Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro

August 2024 Newsletter

Thank you to O’Henry Magazine for your portrait of these six amazing women shaping important initiatives of the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro (p. 84).

These “Leading Women” are (L to R): Mae Douglas, Black Investments in Greensboro – BIG Equity Fund; Charlene Gladney, Guilford Nonprofit Consortium; Lisa Duck, Women to Women of Greensboro; Brianca Williamson, The Future Fund of Greensboro; Rachael Wright, Guilford Apprenticeship Partners; and Sadie Blue, Building Stronger Neighborhoods.

Scholarships for Guilford County Students

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 

Cambodian Cultural Center helps preserve heritage in Greensboro

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

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

“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

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

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 SchoolsNew 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.  

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