Virginia nonprofits have been busy, and the latest edition of Phil-Ins has a wide range of news to unpack. From national nonprofits opening doors in the commonwealth to Virginia nonprofits taking its services to the road, read these stories and more below.
Sit. Stay. Read this news.
Barking good news if you ask us. A national nonprofit, Canine Companions, is establishing its first Virginia location in Mathews. The nonprofit provides trained service dogs to adults, children and veterans with disabilities at no cost. The campus is spread out across 220 acres, allowing the nonprofit to offer workshops for clients and puppy raisers – the individuals that spend up to 18 months training the service dogs before they’re placed with individuals in need. The opening marks its eighth location in the U.S. The full story is in The Virginian-Pilot.
Swinging for smiles
What feels like a God-given right for children, the act of playing isn’t always a priority when battling a disease like cancer. To help prioritize play for children during their darkest days, Roc Solid Foundation, a Virginia-based nonprofit, has a solution. Recently, the organization traveled to Atlantic Beach, Florida, to build two playsets for families with children who’ve been diagnosed with cancer. Action News Jax has the story.
Lattes and life skills
New Creation VA, a nonprofit dedicated to bringing awareness to human trafficking, broke ground on a 5,000-square-foot café and coffee shop in Harrisonburg that will be operated by survivors of human trafficking. “It’s not just about job creation,” said Sabrina Dorman-Andrew, co-founder and executive director of New Creation VA. “It’s workforce training, certainly, but we always want to do life skills, financial literacy, things that will set women up for long-term success.” You may also recall that New Creations VA recently was named a recipient of the Spirit of Virginia award. Keep doing great work, y’all! WHSV has the story.
Virginia can’t dodge DOGE
Thanks to sweeping cuts from the Trump administration, more than 150 people have been impacted by the AmeriCorps funding cuts. “This includes fifteen of twenty-three operational subgrantee programs, as well as Serve Virginia’s Capacity Building Project, which consists of eleven VISTA members supporting eight organizations,” DSS spokesperson Cletisha Lovelace wrote in a statement to VPM, which has the full story.
Quarter mil’ from C’Ville NIL (Collective)
The Cav Futures Foundation has given out over $200,000 to local nonprofits in the Charlottesville area. Cav Futures Foundation is the nonprofit arm of the Official NIL Collective of the Virginia Athletics Department Cav Futures. There were 20 nonprofits selected for grants, including Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Central Blue Ridge, HER Sports, Make-A-Wish of Greater Virginia, 100 Black Men of Central Virginia and more. Read about it in Cville Right Now.
Image from Roc Solid Foundation website.