HIF Celebrates 50 Years
HIF Celebrates 50 Years
On Friday, September 27th, the HIF Board of Trustees hosted the Foundation’s 50th Anniversary Celebration at BlackRock Center for the Arts in Germantown. With more than 100 community partners in attendance, the focus of the morning was ’50 years of community impact and partnership.’ The HIF team, in partnership with the team from Leadership Montgomery, cultivated the opportunity for nonprofit partners, government leaders, and community advocates to share ideas for future collaboration and programming.
The breakfast kicked off with opening remarks from HIF’s Board of Trustee and Secretary, Mike Knapp. Knapp’s remarks offered highlights of the history of the Foundation, starting in 1973 with its modest grant of $2,000 grant to the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Fire and Rescue to support the purchase of an ambulance. Knapp concluded his remarks with a welcome to HIF’s incoming President and CEO, Kathy Stevens. Stevens will start her tenure as President and CEO on October 16. 2024.
As a way to highlight examples of successful collaboration and partnership, three Collective Impact Stories were highlighted through video and breakout sessions. Partners from the Healthcare Workforce Education Pipeline (The Universities at Shady Grove and Montgomery College), Food is Medicine (Community FarmShare, AfriThrive, Care 4 Your Health, WUMCO Help, and Mid-County United Ministries), and the Youth Behavioral Health Eco-System (EveryMind and Identity, Inc.) shared their stories of collaboration in pre-recorded zoom conversations and participated in the morning’s breakout sessions with attendees.
The feedback received during the event was clear – more opportunities to thoughtfully and intentionally connect for future collaboration is desired by community partners and leaders. On November 13, 2024, the monthly Community Partner Network meeting (9:30am-10:30am) will focus on follow-up from the event; the lessons learned and suggestions for intentional planning for future collaboration. Click here to registration for this partner meeting.
For those interested in learning more about HIF’s upcoming FY25 grant cycle, including the Capacity Building grant cycle, register for the Annual Grant training on October 10th from 12-1pm. This will be a virtual event. Registration is open.
To view more photos from the event, the 50th Anniversary Celebration presentation slides, and Collective Impact Videos, visit: hifmc.org/50Years.