Nonprofit Virtual Tour and Visits
The Community Foundation invites fundholders, donors, and others to join us as we visit a nonprofit organization in the Lehigh Valley. During each visit, we will meet with the organization’s leaders and learn more about their mission, successes, and challenges. In recent years we have conducted a number of virtual visits online via Zoom.
Below is information and videos from the virtual visits in recent years, most of which have videos of the presentations.
Bloom for Women
Carol Andersen, CEO of Bloom presented to the LVCF group on February 29, 2024. She is an advocate for women with an enthusiastic passion to share hope and instill empowerment with survivors of sex trafficking, prostitution, and addiction. Bloom’s mission is to provide sanctuary and a continuum of care to heal, empower and employ women survivors of sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation. Bloom operates 5 homes throughout the Lehigh Valley, Heather and Jasmine House are 2-year recovery-based residences for adult women; Mountain Laurel House is a 2-year recovery-based residence for women who are either pregnant or parenting a child up to 3 years of age; and Lilac and Lily House are transitional homes for program graduates.
In addition, Bloom operates two social enterprises which provide safe employment for program participants as well as financial support for the organization: My Sisters Closet, an upscale women’s resale boutique in Bethlehem Township; and Bloom DIY Shop, a drop in creative space in downtown Bangor. Bloom’s 2-year residential program is part of a national network of more than 75 programs that follow the nationally recognized Thistle Farms Nashville model that has been restoring the lives of women survivors since 1997. Learn more about Bloom on their website: https://bloomforwomen.org/.
Ripple Community, Inc.
Dr. Sherri Brokopp Binder, Ripple Community, Inc. Executive Director, led a virtual tour in January of 2024, of RCI’s unique work and mission in the community, focusing on the role of safe spaces and stable housing as the foundation of strong neighborhoods. RCI’s current initiative is the adaptive reuse of a former church property located at 1547 Chew Street in Allentown. When completed, this project will provide 12 units of deeply affordable housing, a permanent home for the Community Building Center, and a permanent home for the Valley Health Partners Street Medicine Medical Respite program. Learn more about Ripple, visit their website at: Ripple Community Inc.
Community Bike Works
Kim Schaffer, Executive Director, and staff took us on a virtual tour of Community Bike Works (CBW) on May 27, 2023. CBW is an important nonprofit that offers high-quality mentoring programs that use bicycles and books to connect youth with adult and peer mentors who can teach them skills that help them succeed. In order to help students reach their full potential, CBW offers additional resources and partners with organizations to help strengthen students’ families and the community. CBW seeks to give students and families a meaningful voice in their work as they strive to be an organization of racial and economic justice and equality, not charity. Learn More
Traveling While Black
LVCF took a group to the Zoellner Arts Center in March 2024 for Traveling While Black a cinematic virtual reality experience that immerses viewers in the long history of restriction of movement for Black Americans and the creation of safe spaces in our communities.
This film by Academy Award winner Roger Ross Williams and Emmy Award-winning Felix & Paul Studios transports viewers to historic Ben’s Chili Bowl restaurant in Washington, D.C. Viewers share an intimate series of moments with several of Ben’s patrons as they reflect on their experiences of restricted movement and race relations in the United States.
Confronting the way we understand and talk about race in America, Traveling While Black highlights the urgent need to not only remember the past but to learn from it, and to facilitate a dialogue about the challenges minority travelers still face today. See the trailer on YouTube. Participants wore Oculus GO virtual reality headsets to experience the program. Click here for artist’s website.
The event was in person, see all the photos at: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjAxym9
Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites
LoriAnn Wukitsch, President and CEO, will took us on a virtual tour on March 9, 2024, and explained how Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites preserves not only the physical structures of the past, but also the rich cultural history of the Moravian community. Through HBM&S’s educational programs and guided tours, visitors learn about the Moravian people and their beliefs, and how they contributed to the growth of the Lehigh Valley.
LoriAnn shared the latest on HBM&S’s quest that led to the U.S. Department of Interior’s recent submission of Historic Moravian Bethlehem as its first multi-national nomination to the World Heritage List. See news release – Historic Bethlehem’s two-decade initiative to move closer to World Heritage nomination realized. Below is the video One Step Closer to World Heritage List.
Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC)
January 24, 2023
Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC)An FQHC is an outpatient clinic that qualifies for specific reimbursement under Medicare and Medicaid. FQHCs include Health Center Program award recipients and look-alikes as well as certain outpatient clinics associated with tribal organizations. We heard from three of them in the Lehigh Valley:
Veronica Gonzalez, MBA, Chief Executive Officer | Valley Health Partners, Allentown, Pa. | Visit Website: Valley Health Partners
Mark Roberts, Executive Director, Star Community Health, Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton, Pa. | Visit Website: Star Community Health
Melissa Miranda, R.N., Chief Executive Officer | Neighborhood Health Centers of the Lehigh Valley, Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton, Pa. | Visit Website: Neighborhood Health Centers of the Lehigh Valley
Below is information and videos from the virtual visits conducted during 2022
LehighValleyNews.com
December 2022
LVCF held a virtual nonprofit tour of LehighValleyNews.com. Yoni Greenbaum, Chief Operating Officer, and Sil Scaglione, Chief Development Officer, from Lehigh Valley Public Media, provided an inside look at LehighValleyNews.com, the new nonprofit local digital news and information platform committed to serving the communities in which we live and work. The Zoom program was held on December 15, 2022
Visit LehighValleyNews.Com
Resurrected Community Development Corporation
November 2022
Rev. Dr. Gregory James Edwards, Founder and Senior Pastor of the Resurrected Life Community Church, United Church of Christ, and President and CEO of the Resurrected Community Development Corporation present their current educational initiatives with a focus on their expansion plans for early childhood learning. In conjunction with its community partners and volunteers, RCDC offers several programs to members of the Lehigh Valley to help people develop the skills they’ll need to become leaders and advocates for their family, for their community, and for themselves.
See the video | Visit their website
Pediatric Cancer Foundation of the Lehigh Valley
September 2022
The Pediatric Cancer Foundation of the Lehigh Valley (PCFLV) is a local non-profit dedicated to providing free programs and services to local pediatric cancer families who have heard the devastating and life-changing words, “your child has cancer.” Michelle Zenie, Executive Director and Cancer Mom, and Tracy Stauffer, Marketing, Community Relations and Development Coordinator, discussed Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month, the prevalence of pediatric cancer in the community, their programming and services, and how people can help support the organization. For more information about PCFLV, please go to pcflv.org.
See the Video | Visit their website
Cohesion Network
March 2022
Cohesion Network is a community-based nonprofit organization in Allentown’s 1st Ward. Darian Colbert, the founder of Cohesion Network, took LVCF fundholders on a virtual nonprofit tour of the organization. A lifelong resident of the Lehigh Valley who believes that people are the greatest asset on the planet. He chooses to focus on those assets here in our community rather than the liabilities. Cohesion Network believes that the Lehigh Valley is rich in diversity, but they also recognize that there are many barriers for people in marginalized communities. Their work brings people together to build bridges that provide equal opportunity for all residents to thrive educationally, socially, and economically.
See the video | Visit their website
Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network
February 24, 2022
LVCF received an inside look at Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network’s state-of-the-art, 76-bed inpatient rehabilitation hospital currently being built in Center Valley, Pa. Michael Spigel, President & CEO, will share his vision for the four-story, 123,000-square-foot facility that will revolutionize treatment and recovery options for people with complex medical conditions, such as stroke, spinal cord injury, brain injury and other serious injuries or illnesses.
See the video | Visit their website
Da Vinci Science Center at PPL Pavilion
January 2022
We took an inside look at the plans for the Da Vinci Center at PPL Pavilion with MaryEllen Dickey, Chief Philanthropy Officer, and Lin Erickson, Executive Director and CEO, gave a sneak peek at the planned 67,000 sq. ft. facility and get a preview of the exhibit spaces that will include: Curiosity Hall; Science in the Making: Lehigh River Watershed: My Body: Immersive Body. The facility will feature state of the art workshops/labs for hands on learning and STEAM skills development. It will be outfitted in partnership with the Allentown School District to support in school and out of school learning experiences.
See the video | Visit their website