Overview

Why it Matters

Involvement in communities or organizations provides opportunities for people to act individually or collectively to address an issue or solve a problem by offering their time, skills and expertise. Research also shows that relationships and networks are strengthened through involvement in nonprofits, community initiatives or service to local government. In turn, those relationships and resources create far-reaching benefits, contributing to higher levels of trust and reciprocity among residents.

Desired Outcomes

  • Increased community engagement through arts and the creative process, especially among lower-income residents, communities of color, youth and immigrants
  • Increased community engagement in service and leadership activities in communities and through organizations

Initiatives

  • Arts Build Community
  • Board Leadership Development
  • Bridging Divides, Healing Communities

Arts Build Community

Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation launched the Arts Build Community initiative in 2017 to increase community engagement through a key regional asset—the arts and creative sector. With generous support from the Barr Foundation, BTCF is partnering with arts and cultural nonprofit organizations in Berkshire County and year-round residents to test new approaches to community engagement that use the proven power of the arts to build trust, cooperation and unity, while strengthening the arts as a sector.  

Over 18,000

Residents Reached

67

Grantee Organizations

$1.8 million

Granted

$250,000

in gifts from donors
 

Learn More About Arts Build Community

Board Leadership Development

As a form of community engagement, nonprofit leadership is about community service and giving back, as well as making good decisions, tracking performance and ensuring accountability.

Berkshire Taconic has created a range of new opportunities for nonprofit leaders to learn, connect and find inspiration from experts and one another, building on our decades of strengthening nonprofit leadership.

We believe community engagement through board leadership can increase if nonprofit boards are high functioning and welcoming to new members, and residents have the awareness, training and support they need to meaningfully participate in board service.

Strategy

Training & Networking: In 2018, we launched a daylong, multi-track Board Leadership Forum for the region’s nonprofit board members and executive directors. This event expanded as a statewide, virtual event in 2021 and 2022, in partnership with Essex County Community Foundation and other community foundations. We also offer a series of half-day seminars on critical topics such as a board’s role in effective fundraising and creating more diverse and inclusive boards.

Through our evaluation efforts, participants report they are putting the knowledge gained to use in their board work and feeling more effective and productive in their roles as leaders.

550

Board members and executive directors attended conferences and trainings

140

Organizations represented

Events like the Board Leadership Forum and Institute for Trustees bring board leaders together for learning and networking.


Bridging Divides, Healing Communities

In response to heightened political polarization and a pandemic that has magnified persistent racial and economic inequities, Berkshire Taconic is using grantmaking, convening and public events to help residents join together to build trust, strengthen relationships and pursue opportunities for healing.

Strategies

Grants Program: A grants program is supporting community-building efforts that can bridge differences and drive positive change at the local level. We fund organizations and groups to build and strengthen relationships among residents, especially people who hold different views or come from different backgrounds. The aim is to create opportunities for productive engagement and building trust and reconciliation.

Speaker Series: A five-part speaker series has explored some of the forces and trends creating disparities and division, and how to take action locally to build common ground and solve problems together. It has brought noted speakers and local residents together to discuss topics of race, social cohesion, the media’s role in polarized times and promising engagement efforts underway locally.

Youth Film Challenge: In a partnership with the Civic Life Project and the Berkshire Film and Media Collaborative, our youth film challenge encouraged young people ages 14 to 24 to submit a 6-minute film highlighting divisions and inequities in society, and how to tackle them in their families, schools and communities. The winning films tackled topics such as affordable housing, learning disabilities and food insecurity, and were screened at local venues.

$83,000

Grants to organizations and collaborations

35

Projects funded around the region since 2020

1,000

Viewers of our public speaker series to date

12

Semifinalists produced student films on challenging topics