The Virtual Town Square
The Penny Foundation’s mission is threefold: to collect and disseminate important information, elevate and support critical work in the Black community and provide the best resources for the Black community. The Virtual Town Square, an online information hub, accomplishes this by connecting the resources serving the Black community into a central inventory of civic, professional, fraternal, social and nonprofit organizations.
Identifying, organizing and sharing this information is critical. Doing so will allow us to highlight potential opportunities to further network and collaborate without duplicating efforts or straining available resources. It will also enable us to identify shortcomings in services which can be opportunities for growth — with the ultimate goal of creating a sustainable impact in our communities and Birmingham as a whole.
The Model
Using methods adopted by the United Nations to address systemic global issues, The Virtual Town Square uses sustainable development goals to categorize and study participating organizations. The organizations’ common interests and existing programming are compared, and as a result of increased networking opportunities, improved strategic planning partnerships and programming can be implemented.
When our organizations mobilize and combine resources and expertise in practical and strategic ways, our outcomes can be multiplied and sustained — benefitting and strengthening other Black community for years to come.
The Virtual Town Square will launch in 2020.