The Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce named the Virginia Western Community College Educational Foundation the Arts and Culture Nonprofit of 2016 at its 30th annual Small Business Awards ceremony on Thursday night.
The awards committee “was impressed with the number of people this organization reaches,” said Chamber President and CEO Joyce Waugh in presenting the award to Dr. Angela M. Garcia Falconetti, Executive Director of the Educational Foundation and Virginia Western’s Vice President of Institutional Advancement.
The Virginia Western Community College Educational Foundation was founded in 1981 as a nonprofit that serves the College by raising funds for student scholarships, program support and capital projects. Its hallmark initiative is the Community College Access Program (CCAP), which has provided up to two years of tuition to more than 1,900 Roanoke Valley students since its founding in 2008.
Overall, the Educational Foundation contributed more than $1 million in assistance in the 2015-16 academic year. It supported faculty with Innovation Grants, helped students buy college textbooks, created a new fund to enlarge the Brown Library Collections and established its first scholarship for students seeking professional internships.
“We are honored to be recognized the Roanoke Regional Chamber and our business community,” Dr. Falconetti said. “What we do would not be possible without the generous support from businesses and community leaders that understand our role in moving Roanoke forward.”
