St. Croix Foundation for Community Development is the leading advocate for improved governance in our community and, since our inception, has served as both a grantmaker and operating foundation to address severe socioeconomic conditions in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Today, with over 28 years of Leadership in Service to the Virgin Islands Community under our belt, our holistic work centers around positioning the Foundation as an innovation hub and the epicenter of social transformation in the Virgin Islands.
Even with our track record of success, the current unprecedented economic storm in the US Virgin Islands, the closure of our largest private employer with its attendant consequences, and the landfall of two back-to-back Category 5 Hurricanes in 2017 require us to redouble our efforts to lead our community forward. We are targeting the Territory’s greatest needs by developing diverse partnerships and innovative programs. We are advocating for progressive and innovative policy reforms in education, leveraging resources in order to beautify our island to act as economic incentive, and strengthening our work with our network of nonprofits to support our community in ways that will have the greatest impact. We invite all corporate citizens and residents to join us.
Steadfast in our belief that we cannot have a healthy community without healthy towns, we have led downtown revitalization efforts from our inception. We purchased and rehabilitated 5 buildings in a critical town center; wrote and secured the passage of tax credit legislation, incentivizing property owners to rebuild; and developed paint up and lighting grant programs. Working closely with the Police Department, we have ensured adequate public safety through placing security cameras in our towns and assisting in the creation of downtown Police Bicycle Patrols. For these efforts, we secured over $5 million in programmatic grant funding. Our work in community and economic development has earned us national recognition from the US Small Business Administration, International Downtown Association, and Council of Foundations.
Believing firmly that all roads in addressing our most critical socioeconomic problems lead back to education, in 2002, the Foundation expanded our programmatic priorities to include directing significant resources to support public education reform initiatives. In 2009, the St. Croix Foundation was nationally recognized by the National School Boards Association for our success in supporting the transformation of our local school district’s lowest performing middle school. Our approach included exposing the Territory’s entire public school system to proven best practices by nurturing strategic partnerships between key local stakeholders, local private sectors industries, and national educational ‘brain trusts.’
Our success in sustaining high impact programs stems, in part, from strict adherence to financial and programmatic accountability. As the trusted conduit of up to $4 million annually in both public and private dollars, the Foundation has established diverse fiscal relationships with local and national organizations. In fact, our financial administration and fund management services have expanded well beyond the customary scope of most traditional community foundations, providing fiscal services to organizations like Virgin Islands Community AIDS Research and Education, Inc., Virgin Islands Waste Management Authority, the Virgin Islands Department of Health, and the US Center for Disease Control.
