Angela Miller, Executive Director of WAMY Community Action, Inc., announced that the agency has been awarded a grant by the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation. The grant will be used fund a Development Director (DD) position for one year. The DD will work towards organizational capacity building, program sustainability and staff development, according to Miller. “The grant from Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation will give us additional resources to research funding opportunities, apply for grants, facilitate Board, staff and volunteer development, create a strategic plan, and raise funds for our new Community Support Center.”
Lisa Redman, WAMY’s new Development Director, holds a Bachelor of Science with a major in community and regional planning and a concentration in environmental planning from Appalachian State University. She is also working part-time towards her Master of Arts with a major in geography and a concentration in planning at the university. Mrs. Redman holds a certificate of training for group facilitation methods through the Institute of Cultural Affairs, and has previous work experience in consensus building and action planning in the non-profit realm. She also has experience in community needs assessment, grant research and writing, and community outreach. In additional to her DD responsibilities, she plan to examine poverty in the High Country using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), especially in relation to the gap between low-income households and equal access to energy-efficient and “green” technologies.
The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation was created in 1936 as a memorial to the founder of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. The foundation provides grants to 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations and “actively seeks to promote access, equity, and inclusiveness; and to discourage discrimination based on race, ethnicity, gender, age, socioeconomic status, and other factors that deny the essential humanity of all people.”
WAMY Community Action, Inc. was founded in 1964 through the Economic Opportunity Act. “Most recently, our agency purchased the Blue Ridge Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine building with partnering agency, OASIS. We’ll be creating a Community Support Center that will house a variety of nonprofit organizations under one roof to provide efficient and effective services to residents of the High Country,” Miller said. “We hope to open the center by this Summer, and are still seeking interested tenants.”
WAMY Community Action, Inc. provides services, awareness, solutions, and empowerment for individuals and families from disadvantaged circumstances in Watauga, Avery, Mitchell, and Yancey (WAMY) counties. For more information about WAMY Community Action, please call their Watauga County office at 828-264-2421 or their Avery County office at 828-733-0156.