Dear Colleagues,
The Campbell Foundation would like to introduce Kenneth Turner as our new Program Director, Community Engagement. Kenneth will work closely with me to begin the Foundation’s Community Engagement Program within the Chesapeake Initiative. The Community Engagement Program will engage with and serve diverse populations and constituencies and seeks to dismantle systems that constrain the choices and opportunities of individuals. He joined the Foundation in June 2024.
Kenneth has experience developing community grantmaking and investment programs for nonprofits, family foundations, government agencies, and corporations in the U.S. and internationally. This has included work advancing affordable housing, economic opportunity, and health equity with NeighborWorks America, the U.S. Agency for International Development, The Lemelson Foundation, Johnson & Johnson, and Amazon.
To learn more about Kenneth please visit the Staff Page on our Foundation’s website.
The Community Engagement Program is brand new, and will begin with $2.5m of previously unallocated funds within The Campbell Foundation. After a period of listening and learning, organizations that are new to the Foundation will be invited to apply for funding. At this time, the current geographic areas of focus for this Program are the Maryland counties of Dorchester, Somerset, Wicomico and Worcester and, in Pennsylvania, Lancaster County.
The aim of this Program is to bring needed resources to communities based on our continuous learning about their changing needs. The Program will likely explore a range of topics including, but not limited to, education, workforce development, healthcare, nutrition, and support for youth.
The idea for this Program came from my drive to more actively and intentionally advance racial equity in communities where we have maintained program history and relationships. Rather than choose to fund in geographic areas new to the Foundation, we will engage more deeply with communities where we already have a presence, and provide resources to address present and growing needs.
An additional FYI: We are changing the name of the Civic Engagement Program, managed by Julie Hester, to the Watershed Advocacy Program. This change is not reflective of any shifts to the elements of this program. It is simply an update for internal purposes so that we don’t have two programs with similar names and the acronym “CE”.
I hope we will find ways together to shape a more just society. Please join me in welcoming Kenneth to this work.
Samantha Campbell
President
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