Community Foundation Joins Peer Organizations in Nationwide Celebration

The Community Foundation of Herkimer and Oneida Counties will join a nationwide celebration, November 12-18, 2024, to recognize the increasingly important role that community foundations play in strengthening local communities and addressing area needs.
 
Community foundations are independent, public entities that steward philanthropic resources from institutional and individual donors to nonprofits and represent one of the fastest-growing forms of philanthropy.
 
“Our Community Foundation has been around for over 70 years, keeping a pulse on our community’s greatest needs and investing for a more vibrant future," said Alicia Fernandez Dicks, Community Foundation President/CEO. “We are so much more than a grant maker. We view ourselves as a collaborative community leader and partner, always having the community’s future in the forefront of our decision making.”
 
In recent years, the Community Foundation has spearheaded innovative solutions for sustainable change, striving for transformative outcomes that address both immediate and long-term community opportunities and challenges.
 
Since its inception, the Community Foundation has invested over $145 million to more than 2,000 organizations thanks to donor support. In the first three quarters of 2024, the Community Foundation announced more than $8.6 million in grants to nonprofits, scholarships to students, and support to residents impacted by the July 2024 tornado in Rome. Highlights of this work include:
 
Mohawk Valley Gives
The Community Foundation and UpMobility Foundation hosted the third annual “Mohawk Valley Gives” on September 20, to raise funds for local nonprofits serving Herkimer, Oneida, and Otsego counties. The community came together and raised over $5.2 million thanks to contributions from more than 8,200 donors, making it a record-breaking year for the campaign. All 325 participating nonprofit organizations received a donation through the giving event. To learn more about MV Gives, visit givemv.org.
   
Neighborhood Revitalization in Cornhill
The $74 Million Cornhill Revitalization Project took a significant step forward this year with the demolition of the Mid-Utica Neighborhood Preservation Corporation (MUNPC), or Leisure Time Activity Center building on West Street in Utica. The demolition clears the way for the future site of the West Street Impact Center, which will be one of two centers that will be built right in the Cornhill neighborhood to provide essential housing, gathering spaces, and services to the people that reside there. This project is a collaborative effort empowered by the Community Foundation, People First, MUNPC, Collective Impact Network, the City of Utica, and Oneida County. Learn more at revitalizecornhill.com.
 
Rome, NY Emergency Response Fund
On the evening of July 16, after a tornado ripped through Downtown Rome, the Community Foundation immediately established the Rome, NY Emergency Response Fund to collect and distribute donations to those impacted by the storm. The fund has raised roughly $2 million, with $1.5 million from Oneida County and more than $450,000 from individual and corporate donors. More than 650 applications for emergency funding were received, and while the application process closed at the end of August, payments continue to be processed. Despite the unpredictable, the community stepped up and reminded us that in the aftermath of destruction, we always come together. Visit foundationhoc.org/rome to learn more about the fund.