Putting Together the Puzzle of Social Change
After our first eleven years, we— the more than 20 full and part-time staff at Community Chest, Inc. thought it was important to step back and reflect on our accomplishments. In 1991 we began as a volunteer organization with two staff and $50,000, about one-thirtieth of our current $1,450,000 budget.
At that time we had one program, the statewide homeless youth education office, and now we operate over 30 programs. We worked out of a rented office on folding tables and today we are more than halfway to paying off our present building at 991 South C Street.
We could not imagine the programs that would start in the next decade and yet, they grew and developed to fill scores of unmet needs. From health care to early childhood education, we have grown to be a leader in community development, having been selected as a semi-finalist for the Ford Foundation’s Leadership for a Changing World Award in 2001 and 2002. What began as an idea— to create an organization that would be a catalyst for change and a center for resources to help people help themselves— has evolved into a broad team of people and volunteers, who together, build healthy families and communities.
This phenomenal growth and development happened because of one reason: the steadfast support of our board, legal counsel, and auditor, the more than three dozen public, state, local, and private funding sources, the businesses, schools, and residents of this community and the neighboring counties, and the hundreds of volunteers and human service organizations throughout Nevada.
It has happened because of you. Thank you for your belief in us.
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What began as an idea - to create an organization that would be a catalyst for change and a center for resources to help people help themselves - has evolved into a broad team of people and volunteers, who together, build healthy families and communities.