Victoria Foundation News

"Do we have the strength to stay focused?" Craig Drinkard, executive officer of Victoria Foundation posed this question when he sat down with Inside Philanthropy about philanthropy's recent focus on racial justice. The article shared Craig's trajectory into the role of executive officer at Victoria Foundation, and the shift in strategy for the foun...

We are thrilled to announce Melanie Reyes as the Victoria Foundation's newest strategy officer. Melanie will be leading the work in our focus area of Building Community Power, one of the three priority areas in our new strategic framework. Melanie comes to Victoria Foundation with deep personal and professional connections to Newark. Melanie is a N...

On July 6, Craig Drinkard joined Steve Adubato on One-on-One to discuss Victoria Foundation's new framework and to examine some of Newark's most pressing issues, including affordable housing, public safety, and access to living-wage jobs. Craig shares the new vision and approach of the foundation, and what it means to him to be born and raised in N...

Photo credit - Tom Weidman, Tap into Newark

In June, one of Victoria Foundation's newest board members, Aqeela Sherrills, was featured on a panel about Newark's focus on community-based public safety, joining Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and Equal Justice USA's Jamila Hodge. "Our belief is that if we train residents to stand together in conflict resolution, mediation, and de-escalation strategies...

Amina Bey and Aqeela Sherrills bring workforce development and community safety expertise to strengthen Victoria Foundation's move to community-centered racial justice and community power mission The Victoria Foundation Board of Trustees is proud to announce two new appointments to the board of trustees, Amina Bey and Aqeela Sherrills. Both join th...

Irene Cooper-Basch

Dear Friend of Victoria Foundation, On behalf of the board of trustees, I am writing to share the bittersweet news that after 20 years of service to the Newark community leading Victoria Foundation, Irene Cooper-Basch will be retiring at the end of March 2022. Six months ago, when Irene shared her intention to retire, we were saddened, but not surp...

Victoria Foundation shared its new strategy and lessons learned on its change journey so far with peer foundations during a webinar sponsored by the Council of New Jersey Grantmakers.  

This November we announced a new framework that will guide the work of Victoria Foundation, changing the way we align our resources, strategies and personnel to partner with the Newark community to take on the root causes of intergenerational poverty and inequality. Our goal is to support and uplift the power held by communities to create generatio...

Sharnita C. Johnson

New position and Johnson's leadership exemplify foundation's shift into community-focused strategies for equity and justice. NEWARK, NEW JERSEY – Victoria Foundation is pleased to announce Sharnita C. Johnson will serve as the Foundation's first-ever Vice President of Strategy, Impact and Communications in its nearly 100-year history. In this role,...

Victoria Foundation staff and trustees have recently emerged from an 18-month strategic planning process with a new mission: "Victoria Foundation partners with Black and Brown residents and other marginalized communities in Newark and nonprofit organizations to champion bold strategies that strengthen community power, foster economic justice and, p...

The Victoria Foundation Youth Advisory Board (VFYAB) is composed of 10-12 Newark young people. It is a two-year development incubator to enhance their personal, civic and professional skills while collaborating with Victoria Foundation's staff to advise, co-create, and decide on elements of the foundation's strategy and grant making. Are you a youn...

On behalf of the trustees of Victoria Foundation, it gives me great pleasure to announce that starting January 1st Craig Drinkard will serve as Co-Executive Officer alongside Irene Cooper-Basch, who introduced this concept to the attention of trustees. This co-leadership model is virtually non-existent in the private foundation sector where 92% of ...

Dear Community Partners, Friends, and Philanthropic Colleagues, Victoria Foundation staff and trustees condemn in the strongest of terms the violence and outright murder of innocent African Americans and other people of color. The recent murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery underscore the immediate need for systemic, meaningfu...

Dear Victoria Foundation Friends and Grantees, During this rapidly evolving COVID-19 medical emergency, we are taking steps to protect the health and well-being of our staff, grantees, community members and other partners. We share your concern and feel the anxiety that the uncertainty of this novel coronavirus is causing in our region, and the cha...

​At the end of the 19th century, a phenomenon of free market capitalism emerged that resulted in growing inequality and a concentration of wealth by a privileged few, including Andrew Carnegie, who amassed a huge fortune (4X greater than Bill Gates'!) from the steel industry.He was called a Robber Baron, accused of ruthless and unscrupulous busines...

On Sunday, October 28th, trustees, staff, and the family of Gordon "Sandy" Millspaugh, Jr. gathered along with the leadership of Avon Avenue School, local gardeners, and representatives from Greater Newark Conservancy to dedicate a new orchard created on a formerly vacant lot located across from the school on Avon Avenue. This event honored Sandy's...

One of the stated goals of Victoria's Thriving Neighborhoods Initiative is to leave a stronger nonprofit sector in place when the Foundation transitions to work in other Newark neighborhoods. In the case of Fairmount Heights, the Urban League is the anchor institution that we are working closely with and hope to strengthen over the next 7 to 10 yea...

​ Providing high quality work opportunities for Newark high school students in the summer has been a long-standing priority of Mayor Ras Baraka. The 2018 Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) is an excellent example of a successful private/public partnership. A record number, 3,200 Newark youths, participated in SYEP at sites across the city from ...

 The Newark Debate Academy, (NDA) is one of Victoria Foundation's long-standing grantees, focuses on pushing Newark students toward academic excellence by honing skills in reading, writing and public speaking—three skills that are necessary for college and career readiness in 2018. It has been my pleasure to serve as the program officer for th...

Newark's newest collaboration is the NEWARK STEAM COALITION, housed within Newark Thrives!, the new out-of-school-time network for Newark. The Victoria Foundation helped create both Newark Thrives! and the STEAM Coalition. This coalition aims to build education pathways in science, technology, engineering, arts, and math that impact youth from pre-...

NCLC, the city's post-secondary education collaborative, has added new staff and programming over the last year. It welcomed its inaugural executive director, Reggie Lewis, in Oct. 2016, and a new director of strategy in March 2017, Chirag Menon. NCLC also launched two new college access and success programs in January funded by the Kresge and Ford...

Traditionally, public safety has been the domain of law enforcement. When crime and violence break into our lives, we tend to look to law enforcement for reduction strategies. However, increasingly over the past few decades, research has shown that you can't have sustained, long term reductions in violence and crime without engaging residents in th...