The Community Foundation of Greene County, formed by citizens in 2000, has welcomed David Calvario as its new director following the retirement of Bettie Stammerjohn.
Calvario has been a resident of Greene County for 26 years, previously working as the Dean of Students at Waynesburg University, as well as on behalf of the county through the Redevelopment Authority. Calvario’s life experience has afforded him ample connections and the ability to develop skills helpful to this position, such as grant writing.
“I felt that this was a position where I could use my skills to assist with trying to improve things here,” Calvario says. “We have a lot of challenges, and I want to try to make our community a better place for youth, adults and everyone else in between.”
According to their website, the CFGC’s mission and vision includes, “empowering individuals of all backgrounds to support charitable causes for generations to come and provide leadership to address community needs.”
Calvario has been in this position for eight weeks. Through that time, he has focused on addressing some key issues within Greene County. One of his chief concerns is that of our shrinking population, which is down from approximately 39,000 in 2011 to about 36,800 in 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“So, I want to help create attractive jobs and work with our youth to address these problems,” he explains. “I believe that is where our future is, trying to get youth who graduate from our five local school districts and technical schools to come back here to call this place home. We got to work together to fix the population drain occurring here.”
Creating these initiatives necessitates funds which come in through fundraising, grants and emergency relief.
“Money comes in through fundraising, like people who want to set up scholarships in memory of someone and is given out through scholarships to students interested in going to postsecondary school,” Calvario says.
Calvario’s additional points of interest lay in wealth management and spreading awareness of the foundation.
“Right now, our assets are between 8 and 9 million dollars and a goal of mine is to grow that to 20 million dollars in due time,” he says.
As far as increasing awareness, Calvario has been meeting with various professionals to make them aware of the foundation including attorneys, CPAs (Certified Public Accountants), and wealth management experts with the goal of tapping into their intellectual resources to address county issues.
Calvario hopes to lead by example in investing in Greene County for the betterment of its future.
“It is important that as life goes on, and as we enter the next stages of life, for us to leave our fingerprints and legacy behind,” he says. “While you may be retired, you probably can still help community foundations by volunteering and providing time-talent and leaving your treasure and trust in the community to keep making improvements in the place you call home.”