation provides funding for the Summer Friday Festivals.
• Cleveland Civitan Playground Fund — A project fund established to build a large pavilion and connecting sidewalks at the Inclusive Playground located at Stuart School.
• Danny Davis Legacy Fund – The Danny Davis Legacy Fund to benefit Trousdale School was established by the Tucker Foundation in memory of Danny, a longtime employee. The fund will provide ongoing support in the form of scholarships to the school and its mission of serving high functioning adults with intellectual disabilities.
• SPCA — The SPCA of Bradley County is our newest fund established to assist with a capital campaign to locate and construct a new animal adoption center.
• Cleveland Bradley Public Library — Barrett said two funds at the Foundation support the work of the library.
“The Rebecca Ann Bowman Library Endowment was established through a legacy gift by Ms. Bowman, a former librarian at the Cleveland Bradley Library,” Barrett said. “This permanent endowment supports the library through the income generated by the fund. In a similar way, the Leah Fletcher Hoyle Memorial Fund supports the library through its endowed fund. Recently, income from the fund helped to construct a recording booth studio at the Library.”
Scholarships
Thanks to the generosity of our donors, dedicated to investing in students’ futures, Barrett said the foundation administers scholarship funds through an open application process.
“Some scholarships help students from a particular school or program; others provide financial assistance to those pursuing a specific field of study; still others assist students most in need,” she said. “A list of available scholarships along with an explanation of the application process is available on the foundation’s website.”
Barrett said some of the memorial scholarships are set up in memory of a young person “that didn’t see their full potential.”
“The family wants to do something that's going to benefit other students…it’s a variety of different things, all dependent upon what the person setting up that scholarship wants to do,” she said. “And we help them develop the application, the criteria for that scholarship.”
Not all of the foundation’s scholarships are based on academics. They also established to memorialize a late student's positive effect on their former school.
“We’ve got one that's in honor of a student at Bradley Central High School,” Barrett said. “It’s in memory of a student that went to there, and it's really about the school spirit, less about grades and more about that person.”
The foundation can help simplify the process of setting up a scholarship.
“We want to make it so easy for donors to really plan and carry out whatever their charitable goals whether it’s starting a scholarship in memory of a loved one or setting up a fund that's going to carry on their family legacy,” Barrett said. “We would love to help them plan and carry out that charitable work and the beauty of a community foundation is huge flexibility to really work with donors on what's important to them and make it happen.”
Anyone can invest in the foundation’s mission.
“We’ve got a lot of funds already set up at the foundation for different organizations and projects that anybody can give any amount from $10 donations on up $2 million,” Barrett said. “So, there is an opportunity for everybody to find something that's important to them and and make an investment in it.”
Barrett said the foundation’s mission is strengthening and enriching the community by connecting people, resources and needs.
“We strive to fulfill this mission every day,” she said.
