During a year full of restructuring amid pandemic obstacles, PCF sustained its community impact through expanded partnerships, increased support, and renewed hope for our health, environment, and cultural institutions.
Gladys Douglas Preserve Safe From Development
In early 2021, the community successfully raised $4.5 million to save the Gladys Douglas Preserve. These community donations were in addition to the investments made by the city of Dunedin and Pinellas County.
Pinellas Community Foundation was honored to receive gifts from more than 1,100 individual and corporate donors who cared deeply about preserving green space in our community. Thanks to this effort, 44.5 acres in the heart of Pinellas County is now a permanent preserve.
A collaboration between environmental organizations, government agencies, and the media was instrumental in this success. PCF’s partners helped spread the word about this effort, mobilized volunteers and donors, and ensured the community was keenly aware of the Gladys Douglas Preserve’s environmental value.
PCF thanks Suncoast Sierra Club, Preserve the Douglas Hackworth Property, Pinellas Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society Inc., Blue-Green Connections, and WK Preservation Group Inc. for their support.
Pinellas CARES Provided Over $18M in Community Grants To Impact Pandemic Recovery
When the CARES Act designated funds for pandemic recovery, Pinellas Community Foundation took the lead in managing the nonprofit granting process. The Pinellas CARES Nonprofit Partnership Fund supported organizations that helped our most vulnerable residents who experienced health and well-being setbacks from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The fund distributed over $18 million to nonprofits providing critical care for food, behavioral health, and legal aid for housing services. Read the PCF evaluation report to learn about the depth of community impact in this effort.
New Woodson Museum Capital Campaign Underway
PCF joined The Woodson African American Museum of Florida (The Woodson) to raise $27 million to expand the museum. The new museum will be Florida’s first purpose-built landmark museum dedicated to celebrating African American history, art, and culture.
Formerly known as The Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American Museum, The Woodson will reside on 5.5 acres of city-donated land along 22nd Street South, known as The Deuces. This area is St. Petersburg’s most historic and celebrated African American corridor, and it’s undergoing a revitalization that preserves its rich heritage. The Woodson is poised to become a world-class museum and a community anchor to this vibrant, historically Black neighborhood.
The Woodson chose to partner with PCF because of its deep community commitment, fundraising experience, and reputation for collaborating on solutions that address Pinellas County’s greatest needs. You can stay informed of The Woodson’s growth on the PCF website.
Needed Now Fund Supported 10 Nonprofits
The PCF Needed Now Fund raises awareness and provides solutions for the immediate issues impacting the community’s changing needs. Through conversations within the community, PCF’s nonprofit partners helped identify feeding the hungry, mitigating evictions, and restoring education as the greatest areas of concern as we advance through the healing process of the COVID-19 pandemic. Contributions to the PCF Needed Now Fund supported local nonprofit organizations that address these issues.
Community Law Program and Gulfcoast Legal Services mitigated evictions by making flexible funding available to help pay expenses into the court registry so tenants could have their cases evaluated in court.
The Hispanic Outreach Center, Tampa Bay Network to End Hunger, The Gathering of Women, and Kind Mouse Productions fed the hungry and food-insecure throughout the community, regardless of age.
And to close out the year, PCF awarded four grants to help restore education in Pinellas. Bess the Book Bus, Artz for Life Academy, Shaping the Early Mind, and Sing Out and Read received these grants for educational programs that help students get or stay on track as classrooms transition between virtual and in-person learning.
This is just the beginning. PCF will continue a dialog with community partners and review the areas of need annually to change the fund’s focus as the community recovers. The fund will continue to promote the critical challenges, solutions, and successes with the greatest community impact. Learn more about the PCF Needed Now Fund.
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Follow @PinellasCF on social media to get updates on PCF’s work with nonprofits in the Pinellas community.