The Pinellas Community Foundation Social Opportunity Works​ Fund aims to increase Tampa Bay nonprofits’ capacity and hands-on impact through trust-based philanthropy. The PCF SOW focuses on organizations with operating budgets under $100,000 with a focus on issues of injustice and equity, including racial, economic, educational, housing, and health issues.
The fund has awarded capacity-building support services, training, and more than $700,000 of monetary support to over 35 nonprofits since its founding in 2018. These nonprofits work in the communities and economies long-plagued by the inequitable distribution of resources, thereby ensuring that the SOW disburses grants where they’re needed most.
We invite you to learn more about the organizations that the Pinellas Community Foundation Social Opportunity Works Fund supports and their invaluable work in our community.
Clearwater Health Center Expands Outreach and Capacity
The Willa Carson Health and Wellness Center has provided over 50,000 medical visits to uninsured and underserved Pinellas County residents. Services focus on primary health care, treating conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma, and other chronic nonemergency illnesses. The center also offers free monthly educational classes, seminars, an annual Walk for Willa event, and a community outreach program.
A $12,500 PCF Social Opportunity Works Fund grant to the Willa Carson Health and Wellness Center supported a season of community “Lunch and Learn” programs, targeting residents of the North Greenwood community in Clearwater. These programs, focused on seniors, provided attendees with tools to better manage chronic health conditions and emotional well-being.
A separate PCF SOW award also supported the hiring of an executive director. Kimberley Nunn-Crawford, former board chair and executive director of the Willa Carson Health and Wellness Center, shares an update on the center’s accomplishments after receiving the PCF grant:
Since the recent hiring, the clinic has increased capacity building with a dedicated emphasis on securing funding for a part-time nurse practitioner to provide medical care for uninsured residents of Pinellas County.
The executive director is also leading the clinic by revisiting (and tweaking) its 2022 strategic goals and fundraising plan. The board of directors previously struggled with plan implementation, and the executive director has helped the clinic move forward in a relatively short period.
Lastly, the hiring allows the clinic to have a ‘face,’ or representation, as we work to increase networking in the local community. This progress would not have been possible without the financial support from the Pinellas Community Foundation Social Opportunity Works Fund.Kimberley Nunn-Crawford
Community Arts Projects Foster Connection, Love of the Arts
Safety Harbor Art and Music Center (SHAMc) is dedicated to promoting the arts in the community and to all facets of the arts, including visual, performing, musical, and more.
Since acquiring the Rigsby House property years ago, the organization has transformed it into a place where children and the young at heart can gather to celebrate art. SHAMc offers art classes, music events, writing workshops, and poetry events at Rigsby house.
It also created on-site art projects with Sandy Lane, Leila G. Davis, Curtis Fundamental, Seminole, and Lake St. George elementary schools.
A $13,500 PCF Social Opportunity Works Fund grant supported SHAMc’s Neighborhood Skate Park Restoration project and community unveiling with live painting, a skate workshop, and live music.
Board member Heather Richardson noted the following:
The grant SHAMc received through the Pinellas Community Foundation Social Opportunity Works Fund allowed us to partner with the city and bring community members together in beautifying and creating murals throughout Safety Harbor’s Ian Tilmann public skate park. The impact of seeing artists guide youth and families in covering the skate ramps, halfpipes, and bowls with colorful designs and whimsical patterns was so inspirational. The ownership felt by the skating community in beautifying ‘their’ space, replacing graffiti with meaningful compositions, making it the focal point of the park’s entrance, was tremendous!Heather Richardson
Expand Your Reach Through Trust-Based Philanthropy
If you are a Tampa Bay nonprofit with a social justice imperative as part of your mission and interested in learning more about the Social Opportunity Works Fund, or if you are interested in donating to help affect change in our community through the PCF Social Opportunity Works Fund, please reach out below.