Kabrina Shamburger – Page 2 – Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro

Scholarships for Guilford County Students

Kabrina Shamburger on August 3, 2024

Celebrating the 2024 Scholarship Recipients

We are thrilled to announce and congratulate our 2024 scholarship recipients. These exceptional students have demonstrated remarkable academic achievement, leadership, and a commitment to their communities. From future educators to budding international relations experts, writers, scientists, and community leaders, each recipient embodies the values and aspirations our scholarships seek to support.

By addressing financial needs and rewarding excellence, these scholarships not only alleviate the financial burden of education but also inspire students to make a positive impact in their communities. This support helps build the next generation of leaders, ensuring a brighter future for students and the broader community.

Their hard work and dedication have earned them this well-deserved recognition, and we are excited to see the positive impact they will undoubtedly make in their future endeavors. Join us in celebrating their achievements and wishing them continued success on their educational journeys.

2024 William Bryant Edwards and Lucy Teague Evans Memorial Scholarship

Zaynab Abdusamad

Eastern Guilford High School
Awarded $1,000
Planning to attend UNC Charlotte
Pursuing a degree in Chemistry

2024 George Simpkins, Jr. Scholarship

Barbara Martinez Rodriguez

Dudley High School
Awarded $1,500
Planning to attend Guilford College
Pursuing Business Administration

Damontae Brown

Page High School
Awarded $1,500
Planning to attend Guilford College
Pursuing Sports Management

Jaquele Lane

Grimsley High School
Awarded $1,500
Planning to attend NC A&T University
Pursuing Kinesiology

Latrell Marquis Wilson

Dudley High School
Awarded $1,500
Planning to attend Shaw University
Pursuing Computer Science

2024 Herman and Earline Herbin Scholarship

Joshua Allen

Northwest Guilford High School
Awarded $1,750
Planning to attend Appalachian State University
Pursuing Criminal Justice

2024 York David Anthony Scholarship and Thomas and Bettie O’Brian Memorial Scholarship

Leon Aaron

Northwest High School
Awarded $2,500 (renewable)
Planning to attend UNC Chapel Hill
Pursuing Engineering

2024 John Carlton Myatt Creative Writing Scholarship

Olivia Johnson

James B. Dudley High School
Awarded $3,000
Planning to attend NC A&T University
Pursuing Communications and Law School

2024 Jason Christopher James Memorial Scholarship

Caroline Church

Southwest Guilford High School
Awarded $7,500
Planning to attend UNC Chapel Hill
Pursuing a career in politics or internal affairs

Greensboro agency helps female veterans transition to civilian life

Kabrina Shamburger on July 26, 2024

They serve just like men in every branch of the U.S. military. They face the same battles and the same challenges. But when it’s time to come home, female veterans often find they face a different set of obstacles as a civilian, and they’re hurdles traditional veterans’ groups aren’t always equipped to deal with.

Cambodian Cultural Center helps preserve heritage in Greensboro

Kabrina Shamburger on July 22, 2024

Americans around the country will pause to celebrate Independence Day.

They’ll attend community events, host backyard barbecues with friends, and watch brightly-colored fireworks explode in the evening sky. Our ancestors came from different cultures, different countries and different backgrounds. While we collectively celebrate being Americans, we still try to preserve our cultural heritage, and one group in the Piedmont is working to do that in several ways.

The coconut dance is a folk dance often performed during Cambodian wedding ceremonies. On this day, it’s in celebration of the Lunar New Year with children from the Cambodian Cultural Center located in Greensboro.

“It was founded in 2012 in order to help preserve [Cambodian] cultural heritage,” says Treasurer An Strickland. “We offer programs such as arts and also community efforts and leadership and mentorship programs with our youth.” Strickland says it’s important to teach young Cambodian Americans the traditional arts, language and history of Cambodia.

In return, they help older Cambodian immigrants and refugees. “The programs that we offer are the traditional arts as far as dance culture,” she says. “We also do Cambodian literacy programs as well and a lot of community efforts to help our elderly and non-English speaking residents.”

Nearly 300,000 Cambodians escaped conflict and genocide in their homeland in the 1970s and sought refuge in the United States.

Many settled in Greensboro in 1982, and in 1986, they purchased land for Wat Greensboro, a Buddhist Center on Liberty Road in Greensboro.

The Cambodian Cultural Center has offices nearby. It relies on volunteers, but the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro helps through community grant programs.

“The community foundation has helped enhance our program itself as far as our cultural dance programs as well as showcasing our culture itself. We’ve offered cooking classes. They’ve been able to assist us with that, and we’re going to be starting a traditional classical music class as well,” says Strickland.

In addition, CCC offers community assistance with vegetable giveaways and vaccine clinics. If you want to learn more or if you would like to volunteer your time, visit https://www.cccofnc.org/

Triad Adult and Pediatric Medicine provides access to healthcare for uninsured

Kabrina Shamburger on May 20, 2024

Health care isn’t cheap; sometimes even if you have medical insurance; but one agency in the Piedmont is making care available regardless of insurance coverage or financial status.

Triad Adult and Pediatric Medicine provides medical services at six locations in Guilford County thanks in part to help from a community foundation.

Chief Financial Officer Danielle Cole says, “we are a federally qualified health center. We do preventative medicine, wellness checks, immunizations, acute care.”

That may sound like every medical office, but Cole says what makes her organization unique is it cares for all patients, even the uninsured and those who cannot afford to pay out of pocket. The money comes from the Tri-County Health Fund administered through the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro.

“We consider ourselves to be a safety net provider,” says Cole. “So a lot of times if a person is uninsured or they don’t have insurance or the thought is ‘I have a limited amount of income and that needs to go towards gas or food.’ I’m not going to go and get care until it’s a really bad situation, and a lot of times I’m going to end up in the emergency room. Now I have more debt. I have a huge bill, and now I’ve bogged down that system with something that I could have gone to the doctor for and probably been treated and not had to create that effect.”

Legacy Spotlight: Betty Jo Forrest

Kabrina Shamburger on April 26, 2024

“Returning to my hometown of Greensboro, after spending many years away, has been a pleasure. There is so much beauty here with our parks and plenty of trails where I enjoy spending a lot of my time. I established my fund with the Community Foundation in 2017. Since that time, I have worked with the very qualified and capable staff as I continue to grow and develop my philanthropic interests. On several occasions I have had the experience of having meetings arranged with the staff of nonprofits which caught my attention. I feel that I can trust the staff to do their due diligence in the screening of organizations and sometimes offer suggestions about nonprofits which had not previously drawn my attention.

This confidence in the staff at the Foundation gives me the opportunity to feel that my money will be going to places where it will be used wisely. The ease with which I can modify my estate planning without involving my estate attorney each time is certainly one of the major advantages of having my Wall-Forrest Fund at the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro.”

A Legacy of Exceptional Educators

Kabrina Shamburger on April 18, 2024

A scholarship in memory of one of Greensboro’s most beloved educational leaders has created a pathway to success for generations of Guilford County teachers.

When John R. Kernodle, Jr., died suddenly in 1995, at the age of 50, the News & Record announced his passing, saying, “Greensboro lost part of its conscience and its soul.”

John was beloved and admired for the many ways he served this community, the most notable of which was his role as chairman of the Guilford County Board of Education. His commitment to developing an outstanding school system for the children of Guilford County is surely one of his most enduring legacies.

A year after John’s death, a group of Guilford County citizens, working through the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro, established the John R. Kernodle, Jr. Memorial Scholarship to honor the memory and life’s work of this incredible man.

Each year, one exceptional graduate of Guilford County Schools is the lucky recipient of this scholarship, which provides up to $10,000 each year for four years to cover tuition and fees, on-campus room and meals, and books and supplies as he or she pursues a degree in education.

In return, upon graduation, Kernodle Scholars are required to serve at least three years as a full-time teacher in grades K-12 in North Carolina public schools, preferably in Guilford County.

Every recipient of the John R. Kernodle Memorial Scholarship is special, but they are especially so to Lynn Wright Kernodle, John’s widow. She keeps a small photo album containing each Scholar’s graduation picture, along with their name, high school, graduation year, and where they attended college.

She knows each of their stories and delights in the fact that Kernodle Scholars get together, year after year, welcoming the new Scholars and creating a living legacy of educators.

To learn how you can honor a loved one while also making an impact in our community for years to come, contact us today.

Women to Women Period Power Initiative

Kabrina Shamburger on April 9, 2024

Students at all Guilford County Schools traditional high schools now have access to free period products, thanks to the Period Power initiative by the Diaper Bank of North Carolina.

The initiative’s expansion into Guilford County Schools was made possible by a grant from the Women to Women endowment at the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro.

According to the National Library of Medicine, period poverty can be defined as “the lack of access to safe and hygienic menstrual products during monthly periods and inaccessibility to basic sanitation services or facilities as well as menstrual hygiene education.” One in 5 teens in the United States have struggled to afford period products or were not able to purchase them at all — Period Power aims to alleviate that burden.

The Diaper Bank of North Carolina first implemented Period Power initiatives in Durham Public Schools in 2014, but has since expanded to districts across the state, including large districts like Orange County Schools, New Hanover County Schools, and Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools. Today, the initiative serves more than 300 public schools across the state.

After the Diaper Bank of North Carolina received the $50,000 grant from Women to Women, they immediately began brainstorming how to implement these programs in Guilford County Schools. In addition to providing pads, tampons, and liners, Period Power also offers leggings, underwear, and shorts.

This lack of access to menstrual products causes some menstruating teens to miss school. More than 4 in 5 students in the United States have either missed class time or know someone who missed class time because they did not have access to period products.

Investment Options

Kabrina Shamburger on March 25, 2024

The Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro offers four primary investment options: Main (Long-Term) Pool, ESG Pool, Direct Asset Manager Portfolios, and Charitable Trusts’ Portfolios. Most assets are invested in one of the Community Foundation’s pools, based on the preference and the time horizons of our donors. Large investment pools benefit from economies of scale in terms of both investment fees and access to types of investment holdings. Over time, lower investment fees result in higher annual grant support for charitable causes.

Main (Long-Term) Pool

Our largest pool to date has a long-term horizon, with a broadly diversified portfolio, including specific allocations to private capital investments. For this long-term pool, the Investment Committee is responsible for selecting the investment managers, along with all other aspects of investment policy.

ESG Pool

Investments for this pool are focused on investment managers and underlying companies that integrate environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) factors into their business practices and decision-making processes. As with the Main Pool, the ESG Pool has a long-term focus, and the Investment Committee is responsible for selecting its managers and overseeing the investment policy.

Direct Asset Manager Portfolios

These represent a pool(s) of charitable assets managed by local investment advisor(s) in order to enhance client relationships and facilitate charitable giving to the Community Foundation. The minimum balance for a Direct Asset Manager portfolio is $500,000, and total fees should be comparable to the Community Foundation’s Main Pool. Direct Asset Manager accounts may not confer any financial benefit to the donor or related party. The Investment Committee maintains fiduciary responsibilities for the approval of these Manager relationships, along with oversight of asset allocation and investment policy.

Charitable Trusts’ Portfolios

These are charitable trust accounts, established by donors, in which the Community Foundation retains a financial interest. Investment managers may be selected by the donor. Similar to a Direct Asset Manager portfolio, the Investment Committee maintains all fiduciary responsibilities for these assets and for setting overall investment policy.

Short Term Pool

The Community Foundation also has a short-term pool which is invested solely in cash equivalents, and an option for a 50/50 “balanced” pool, invested in publicly traded, liquid equity, and fixed income holdings.

YMCA of Greensboro President and CEO Rhonda Anderson Appointed to YMCA of the USA National Board of Directors

Kabrina Shamburger on March 13, 2024

Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro Board member, Rhonda Anderson, President and Chief Operating Officer of the YMCA of Greensboro, has been selected to serve on the YMCA of the USA National Board of Directors. Anderson is one of five newly appointed board members who will contribute to the organization’s mission of providing national resources for the 2,600 Ys across the country.

With an impressive background in leadership and experience in both the nonprofit and corporate sectors, Anderson brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the board. She joined the YMCA of Greensboro in February 2020, after serving as the Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of the YMCA of Greater Charlotte for two and a half years and the President and Chief Operating Officer of The Community YMCA in Red Bank, N.J. for five years. Prior to her work with the Y, Anderson held several leadership positions within national brands including Johnson & Johnson and Pearson.