The Enrichmond Foundation and The City of Richmond Department of Parks, Recreation, and Community Facilities  invites you to the:

2012 Enrichmond Partner Meeting

Please join us and all of the Partners and Special Projects working under the Enrichmond Foundation fiscal sponsorship for the 2012 Enrichmond Partner Meeting. If you are an existing or past partner, or interested in becoming a partner with Enrichmond this is your event.

The event agenda will be:
Introduction: Dr. Norman Merrifield, Director of Parks, Recreation, and Community Facilities.

Enrichmond Update: Value in Partnership- Volunteers, Finances, and Procedures.

Visit: http://new.evite.com/services/links/X2HZE4SHY2 for registration.

Email jsydnor@enrichmond.org or call 804.646.0954 for additional information.

Every park Friends group could benefit from having at least one Certified Tree Steward among its members. A Certified Tree Steward will know how to make trees thrive and act as a liaison in arranging any needed Tree Steward assistance in planting, pruning or planning for these activities (with the approval of Parks officials, of course). The next training class begins Jan. 10 at the Round House in Byrd Park and will cover everything from tree biology and diseases to hands-on planting and pruning. Advance registration for the 11-week course is requested. See the details and ask questions at http://richmondtreestewards.wordpress.com/classes-2/

The year is coming to a close.  Thank YOU!- for supporting us in growing a better Foundation and building a better City.  It is time to be thankful and celebrate our accomplishments as well as reflect and learn from our mistakes.  As we begin evaluating 2011, it is helpful to look back at our past achievements. 

Send A Kid to Camp
Partnership with Department of Parks, Recreation, and Community Facilities

With the generosity of hundreds of listeners combined with the talents and energy of local DJs, the 2010 Send A Kid To Cap Radio-A-Thon raised over $25,000 for City youth to attend summer camp.  This event was sponsored by Radio One’s 92.1 POWER, 99.3 and 105.7 KISS, and 104.7 PRAISE.

Earth Day Event
Partnership with Style Weekly

An estimated 6,000 people attended our Earth Day festival. Through vendor support and food and beverage sales, Richmond’s Earth Day Festival raised nearly $9,000.  The focus of this event is to bring the community together to celebrate local efforts, businesses, organizations, music, and art around Earth Day.

Additional successes are detailed on our website: www.enrichmond.org

70+ partners = Limitless opportunities to help.

The Enrichmond Foundation has served as the main umbrella non-profit organization for numerous volunteer groups, civic organizations, and special initiatives in the City of Richmond for over twenty years. We now serve over seventy (70)+ partnerships and projects under the Enrichmond umbrella. Although our main service is fiduciary, Enrichmond has always assisted our partners with volunteer planning, coordination, recruitment, and management.

Why volunteer? When you volunteer you are giving something back to your neighborhood, City, or regional resource by lending a helping hand to our parks (like W. Byrd Park), recreational programs (like First Tee), or cultural offerings (like Dogwood Dell). What you may not realize is that volunteering also benefits you as an individual. There are many good reasons to get involved with Enrichmond and our partners, including learning something about yourself.

Our most recent match making effort connected Diamond Health care with Byrd and Forest Hill Parks. On November 6th Diamond’s employees will assist in park maintenance to provide a quality corporate volunteer effort. We are also recruiting volunteers for our upcoming Earth Day event on April 21, 2012.

If you have a project in mind and could use a helping hand, please contact us at 646-0954. We can help plan your project in-house or connect you to one of our outstanding partners like HandsOn Greater Richmond or Neighbor-to-Neighbor.

City’s “Imagine Festival” Celebrates Community Diversity

The City of Richmond will host the 7th annual “Imagine Festival” at Broad Rock Park on Saturday, October 8, from noon to 5 p.m. Admission to this community and family event is free.

The Imagine Festival is an exciting event offering diverse food vendors, dance performances, arts, crafts, exhibitors, and fun activities for the entire family.

This year’s festival will offer free health screenings through theUna Vida Sana program, as well as a variety of showcase sports games, such as soccer and softball. Approximately ten local community groups will be performing throughout the day.

The Imagine Festival began in 2005 as a community outreach event sponsored by Richmond’s Gang Reduction and Intervention Program. Since then, the City has sponsored the festival, which has grown larger with each year. For more information about the Imagine Festival, please call the City’s Hispanic Liaison Office at 646-0145.

El “Festival Imagine” Celebra la Diversidad de la Comunidad en la Ciudad

La Ciudad de Richmond celebrará la 7ta. Edición anual del “Festival Imagine” en el Broad Rock Park, el sábado, 8 de octubre, desde el mediodía hasta las 5:00 p.m. La entrada a este evento familiar y comunitario es gratuita.

El Festival Imagine es un evento emocionante que ofrece comida gratuita, presentaciones de danza, arte, artesanía, exhibidores y actividades divertidas para toda la familia. Un componente para el festival de este año serán exámenes básicos de salud a través del programa de Una Vida Sana, y también una variedad de juegos de exhibición de futbol y béisbol. Aproximadamente diez grupos locales estarán presentando durante el día.

El Festival Imagine comenzó en el 2005 como un evento dedicado a la comunidad y patrocinado por el Programa para Richmond de Intervención y Reducción de Pandillas. Desde entonces, la Ciudad ha auspiciado el festival, el cual se vuelve mayor con la edición de cada año. Para más información acerca del Festival Imagine, por favor llame a la Oficina de Enlace Hispano de la Ciudad al 646-0145.

It takes a village to raise a rock climber and Raheem Smith is no exception. Passages Adventure Camp has worked cooperatively with the Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities (DPRCF) and Enrichmond for more than a decade to provide hundreds of grants to deserving Richmond Families to send their children to our sweet summer camp on Belle Isle. Raheem represents what we hope will become a significant trend. He passed Level III in our rigorous Rock and River Master Program and participated in his first week of Advance Climbing Camp!

This is an incredible accomplishment on both ends of the climbing rope. On our end of the rope we know it takes Campers a week or more of Passages to pass each Level in our Program and we are extremely proud of the passion Raheem has for climbing and the outdoors. The DPRCF, Enrichmond, and Page Luxmore from the MICAH committee at St. Paul’s Church have all made it possible to provide continuous support for Raheem to attend Passages for 4 summers. As for Raheem, he was super-psyched to make it all the way to Advance Camp to work with our elite Guides and build his hard and soft skills in hopes of applying for a job at Passages next summer as a Climbing Counselor In Training.

This summer Passages had 160 Staff with more that 90% of them returning from the previous summer. Our Counselors in Training (CIT) each submitted a 3-page job application, participated in a 40 minute one-on-one job interview, had their references checked, reviewed a 13-page in-depth job description and did a follow up phone interview all before being selected to join our Staff. All staff take part in a 45-hour training in addition to being certified in Community First Aid and Adult / Child CPR. CITs contributed more than 3200 hours of volunteering at Passages this past summer in addition to gaining invaluable life skills and having a complete blast.

A historic park rivaling any in the country.

William Byrd Park, popularly known as Byrd Park, is centrally located in the City of Richmond, Virginia.  The park is well known for its landmarks including

the city reservoir, the Carillon and Dogwood Dell.  In addition, Barker Field dog park, the tennis courts, the Vita Course, and the paddle boats are among the many other attractions that entice visitors from the City and the surrounding counties.

The Enrichmond Foundation is pleased to announce that with the support of our corporate sponsor, Shoe City and 106.5 The Beat, a $1,500 scholarship will be awarded to a deserving high-school student this summer! Shoe City annually partners with community foundations and local radio stations to award college scholarships to high school seniors throughout the Baltimore, Washington D.C., Richmond and Norfolk areas. The scholarships are awarded to students based on academic achievement, financial need and community involvement. Scholarship awards can be used at degree-granting, non-profit, four-year colleges and universities in the United States that participate in the Federal Student Aid Programs (Title IV). Scholarships are paid directly to the educational institution and cover direct educational expenses charged to the student by the college or university. Expenses could include but are not limited to: tuition and fees, room and board, books and mandatory equipment.

Download the application here:

2011 SHOE CITY Application

The application must be mailed to The Enrichmond Foundation, postmarked no later than July 22, 2011.

Enrichmond Foundation
6 North Laurel Street
Room 307
Richmond, VA 23220

Who is eligible for this scholarship?
This scholarship is available to High School Seniors living in the city of Richmond. Students with relatives working or volunteering for the Enrichmond Foundation, Shoe City, or Richmond’s Department of Parks, Recreation, and Community Facilities are not eligible to apply.

Will I receive a check for my scholarship?
Scholarship funds are paid directly to the educational institution. The school will be instructed to apply the funds to the student’s account equally between semesters/quarters. Any funds in excess of a student’s remaining need will be returned to the Foundation.

On Saturday, January 22nd, over 40 volunteers braved the cold to help restore the tree canopy in William Byrd Park. Temperatures were stated to be in the 20′s but that didn’t stop anyone from planting a whopping 30 trees!?

True Timber, HandsOn Greater Richmond, Friends of William Byrd Park, City of Richmond Urban Forestry, the Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities, and finally, Enrichmond, all came together for a fun morning of very rewarding work! Here are a few pictures from that day.

Help restore shade to the Byrd Park Vita Course.

Saturday, January 22nd, 2011, 9AM

This is a three-year project of the Friends of William Byrd Park (FOWBP), the City of Richmond Dept. of Parks, Recreation & Community Facilities, and Dept. of Public Works, and Enrichmond Foundation.

Our goal is to replace the large number of trees that have been lost to old age and storms in the last decade. We will plan, mulch and water nearly 30 trees along the path and help remove invasive species and fallen tree limbs.

You can volunteer by calling Noel at 804-405-3366 or emailing nmckenzie@enrichmond.org. Volunteers should wear warm, protective clothing that they do not mind getting dirty!

Please also consider joining us on Monday, January 17th for a special Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service film screening. Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai tells the story of how one woman’s simple act of planting trees grew into a nationwide movement to safeguard the environment, protect human rights, and defend democracy. Wangari Maathai became the recipient of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize for her work. The film will begin at 7pm.

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