The Cavalier Daily
Serving the University Community Since 1890

Bama Works Fund of Dave Matthews Band gives to local nonprofits

More than half a million dollars given to 67 local organizations

<p>Since 1998, Dave Matthews Band has been giving back to the Charlottesville community through the Bama Works Fund.&nbsp;</p>

Since 1998, Dave Matthews Band has been giving back to the Charlottesville community through the Bama Works Fund. 

On Tuesday, the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation, or CACF, announced $569,422 in financial grants to a variety of local non-profits. The grants are a part of the Bama Works Fund of Dave Matthews Band, which CACF oversees.

CACF was started in 1967, and serves the City of Charlottesville as well as seven surrounding counties.

The organization’s President and Chief Executive Officer Anne Scott said the mission of the program is to promote a high quality of life in the local area by providing grants to a variety of nonprofits.

Established in 1999, the Bama Works Fund of Dave Matthews Band is one of the more than 240 grants which CACF distributes.

“The generosity of Dave Matthews Band is amazing,” Scott said. “They wanted to have a way to give back to the community that they care about very much.”

Spring 2016 recipients of the Bama Works Fund grants are a diverse group. Organizations which received funding are dedicated to protecting the environment, supporting people living with disabilities and developing arts and humanities, among other things.

One of the 2016 recipients, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, or VCCA, has received grants from Bama Works for many years. The center annually accommodates over 400 fellow artists, including writers, visual artists and composers, and provides spaces for them to concentrate on their works.

VCCA Director of Communications and Grants Management Sarah Sargent said VCCA supports artists whose works can benefit the local community.

“We don’t reject anyone based on need, and the grant enables us to keep doing what we are supposed to be doing,” Sargent said. “We see ourselves not just benefiting individual artists, but also in sustaining culture.”

Another 2016 grant recipient is the Rivanna Conservation Alliance, or RCA, which formed this year through a merger by the Rivanna Conservation Society and Streamwatch. RCA is a nonprofit watershed organization which focuses on water conservation and sustainability.

RCA Executive Director Robbi Savage said the organization is delighted to be funded by the Bama Works Fund.

“In our community, water quality is critically important for the health of individuals, for the maintenance of healthy lifestyles, and for a beautiful environment,” Savage said. “We monitor the water quality for the community as well as for area governments. We do a lot of work to help keep it clean.”

Meals on Wheels of Charlottesville-Albemarle is a grant recipient which strives to deliver hot meals to the homebound in the local area.

Executive Director Leigh Trippe said the organization’s mission is to not only provide food for people in need, but to also increase their contact with the outside world.

Meals on Wheels currently serves 272 clients who live alone and may as a result feel very isolated. Among the clients, about 67 percent receive full subsidies, and 72 percent are over 75 years old, Trippe said.

“We have so much and they have so little. They are somewhat invisible, but it is a real need,” Trippe said. “If your parents are across the country and you cannot check on them all the time, the fact that there might be an organization that can do that for you will make you feel better.”

Trippe said she feels honored to receive funding, and the money the organization receives directly supports food costs.

“We have no public funding. All of our money comes from individual donations and local grants, so what [Bama Works] does is give us the stability to take care of people,” Trippe said.

Diversifying the beneficiaries of Bama Works Fund —  rather than focus on one or two areas — fosters a sense of community, Scott commented.  

Comments

Latest Podcast

The University’s Associate Vice Provost for Enrollment and Undergraduate Admission, Greg Roberts, provides listeners with an insight into how the University conducts admissions and the legal subtleties regarding the possible end to the consideration of legacy status.



https://open.spotify.com/episode/02ZWcF1RlqBj7CXLfA49xt