Social Impact Social Media

Since 1987 the Appalachian Community Fund (ACF) has been making a difference – helping create social change in West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. appalachiancommunityfund.org ACF funds and encourages grassroots social change in Central Appalachia. ACF works to build a sustainable base of resources to support community-led organizations seeking to overcome and address issues of race, economic status, gender, sexual identity, and disability. As a community-controlled fund, ACF offers leadership to expand and strengthen the movement for social change through its practices and policies. Their efforts range from mentoring teenagers and guiding them toward college, supporting women in emotional crisis to keeping the only public clinic serving the poor open. And ACF has forced changes in the Federal Black Lung Program for miners and those in mining areas and they have helped protect endangered forests in the Appalachian region. To find out more so you can help

wellsbringhope.org It all started when Gil Garcetti spoke at Barbara Goldberg’s Salon Forum in 2008 sharing powerful photos he had taken in Western Africa. He shared the dire need for safe drinking water and the endless struggles of women and girls to get it.    In 2009 Barbara founded Wells Bring Hope and, partnering with World Vision, drilled 10 wells the first year. Inspired by the commitment of Wells Bring Hope Gil Garcetti continues help share the story of this struggle for safe drinking water through speaking opportunities and his photography. In the Fall of 2007, the UCLA Fowler Museum had an exhibition of his photographs, “Women, Water and Wells.” In 2009, many of these photos were on exhibition in the visitors lobby of the United Nations in New York. In February, 2008, these same photographs and his words inspired the founding of “Wells Bring Hope.” Since its start Wells Bring Hope has funded 681 wells  and 3 solar water systems helping over 704,000 peopl