SELMA, AL – JUNE 3, 2024: The Black Belt Community Foundation (BBCF) is celebrating the impact of its 2024 combined Community Grants and Arts Grants cycle in Greene County and across all 12 counties it serves in the Alabama Black Belt region. Community-based organizations from Greene, Bullock, Choctaw, Dallas, Hale, Lowndes, Macon, Marengo, Perry, Pickens, Sumter, and Wilcox Counties applied for grants earlier this year. A total of $514,433 has been awarded through one-year long project grants to 130 different community organizations that are significantly impacting their communities in transformative ways that contribute to the strength, innovation and success of Black Belt citizens and said communities. Twelve organizations in Greene County were awarded a total of $52,620, in grants ranging from $2,500 to $10,000 in an award ceremony held in Selma on June 1. These projects and organizations are as follows:

• Girl Scout Troop 408 – Arts Grantee
• Society of Folk Arts and Culture – Arts Grantee
• Triple J Farm & Petting Zoo – Arts Grantee
• Boss Ties LLC – Community Grantee
• Boy Scout Troop 945 – Community Grantee
• Eutaw Elderly Village Inc – Community Grantee
• Eutaw Housing Authority Enrichment Program – Community Grantee
• GCF & APA Imagine Me – Community Grantee
• Girl Scout Troop 408 – Community Grantee
• Greene County Human Rights Commission – Community Grantee
• Mount Pleasant Home Protection Society – Community Grantee
• Society of Folk Arts and Culture – Community Grantee

2024 represented a ground-breaking first for BBCF as it continued its model of giving based on the practice known as “Trust-Based Philanthropy” and combined, for the first time ever in its 20-year history, both the Community Grants and Arts Grants cycles. By utilizing BBCF Local Grant Committees in each county, decisions were made by those closest to the issues and granting needs voiced by their community. Local Grant Committees scored applications from their county based on these needs, proposed delivery of services, potential of project to change the community, how the project will be evaluated, and the results of those evaluations disseminated, and finally, the requested budget for the project.

“Celebrating our 20th year, the Black Belt Community Foundation is proud to award over half a million dollars in grants to 130 different community and arts organizations across the 12 counties we serve. This record-breaking milestone reflects our enduring commitment to empowering local initiatives, fostering growth and impacting the entire Black Belt region.” – Felecia Lucky, President of Black Belt Community Foundation

A complete list of all funded grantees for the 2024 combined BBCF Community Grants Cycle and Arts Grants Cycle is included with this release within our special edition of the Black Belt Bulletin which focuses on this year’s Community and Arts Grants cycles. (BBCF publishes its Bulletin bi-monthly and is available online.

Follow BBCF and community developments and more online at http://www.blackbeltfound.org and via our social media outlets at BBCF Facebook, Instagram, Youtube Channel, or Twitter.