On January 18, 2007, The Winston-Salem Foundation (WSF) Committee awarded HOPE a financial grant from the Claire Lockhart Follin-Mace Fund in support of HOPE’s local expansion initiative. Donna G. Rader, WSF Vice President for Grants and Initiatives, said “a grant of $10,000 [was awarded] to help expand the project for children with disabilities to additional college campuses and to create a website.” Specifically, WSF funding will be used to provide seed money to establish HOPE Service Chapters at three Winston-Salem colleges: Forsyth Tech Community College, Salem College, and Winston-Salem State University. WSF grant funds will also be used to commission a professionally-designed website that will assist in advertising the HOPE Service Organization to colleges, both near and far, and helping to establish additional HOPE Service Chapters.

HOPE Founder and Past-President Jonathan R. Barry (’07) highlighted his aspiration for HOPE: “I envision HOPE becoming one of the largest collegiate mentorship organizations for children with special needs. As I see it, every college needs to establish a HOPE Service Chapter for the benefit of both their undergraduate students and their community’s local children with special needs. It’s clearly a win-win situation for all involved as HOPE fulfills a dual purpose by directly mentoring children with special needs and indirectly fostering knowledge of and respect for persons with disabilities by the college student population.”

The Winston-Salem Foundation grant procedure began during mid-November 2006 when HOPE officers started the preliminary application process with the Foundation. By late December 2006, HOPE was forwarded on to the second round and completed a full grant application. During January 2007, HOPE officers hosted WSF grant officials in a meeting at The Children’s Center for the Physically Disabled to clarify the organization’s proposal.

Barry said “HOPE not only appreciates the financial grant itself but more importantly the trust embodied within it. We understand that The Winston-Salem Foundation can not provide unlimited support to local philanthropic endeavors; therefore, we are humble that the Foundation saw promise in our proposal to expand HOPE for the benefit of both children with special needs and college students.” During the spring 2007 semester, Barry will help with the development of the three additional Winston-Salem HOPE Service Chapters in addition to guiding a development firm to create the website for HOPE. After those local Service Chapters take hold, Barry further anticipates applying for additional grant funding from other foundations, filing articles of incorporation for HOPE as a 501(c)(3) organization, developing the umbrella structural organization that will govern the series of budding HOPE Service Chapters, and building a capital campaign for HOPE’s financial sustainability.

Barry concluded, “HOPE’s got a special story to tell and we’re looking forward to bringing more people—additional colleges, volunteers, and children with special needs—on board to help add to it!”

About HOPE:
HOPE is a collegiate student service organization that actively supports and engages mentorship of Individualized Education Plan (IEP) goals for children with special needs. HOPE is a growing network of service chapters, affiliated with colleges, that serve their local community’s special needs schools and facilities. College student volunteers, called Hopesters, provide weekly one-on-one mentoring support for children with special needs to promote the academic, social and emotional development of each child served by the organization.

About The Winston-Salem Foundation:
The Winston-Salem Foundation is a community foundation that supports charitable programs in the greater Forsyth County area. Founded in 1919 by Colonel Francis Fries with a $1,000 gift, it now administers over 1,000 funds with total custodial assets of over $270 million. In 2005, the Foundation granted more than $20 million to charitable causes, $1.9 million of which was in competitive grants. Visit the Foundation at www.wsfoundation.org.