The story of the Cobb Community Impact Grant program began in 2014 when the former Chair of the Cobb Board of Commissioners, Tim Lee, and the then executive director of the Cobb Community Foundation, Tommy Allegood, wanted to formalize a way for the County to support new programs and projects and expansions of existing programs and projects that create Quality of Life in Cobb County. They determined that the most effective mechanism would be to establish a competitive grant process that would be administered by the Cobb Community Foundation. Over a three-year period, the County invested $820,000 in this program, and those dollars were matched by $936,000 in private contributions.
With the County’s investment, grants between $5,000 and $10,000 were awarded to Cobb non-profits to put new food pantries in schools, to provide scholarships to summer camps and after school programs, to fund an artmobile that travels county-wide, to create vegetable gardens, to pay for vision screenings and glasses, to provide life skills programs for veterans and employment programs for mentally challenged adults and so much more. As a result, nearly 325,000 people were impacted in one way or another. Had Tommy not had the vision for the Cobb Community Impact Grant program, those 325,000 would not have received the services that they needed… services that improved their quality of life.
Thank you, Tommy Allegood, for allowing us to honor you at our 25th anniversary celebration for showing us that TOGETHER WE CAN!
