NEW CHARITY PARTNER VOTING

Please use the form below to place your votes for the prospective charity partners you would like to see confirmed. The board committee members (Leslie Schlernitzauer, Palmer Steel, Bob Barnhart, and Ali Summerville) overseeing the charity grant application process unanimously recommend that you VOTE FOR Augustine Literacy Project and A Child’s Place (part of Thompson Child & Family Focus). A majority vote must be received to confirm each prospective new partner.

The Augustine Literacy Project (ALP) works to improve the reading, spelling, and writing skills of low-income children who struggle with literacy.  They do this by recruiting, training, and supporting volunteer tutors who provide free, long-term, one-on-one instruction.

First tutors complete 40 hours of intensive training that focuses on the five components of reading instruction recommended by the National Reading Panel. Tutors then commit to providing a minimum of 60 sessions of one-on-one instruction with a struggling reader in a high poverty Charlotte-Mecklenburg School (CMS). Tutors are matched with economically disadvantaged students identified by CMS schools as being a year or more behind in reading.  They then provide long-term individualized instruction for 45 minutes two times per week to struggling first through third graders.

Due to the pandemic many students that had been on track have now fallen behind. ALP is anticipating this even greater need and is planning to add 112 new tutors serving 300 new students.  If approved CW+F grants will support this much needed expansion.

ALP also has a significant database of friends and volunteers who are highly engaged in the community and a very active board of 16 “community connectors.” They feel confident that ALP supporters will enthusiastically support CW+F by volunteering, promoting events, and securing high-end auction items. ALP plans to utilize social media, email, and newsletters to promote the partnership with CW+F.

Thompson Child & Family Focus is a large local non-profit that provides multiple services to the Charlotte Mecklenburg community and to communities throughout North Carolina.  They run several programs targeted to support marginalized children and families who have been impacted by multiple Adverse Childhood Experiences and are facing significant socio-economic challenges.  Thompson specifically is requesting funding for A Child’s Place (ACP).

 ACP is a specialized, intensive case management service for families and children experiencing homelessness.  ACP social workers work with families of children of any grade identified as homeless by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS).  Year over year this number is typically greater than 4000 students.  ACP empowers these families to achieve stability by focusing on three key priorities: access to resources, engaging in healthy and supportive relationships, and increasing self-sufficiency. Their intensive case management model engages heads of households, helping them set and achieve goals. ACP also links families to mental health services to ensure they receive holistic support.

Thompson also pledges to provide significant numbers of people as needed to support CW+F events. They have offered to provide volunteers with experience in the following areas: event hosting, volunteer management, manning tables, supporting live/silent auctions, captains of event tables, communication for events, fundraising, acknowledgement of support, writing, speaking, presenting, marketing, and solicitation. They are also committed to making the contributions through ticket sales to events, tickets purchased by individual and corporate partners, donation of auction items, Board and Committee participation, donation of staff and volunteer time. They will also solicit their 4,000+ active donor base to support the CW+F events. 

As a reminder, the above new charities will take the beneficiary place of Mitchell’s Fund and The Relatives, both of which just rolled off end of June 2021 after 5 years of partnership. GenOne and The Learning Collaborative (TLC) will continue on as charity beneficiary partners for the current fiscal.

NEW BOARD MEMBER VOTING

Please use the form below to place your votes for the prospective board members you would like to see confirmed. The board committee members (Palmer Steel, Ariail Barker, Bob Barnhart, Tom Bohrer, Don Cleven, and Marty Snider) overseeing the interviews unanimously recommend that you VOTE FOR all 8 candidates. At present we have 21 of 30 board seats occupied and following the assumed confirmation of all parties below we will have 29 of 30 seats filled. A majority vote must be received to confirm each prospective new board member. See candidate list in the form below.

Please direct questions to CW+F Board Chairman Palmer Steel at rpalmersteel@gmail.com and Lauren Deese at ldeese@charlottewineandfood.org

All votes must be received by Friday, September 3, 2021.