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TTN PHILADELPHIA GIVING CIRCLE NEWSLETTER

March 2024

Dear TTN Philadelphia Giving Circle Community,

I do the New York Times Wordle puzzle on my iPhone first thing each morning, usually before I get out of bed. You’ve probably heard of Wordle even if you aren’t a player. It’s a simple game where you get six tries to find the five-letter word of the day. Whether I win or lose, I text the result to my daughter. She is 45, smarter than me (ha!), lives on the other side of the country, and often travels to faraway places for her job. Our very different lives and schedules mean that we don’t talk much, but this simple ritual of sharing our Wordle results each day keeps us connected. Of course, we NEVER share the answer until we’ve both finished the puzzle. As anyone who does Wordle knows, revealing the answer to someone who is still working on the word of the day is the ultimate Wordle sin! Still, the results don’t matter much. For us, sharing our scores each morning, no matter the outcome or where we are in the world, is a way to say we’re thinking of each other and optimistically looking forward to starting another day.

I think that being part of the Giving Circle gives me similar feelings of connection and optimism. I’m grateful to learn about issues in my community through Giving Circle programs. I also discover how my donations might help to solve some of those problems, and it is a joy to connect with all of you in the Giving Circle community. Only optimists are philanthropists, especially those who join with others to make a difference.

My co-chair, Phyllis Bookspan and I hope that you will join us on March 21st for the annual Giving Circle Thank You celebration. Be sure to register at the link below, and, of course, be sure to register for our most important event of the year, the Annual Voting Meeting on May 16th. The Voting Meeting will again be via Zoom to keep down costs, allow all our finalist organizations to easily make their presentations, and to enable all voting donors to VOTE no matter where they may be in the world.

Together in Giving,

Kris Lindenmeyer

Co-chair TTN Philadelphia Giving Circle

TTN Philadelphia Giving Circle is inviting you to its Annual Donor Appreciation Event.

Join your fellow Giving Circle members and hear from two of our 2023 Grantees . . . YASP and ASAP.

Registration is now open! Please see below!

Please join us as we gather to "thank you" for your support of the Giving Circle’s mission to help women and children in Philadelphia. And join us for a fun "get together" with other Giving Circle donors while being inspired by our guest speakers. We’ll hear from two of our 2023 grant recipients: Youth Art & Self-Empowerment Project (YASP) and After School Activities Partnerships (ASAP) as they talk about how their work makes a difference in the lives of the children they touch. And, as we nibble on snacks, you’ll have a chance to meet representatives from all four of our 2023 grant recipients and learn more about their work.

MEET YASP AND ASAP

Since we have representatives from both YASP and ASAP speaking at our March 21st Giving Circle Donor Event, we thought you would enjoy seeing two videos about how their work can have a positive impact on the lives of children in Philadelphia.

Just click on the image to watch the video.

What a Great Program

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PHILADELPHIA'S EARLY LITERACY CRISIS:

REASONS TO BE OPTIMISTIC

WOW! What a great group of panelists we had for PHILADELPHIA'S EARLY LITERACY CRISIS: REASONS TO BE OPTIMISTIC. We want to thank all our panelists for attending as well as Sandi Slap and Mary Klein for putting together Part I and Part II of PHILADELPHIA'S EARLY LITERACY CRISIS.

The program committee of our Giving Circle offered these two panels of experts to provide us greater insight and bring us up-to-speed on the issues and struggles facing many of our young children today in Philadelphia, especially in underserved communities, when it comes to trying to learn how to read. With the knowledge that we have gained from these programs, as well as other sources, we can now turn our attention to the nonprofits in Philadelphia that will be applying for an opportunity to be awarded one of our three grants this year. So, mark your calendars for May 16th as the Executive Council and the Grants Committee begins to gather and read grant proposals from the many nonprofits that have submitted applications thus far.

For those who may have missed this program, we invite you to click on the link below.

https://us06web.zoom.us/rec/share/C5nVqFi8Zjo9DspZCSeXmRQkUoGaInSkxWDO1ODy6V_bYCzFBf_dS3N7AqhU3Fyr.6EAuF0-I3GKmekEr

Passcode: .80DubS.

Announcing the date of our biggest night of the year . . .our Annual Voting Meeting

It is the night when we gather via Zoom and choose three nonprofits to whom we will be awarding our grants for 2024. All voting* donors are welcome to attend. Registration will open at a later date but – for now – please just “Save the Date.”

*a voting member is a donor who gave $200 or more in 2023.

Grants Committee Update . . .The Giving Circle received 29 applications for our 2024 grant cycle and the Executive Council is busy making its initial review. The Grants Committee, 32 strong this year, will receive their reading assignments by March 11th in anticipation of the March 25th Grants Committee meeting.

*** IN THE NEWS ***

We have had three of our prior grant recipients IN THE NEWS lately, so we thought we would share

ASAP Names new Executive Director, Sara Morningstar

After School Activities Partnership (ASAP), one of four grant recipients from the TTN Giving Circle last May, has named Sara Morningstar, as the organization’s new executive director. Sara started working at ASAP as the Debate/Drama Manager in 2014 and has been employed there ever since.

Sara Morningstar with student

Sara describes the genesis of her passion for ASAP this way: “Ever since I moved to Philly twelve years ago, I have been advocating and fighting for our kids to have the same access to opportunities as their suburban and private school peers — experiences that help them grow, inspire them to reach new heights, and make lifelong friendships.

Jenaye Munford, ASAP board chair, noted that, “We have complete confidence in Sara's passion, fresh perspective, and proven ability to guide ASAP to even greater heights.”

ASAP has grown significantly during the almost ten years since Sara’s first came on board. The organization retracted slightly during the pandemic but has experienced a period of growth in recent years. As ASAP grew, Sara took on added responsibilities and, was appointed Deputy Executive Director in 2021, a position that prepared her to assume the ED position when it became available.

ASAP was created in 2002 by Marciene Mattleman, a celebrated social entrepreneur who founded and headed 5 nonprofit organizations in Philadelphia. Its purpose was to bring to public awareness the dangers of the afterschool hours for unsupervised youth. ASAP is dedicated to closing the out-of-school time activity gap for underserved youth. Programs in chess, debate, theater and scrabble engage 5,000 Philadelphia children in grades K – 12 each year, in many cases creating new life trajectories.

SOWN (Supportive Older Women's Network) is now CONNECTEDLY

It is so exciting when Giving Circle grantees are recognized in the wider Philadelphia community for the contributions they make to improve the lives of women and children in the city. In 2024, our 2022 Grantee SOWN (Supportive Older Women's Network) changed their name but not their mission i.e. to improve the lives of Philadelphia’s seniors by staving off loneliness and social isolation through programs for older adults and grandfamilies.

In February Connectedly was featured on several local news outlets. On Feb 6th WPVI / 6-ABC featured Connectedly in a news story entitled “Nonprofit is working to curb isolation for seniors." That was followed by a feature on WHYY entitled "We make it work" and on an Apple podcast. Congratulations to Connectedly for its commitment to building pathways for senior adults, including senior adult women, to stay socially connected.

12 PLUS and Raymond John, CEO

Each year, the Philadelphia Business Journal’s Most Admired CEOs program recognizes top-level executives for their leadership. Out of over 100 submissions, 27 were chosen and, in 2023, Raymond John co-founder and CEO of 12 Plus received this recognition. 12 Plus was one of our grant recipients in 2023. See the text for this award below. Congratulations, Raymond!

Raymond John knows firsthand the struggles students have in accessing postsecondary education when they face certain socioeconomic hurdles. A first- generation college student, John’s parents immigrated to the U.S. from South Korea, saving to move into a public school district that would provide him a better education. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, John saw the need in Philadelphia to help students overcome those hurdles and in 2012 co- founded 12 Plus.

The nonprofit works with schools to create on-site centers to support students, particularly those from low income backgrounds, navigate postsecondary education options like the admissions process and financial aid. The organization launched in a single school and in the past decade has expanded to 12 throughout Philadelphia and Camden, serving over 3,000 individuals annually and 17,000 in total.

Last year, the organization’s graduating seniors had a more than 90% graduation rate into postsecondary education and received over $5.5 million in scholarships and need-based aid. In 2018, John co-founded Kensington-based Caphe Roasters to provide jobs for 12 Plus students and alums and to further financially support its mission.