Will You Join Us?

The work I am privileged to do on behalf of the Community Foundation has allowed me to more deeply connect with this great community we call home.  It reminds me daily that strong personal connections between members of a community play a critical role in keeping our communities healthy and thriving.

The Community Foundation has an important role to play in Lorain County, but the work we do requires us to ask some important questions. How do we elevate our capacity to address the needs of the community and respond quickly and efficiently? What else is possible?

As a Community Foundation, we can’t authentically answer these questions without the guidance of diverse voices, backgrounds, ethnicities, and neighborhoods that equitably reflect our great community.  Because we serve all of Lorain County, it is crucial that we include all our geographies in the conversation. 

In the coming months we will begin our strategic planning process.  Our strategic planning process will help us identify where we should focus our resources to best serve our vibrant community.

We anticipate that there will be many crucial questions in this process. Questions we will ask of ourselves, our friends, partners, but also of people who don’t know us very well.  Which conversations are we not holding?  Who is not at the table with us?  Most importantly, we must make an open and inviting space to allow for those authentic conversations to occur.  

Diversity, inclusion, and equity are core values of our organizational culture that advance our mission.  We must ensure that access to the Community Foundation continues to be inclusive and equitable. That access is especially important for inclusive and crucial conversations informing us about the direction we need to take to best serve everyone in Lorain County. 

The core work of the Community Foundation brings people together to catalyze transformational change in the community.  With your help and guidance, we look ahead to what’s possible. Please join us in continuing this important work connecting communities that care and making Lorain County a better place for all.