Pull up a Chair: February Newsletter

Emily Prince • February 13, 2026

Advancing Participation in Athens County

February reminds us that while spring is not far off, there are still opportunities for cozy evenings and community gatherings. As we begin a new year, the Athens County Foundation is honored to continue working with and supporting our nonprofit partners. They are essential to the strength, creativity, and care that define our community, and we are grateful for the work you do every day across Athens County to support our community.


Your contributions reflect what is possible when neighbors invest in one another. Your generosity helps provide critical lifelines, opens doors to opportunity, strengthens connections, and creates lasting impact throughout our community. From meeting immediate needs to building long-term solutions, your work helps ensure Athens County remains a place where people can thrive.


In the year ahead, ACF looks forward to walking alongside you. We see ourselves as partners in this work and are here to support you as you bring your philanthropic visions to life. Thank you for choosing to serve our community with purpose and care. We are proud to be in community with you. 


In 2022, we announced the establishment of the Athens County Racial Equity Fund (REF). This fund provides financial support to selected anti-racist educational projects and community programs, while building capacity and opportunities for People of the Global Majority in Athens County. Since its inception, the fund has supported 10 unique organizations, funding 13 projects totaling $54,170 in awards. 


At Athens County Foundation, we believe lasting change happens when people pull up a chair, listen, and work together. That belief is at the heart of our Racial Equity Fund and the partners who are shaping a more just and inclusive Athens County.


The Racial Equity Fund was created to support community-led efforts that address racial inequities and expand opportunity. Through collaboration with local organizations, leaders, and residents, the Fund helps ensure that those most impacted by inequity have a voice in creating solutions.

Across the county, partners supported by the Racial Equity Fund are doing this work side by side with community members. They are building trust, strengthening relationships, and creating spaces where people feel seen, valued, and able to participate fully. These efforts reflect what becomes possible when leadership is shared and collaboration is centered.


The Women of Color Support Group at SAOP creates space for connection, belonging, and mutual support among women of color in Athens County. Supported by the Athens County Foundation, the group meets regularly to build relationships, share resources, and foster a sense of community among participants who understand the intersecting experiences of race and gender. Through monthly gatherings, shared meals, wellness activities, and intentional support of local businesses owned by people of color, the group has helped reduce isolation, strengthen cross-generational relationships, and create lasting friendships. Participants have described the group as a place where they feel seen, valued, and connected, highlighting the powerful impact of pulling up a chair together and building community side by side.

Your gift to the Racial Equity Fund helps make projects like the Women of Color Support Group possible. Contributions to this fund advance anti-racism and racial equity efforts across Athens County. Thank you for standing with people from the global majority in our community.

We invite you to continue pulling up a chair with us.


Full Newsletter

Pull up a Chair: September Newsletter

By Emily Prince • September 17, 2026
After the Storm: What Community Resilience Looks Like

Stacy Strauss is ACF's new Director of Finance and Administration

By Emily Prince • September 1, 2026
Please join us in welcoming our new Director of Finance and Administration, Stacy Strauss. Stacy looks forward to using her skills to strengthen our community! She brings energy, creativity, and a thoughtful approach to her work, along with a genuine ability to bring people together around shared goals. Her experience spans financial management, fundraising and grant writing, program development, business strategy, and developing materials that tell a clear, compelling story.  Just as importantly, she enjoys helping others grow. She has experience leading and training teams, building collaborative cultures, developing recruitment strategies, and finding practical, creative solutions to complicated challenges. Whether working with colleagues, community partners, or other stakeholders, she builds relationships rooted in trust, communication, and a shared commitment to advancing good ideas.

Fall Grant Applications Open

By Shayne Lopez • August 28, 2026
Athens County's greatest asset is its people. Every day, neighbors, organizations, and local leaders bring skill, creativity, and deep knowledge of this place to the work of building a stronger community. Our grantmaking invests in those strengths, because the best solutions are already growing here, led by the people who call Athens County home. Our grantmaking builds on the strengths already here by investing in the initiatives, people and organizations, relationships, skills, and ideas working to address longstanding challenges and pursue extraordinary opportunities. The deadline for applications for the Senior Fund has been extended to October 18, 2026! The Athens Jaycees Senior Fund The Athens Jaycees Senior Fund supports organizations and programs working to improve the lives of older adults (60+) in Athens County. This year, approximately $65,000 is available through ACF’s Fall Grant Cycle. We want to encourage organizations to think broadly about what supporting people as they age could look like. The Jaycees fund has deep local roots. In 2014, Housing for Athens Senior Residents donated $1 million to the Athens County Foundation to establish the fund following the sale of Heritage Commons Senior Housing. Heritage Commons itself began as an Athens Jaycees project in 1981, created to expand housing opportunities for local seniors. To date, the Jaycees Senior Fund has awarded more than $415,000 to support programs and services benefiting older adults across Athens County. What could an Athens Jaycees Senior Fund project look like? We’re inviting applicants to consider how their work could help make Athens County a community where people can remain active, connected, independent, and supported as they age. Projects might address housing, transportation, community and health services, social connection, healthy living, accessibility, caregiver support, or other needs and opportunities identified by older adults. The Jaycees Senior Fund intentionally remains flexible so that organizations can bring forward ideas grounded in what they are seeing and hearing in their communities. If your organization has an idea that could improve the experience of aging in Athens County, we encourage you to consider ACF’s Fall Grant Cycle to access the Jaycees Senior Fund. The deadline for grant requests supporting senior-related programs has been extended to October 18, 2026. For more information, please visit athensfoundation.org/grants. -------- If you’d like guidance in developing or strengthening an age-friendly program idea, we encourage you to reach out directly to Amy Lipka with Age-Friendly Athens County at alipka@athenspublichealth.org. The Athens City-County Health Department will also sponsor Healthy Aging Community Grants in early 2027.