Per Alexander, a community foundation is a platform for building community and enhancing the quality of life of its residents. It is a place where donors can connect with causes they care about and create a lasting legacy. The CFM is a tax-exempt public charity created by and for the people of Mississippi. It serves 22 counties in central and southwest parts of the state. The CFM was first organized in 1994 with a gift of $200,000. Today it has more than 275 funds and $60 million in charitable assets. The first community foundation was established in Cleveland, Ohio in 1914. There are more than 800 community foundations in America and 7 in the state of Mississippi. 

A community foundation has three special features: personalized service, local expertise, and community leadership. Community leadership involves disaster relief and recovery,. For example, Community foundations have mobilized more than#312 million is Covid-19 relief since the beginning of the pandemic. In Mississippi, there is the  Community Response & Recovery Fund formed in partnership with Volunteer Mississippi to pool donations from corporations, foundations, and individual donors. To date, $500,000 has been raised and will be deployed statewide to the other community foundations and other partners. Donors to this fund include the Robert Wood Johnson Foundations, the Walker Family Foundations, Arnold Ventures LLC, Atmos Energy, and countless Mississippians. Community leadership also includes place-based grantmaking. For Example, at CFM, the John F. and Lucy E. Shackelford Fund is a bequest of almost $9 million designated to make permanent enhancements for downtown Jackson. Since 2017, the Shackelford Fund has granted $2.25 million to a range of projects including the Museum of Mississippi History, the Mississippi Arts Center, Thalia Mara Hall, the Art Garden of the Mississippi Museum of Art, Capital Street lighting, Greenwood Cemetery, and other similar projects.

The CFM provides a variety of tools for building communities. Available charitable funds include unrestricted funds, field of interest funds, designated funds, and donor-advised funds. Funds can be created in any of these categories by an initial commitment of $25,000. The funds can be created with a wide variety of assets. 

Alexander closed her presentation with two simple thoughts:

• Community foundations are among the fastest growing and most accessible forms of philanthropy in the United States today

• “Don’t let anyone else hold the pen.” attributed to Harley Davidson

We thank Alexander for her presentation and for her service to the citizens of Mississippi. She is shown during her presentation to the club.

We thank Officers Smith and Younger for their service and their commitment to the City of Jackson. They each received a certificate, gift cards to Kroger,  The Corner Market, and the Manship Wood Fired Kitchen as part of their recognition. Shown from left, Precinct 4 Commander Tyrone Buckley, Deputy Chief Tiny Harris, Rotary President Greg Campbell, Officer Younger, Officer Smith, Steve Orlansky, Rotary member and Police Chief James Davis.

The Rotary Club of North Jackson also honored Jackson Police Department Precinct, 4 Officers, Tuesday, June 2, 2020, with meals from Aplos Restaurant. Shown from left with the meals are JPD Precinct 4 Commander Tyrone Buckley and JPD Deputy Chief Tiny Harris.

J. Keith Carter, Vice Chancellor for Intercollegiate Athletics of the University of Mississippi (Athletic Director) spoke to the Rotary Club of North Jackson at the Club’s May 26, 2020 meeting. The meeting was a Zoom one accommodating the considerations of the coronavirus pandemic. Mr. Carter said that he has been associated with the university for 25 years since he was recruited to play basketball. He is a native of Perryville, Arkansas, northwest of Little Rock. Being an Arkansas native, he was a committed Razorback fan growing up. His fondest desire was to play basketball for the University of Arkansas, but he was not recruited by the program. In fact, he only had one SEC basketball offer and that was from the University of Mississippi. When he reported to the campus in Oxford, he knew little about the university.  Following his collegiate days, during which he was an All American, Carter played basketball in Italy for 6 years. 

Following his Italian basketball career, Carter returned to Ole Miss and joined the Athletic Department where he focused on fundraising. He has worked in the Rebels' athletics department since 2009. He was the executive director of the Ole Miss Athletics Foundation since 2012 and took over as the deputy AD for resource and development acquisition in 2018.  In his time atop the Ole Miss Athletics Foundation, Carter saw monetary commitments and donations nearly triple from $62 million to $182 million toward the Forward Together campaign. In 2016, the National Association of Athletic Development Directors named Carter the Fundraiser of the Year.

Carter was named interim Athletic Director in May 2019 when his predecessor, Ross Bjork resigned to take the same position at Texas A&M. He was elevated to AD on November 22, 2019.

In his talk to the club, Carter focused on reopening the intercollegiate athletic programs and taking care of the student-athletes. He said that fall sport athletes may begin voluntary practices on campus on June 8. There is still uncertainty as to when and in what manner fall sports will resume; i.e, whether there will be fans or not, and if so, how many. A lot remains to be seen.

We sincerely appreciate Carter’s presentation to the club. He is shown in the following photo during his presentation via Zoom.

John Gibson, Director of Television for Mississippi Public Broadcasting spoke to the Rotary Club of North Jackson at the club’s May 19, 2020, meeting. Mr. Gibson is a native Mississippian. He did his undergraduate studies at Vanderbilt University and graduate work at the University of Texas.

Gibson said that Mississippi Public Broadcasting was formed on February 1, 1970, and is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The MPB radio network joined the MPB television network in 1984 to create the MPB we know today. MPB’s mission is to tell Mississippi’s story to the world. MPB reaches al of Mississippi’s 82 counties and it reaches a global audience via the internet.

For a network from a mostly rural state, MPB creates an impressive number of original programs, including, for example, “Mississippi Roads” with Walt Grayson, “Conversations” with Marshall Ramsey, Fit-to -Eat”, “Farm Week”, and “Mississippi  Outdoors.” MPB has also created documentaries such as “Meet Carl Jackson” which premiered earlier this year.  

The Educational Department participated in “Between the Lions” and “Aha Island” which are programs targeted to pre-K children and originated by WGBH in Boston, MA. MPB TV also devotes its morning and early afternoon programming to education. The Rotary Club of North Jackson has participated in both Between the Lions and Aha Island at Walton elementary school in Jackson.

During the Covid-19 crisis, MPB has been the originating station of the video coverage of Governor Reeves’ daily press briefings. Its feed is carried by other local stations.

For all of its activities and offerings, MPB  operates on a relatively small budget of about $10 million. Six million is provided by the State of Mississippi, Approximately $1.3 million is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The balance of about #3million comes from Members, grants, and other sources.

We thank Gibson for his service to the citizens of Mississippi and for his presentation to our club. He is shown during his presentation in the following photo.

LaKeysha Greer Isaac, Junior League of Jackson (JLJ), 2019-2020 president spoke to the Rotary Club of North Jackson at the club’s May 12, 2020 meeting. She discussed the projects and accomplishments of the 2400 women strong organization. The JLJ is the largest women's organization in Mississippi and it is the 6th largest Junior League in the world.

Each year the JLJ welcomes approximately 160 new members, termed Provisionals. Members generally stay active in the League for 5-8 years. Isaac noted that she is completing her 10th year. Members who remain in the league after their active membership are termed, Sustainers. The predecessor organization to the JLJ was the Junior Auxiliary of Jackson which was organized in 1927. The JLJ itself was formed in 1941.

The purpose of the JLJ is to improve lives in our community by working with community partners to deliver services and assistance to those in need. It utilizes a Community Based Impact Model to select projects. All of its projects focus on at least one of the following three impact areas: early literacy, children’s health, and the social development of children and youth. All JLJ projects are staffed with JLJ volunteers. Provisionals are required to complete an intensive first year of volunteer service. Key service projects for JLG are the Batson Children’s Hospital, the Mississippi Children’s Museum, and improving High school graduation rates. Over 800,000 dollars are raised annually from JLJ events such as Junior League Jumble, the ultimate rummage sale, Touch a Truck Jackson, and Mistletoe Marketplace. JLJ just fulfilled a $1,000,000 pledge to the Mississippi Childres's Museum and made a $1,000,000 pledge to Batson Children's Hospital

We thank Ms. Isaac for her presentation to our club and for her extensive service to our community. She is shown in the following photo: