This month we’re sharing the newest video from our rural philanthropy video series featuring the Community Foundation of St. Clair County, Huron County Community Foundation and Sanilac County Community Foundation.
This month we’re sharing the newest video from our rural philanthropy video series featuring the Community Foundation of St. Clair County, Huron County Community Foundation and Sanilac County Community Foundation.
The video shares the different strategies these community foundations in the Thumb region have leveraged to make their communities more vibrant, create pathways to college attainment and encourage their local talent to return home.
“I feel that our entire community wins,” Mackenzie Price Sundblad, executive director, Huron County Community Foundation said. “I feel that our kids win because they grow up in a vibrant community that comes together, rallies around ideas and utilizes their public spaces well.”
Huron County has given out 16 grants to placemaking programs, working with local harbors to improve their landscapes, supporting youth baseball facilities and art and sculpture projects to create inviting spaces for the community to enjoy.
The Community Foundation of St. Clair County has also supported placemaking and other efforts to make the community a place where people want to live and work.
“We have a program where we pay recent college graduates to move back home. It’s called the Come Home Reverse Scholarship Program,” Randy Maiers, president and CEO, St. Clair County Community Foundation said. “It’s the first program of its kind in America where we pay up to $10,000 for college graduates to be able to afford to move back home.”
Sanilac County Community Foundation launched a children’s savings account (CSA) program which provides a $50 seed deposit for kindergartners. Throughout their K-12 education they have an opportunity to earn matching dollars to grow their fund for college.
“When you give somebody the ability to pursue something that was once out of reach you break them out of a poverty mindset. They’re three times more likely to go to college.” Melissa Anderson, executive director, Sanilac County Community Foundation said.
Check out the full story.
This video is the latest in our rural philanthropy video series featuring innovative work underway by members serving rural communities.
The CMF Rural Philanthropy Affinity Group led the development of this series, so members can learn from their peers about the creative and innovative solutions happening in Michigan’s rural places to improve the lives of residents.
Stay tuned next month as we share how the Community Foundation of Marquette County is leveraging an unconventional community partnership to achieve rural prosperity.
Want more?
Check out the rural philanthropy video series to date:
Sturgis Area Community Foundation: Impact Investing for Economic Development
Rotary Charities of Traverse City: Providing Equitable Access to the Waterfront
Pennies from Heaven Foundation: Workforce Development
Placemaking: Nurturing Talent and Bringing it Home
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