Author: cfmjxn
Eddie Spencer Legacy Fund
Literacy for a Lifetime Fund
Stand Tall Mississippi Fund
Mississippi Shakespeare Festival Fund
CFM Opens 2026 Community Impact Project Grant Application
The Community Foundation for Mississippi (CFM) will begin accepting applications for its annual Community Impact Project Grants on August 1, which provide up to $5,000 to support innovative projects in one of three focus areas: Placemaking, Children and Families, and Community Partnerships.
Eligible applicants include 501c3 nonprofit organizations, organizations working with a 501c3 fiscal sponsor, and governmental entities such as municipalities located across the Foundation’s 22-county service area. Applications will be accepted for projects that directly serve the following counties: Adams, Attala, Amite, Claiborne, Copiah, Franklin, Hinds, Holmes, Jefferson, Lawrence, Leake, Lincoln, Madison, Pike, Rankin, Scott, Simpson, Smith, Walthall, Warren, Wilkinson, Yazoo.
Applications open on August 1, 2026 and are due on September 1, 2026 by 11:59 p.m.
“CFM’s Community Impact Project Grants are designed to help community-minded organizations across central and southwest Mississippi accomplish project-specific efforts to bring their ideas to life. We encourage applicants who are working to transform their community’s public spaces, those who want to launch their new idea for supporting children and families or to support efforts bringing together cross-sector partners for positive change.” – Melody Moody Thortis, CFM Director of Strategic Impact and Programs
Funded through CFM’s Community Trust Fund, these grants are made possible by donors who choose to pool their charitable giving with a network of other community-minded individuals and organizations in order to accelerate the impact of their gifts. Visit this donation page or contact 601-974-6044 to make a contribution to the Community Trust Fund.
To begin the application process, review eligibility requirements, view selection criteria and to see examples of projects funded through each focus area, visit formississippi.org/grants.
Celebrating CFM’s 2026 Scholarship and Award Recipients
Celebrating CFM’s 2026 Scholarship and Award Recipients
Every scholarship carries a story. It may honor someone whose life continues to inspire others, encourage students to enter a particular profession, strengthen a connection to a school or help make an educational goal more attainable.
In 2026, that promise is taking shape in the lives of 55 students selected for scholarships and awards held at the Community Foundation for Mississippi. Their plans will take them to colleges and universities across Mississippi and beyond, with studies spanning agriculture, journalism, criminal justice, STEM, health care and many other fields.
We are grateful to the donors, families and partners who created and sustain these opportunities, and we are pleased to celebrate this year’s recipients.
Andy Taggart Award
- Allen Lampton
- Will McNeese
- Zackery Presnall
- Alexa Salazar
- David Woodson
Anthony “Tony” Gobar Juvenile Justice Scholarship
- Korielle Mcpherson, Jackson State University
Bettye Smith Brown Memorial Scholarship
- Akirah Watkins, University of Southern Mississippi
- Erion Wilson, University of Pennsylvania
Bill Hunsberger Scholarship Award
- Samantha Elizabeth Jordan, University of Southern Mississippi
Blake Coghlan Memorial Agriculture Scholarship
- Caroline Swafford, East Central Community College
Harrison Clark Scholarship Awards
- Isabella Ainsworth, Mississippi State University
- Ayden Green, Mississippi State University
- Clark Morrison, Mississippi State University
James & Madeleine McMullan Family Scholarship, Cohort 4
Pass Christian High School
- Aubry Curtis, University of Mississippi
- Korahlyn Duffy, University of South Alabama
- Braydin Furby, Mississippi State University
- Kalina Godlewski, Mississippi Christian University
- Cameron Jenkins, University of Alabama
- Larkin Lewis, Mississippi Valley State University
- Roderick “RJ” Lowell, Delta State University
- Georgia McWilliams, Mississippi State University
- Lauren Mong, Louisiana State University
- Ande Montiforte, Mississippi State University
- Allison Taylor, University of South Alabama
- Corinne Thompson, Pearl River Community College
- Colton Truong Nguyen, University of South Alabama
- Evyn Ulmer, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
- Addison Vincent, University of Mississippi
- Zaydee Wahl, Mississippi State University
Newton High School
- Z’Mya Arrington, Howard University
- Nigel Bender, Mississippi State University
- Angela Pham, University of Houston
- KaLeah Rhynes, University of Mississippi
- Zamiya Stinner, Mississippi State University
- Andrea Williams
Jerrelyn Redmond Jackson Veasley Lifetime Athletic and Scholastic Award
- Morgan Brown, Holmes Community College
John Robert Boswell Memorial Scholarship
- Macy Alexa Ruff, University of Mississippi
JXN Water Scholarship
- Jon Burse, Hinds Community College
- Gevin Dennis
- Londyn Kirkland, Jackson State University
- Taylor Moffett, Jackson State University
Leland R. Speed Scholarship for JROTC “Top Cadets”
- Le’Aja Bennett, Hinds Community College
- Savannah Blevins, Alcorn State University
- Daiseuna Buck, Grambling State University
- Jarius Green, Marion Military Institute
- Ke’Undra Jennings, Millsaps College
- Semija Jones, Jackson State University
- Ashanti Odom, Alcorn State University
Mae Meriwether Zifcak Girl Scout Scholarship
- Zamiya Bass, University of Mississippi
- Elizabeth Collins, University of Southern Mississippi
Rick Ross/Madison Avenue Upper Elementary Honorary Scholarship
- Robert Bailey, Jones College
- Mary “Maclane” Fairburn, Mississippi State University
Robert E. Luckett Memorial Scholarship
- Kendyn Harrison, Hinds Community College
- Reba K. Lee, University of Mississippi
Samuel “Eric” Storm Memorial Scholarship
- Ashlyn Chisolm, University of Mississippi Medical Center
Woodward Hines Education Foundation Calling Panther Award
- Destiny Brown, Copiah-Lincoln Community College, Wesson campus
- Timyra McNair, Copiah-Lincoln Community College, Wesson campus
- Brayden Murray, Copiah-Lincoln Community College, Wesson campus
- Timmy Thomas
- Taliyah Welch, University of Mississippi
Congratulations to each of these students as they take their next steps. We look forward to seeing where their education, talent and sense of purpose take them!
Learn more about scholarships and awards at the Community Foundation for Mississippi.
The Andy Taggart Fund
Anthony “Tony” Gobar Juvenile Justice Scholarship Fund Marks 20 Years at the Community Foundation for Mississippi
The Anthony “Tony” Gobar Juvenile Justice Scholarship Fund at the Community Foundation for Mississippi marks 20 years of supporting students pursuing careers in juvenile justice and related fields.
Anthony “Tony” Gobar never wanted the spotlight. He was content to do the work — listening, mentoring, advocating and helping build better systems for young people who too often slipped through the cracks. This year, the Anthony “Tony” Gobar Juvenile Justice Scholarship Fund at the Community Foundation for Mississippi marks 20 years of supporting students pursuing careers in juvenile justice and related fields.
For Tony’s family, the scholarship fund is not just a milestone. It is a way to carry forward the life and values of a man they remember as steady, selfless and deeply committed to helping others.
A Life of Service
Angela Gobar first met Tony in Lafayette, Louisiana, where she had moved for her first job. They worked in the same office building, though not for the same company. Over time, friendship turned into dating, and a year later, they were married. The couple lived in Louisiana for seven years, where their children, Anthony Jr. and Aja, were born, before relocating to Mississippi in the mid-1980s.
In Jackson, both Tony and Angela worked for the State of Mississippi. Angela worked in community and economic development. Tony worked in juvenile justice, eventually serving for 17 years as the state’s juvenile justice specialist.
Tony’s path into that work made sense for the person he was. A psychology major in college, he had also worked for a community action agency early in his career. Angela said those experiences exposed him to people from disadvantaged communities and to young people trying to navigate difficult circumstances.
“He was always really good with children and with older people,” Angela said. “So when he came to Mississippi and took over the position as the juvenile justice specialist, I think his passion just for working with youth and troubled youth grew even more.”
At home, she said, he was just as devoted.
“He was just a good guy,” Angela said. “Very selfless. He always wanted to help other people.”
She knows that description can sound simple, even cliché, but in Tony’s case, she said, it fits.
“He never wanted to be in the spotlight,” she said. “He liked doing his work, just kind of being low key.”
Tony died suddenly of a heart attack in 2004 at age 53, after more than 24 years of marriage. In the months that followed, Angela and her children began to understand just how far his influence reached.
After his death, the family learned more about his work not only in Mississippi but nationally. They discovered how respected he was by peers and colleagues in juvenile justice and how involved he had been in advisory boards and policy work. Angela, Anthony Jr. and Aja were even flown to Los Angeles, where Tony was honored by colleagues on the national level.
“It wasn’t until after he had passed away that we began to learn just how impactful he was in his work around juvenile justice,” Angela said.
A Scholarship Fund Built to Last
In the midst of that grief, the family knew they wanted to honor both Tony’s memory and his life’s work.
“Since he was so passionate about his work, we felt like an educational scholarship for young people who were interested in going into some type of justice field would be the best way to honor Tony,” Angela said.
That decision led to the creation of the Anthony “Tony” Gobar Juvenile Justice Scholarship Fund at the Community Foundation for Mississippi. The endowed scholarship supports students attending Mississippi’s public universities as well as Southern University in Baton Rouge, Tony’s alma mater.
Angela said the family chose to establish the scholarship with the Community Foundation because they wanted it to last.
“We wanted it to be a scholarship that would be an endowed type of scholarship that would go on and on and on,” she said. “That’s why we chose the foundation, because we knew the scholarship would be in good hands.”
In 2005, family and friends got to work raising the $25,000 needed to endow the fund. By 2006, the first scholarship was awarded. This year marks 20 years of scholarship support through the fund. Each year, scholarship recipients are recognized during the awards luncheon at the Mississippi Juvenile Justice Symposium, an annual gathering focused on issues affecting youth and the juvenile justice system in Mississippi.
Angela is quick to say the family did not do it alone. Friends, family members, church members, colleagues and classmates all helped get the scholarship started. Contributors included Tony’s and Angela’s friends and coworkers, members of Holy Family Catholic Church, friends of Anthony Jr. and Aja from Tougaloo College, and extended family in Louisiana and Texas.
A number of people have also helped steward the scholarship over the years. Tony’s brother, Henry Gobar, has served on the selection committee from the beginning, along with Dr. Alfred Martin and Kenny Wheatley. Others, including Lasine Hilliard and Dr. Aja Gobar, have also helped support the scholarship effort. Two decades later, some of the original committee members are still helping select recipients each year.
“I would just want to acknowledge that those people really did help us as well and have continued to be a part of this worthwhile scholarship effort,” Angela said.
Over the years, she has also received thank-you letters from scholarship recipients. Those notes, she said, have been especially meaningful reminders of what the fund continues to make possible.
The Next Generation Giving Forward
For Anthony Gobar Jr., the scholarship is both a public legacy and a personal one.
He was just six days away from his 19th birthday when his father died. Now, as he prepares to turn 41, he says the lessons his father taught him still shape the way he lives.
“He was probably the quintessential man,” Anthony Jr. said. “The way that he lived his life, it showed me how I should live my life.”
Today, Anthony Jr. is beginning to take on the day-to-day responsibilities of the scholarship from his mother, with Aja close by to help. He sees that transition as both an honor and a responsibility.
“I’m in a position to essentially continue his legacy,” he said.
Even though he did not go into juvenile justice himself, Anthony Jr. said he still sees his father’s influence in the way he tries to guide younger people around him.
“There will be no spotlight or anything for the things that I try to instill in them,” he said. “I consider that a portion of continuing his legacy.”
Whether those interactions are with teenagers or young adults in their 20s, he said he tries to help keep them on the right path using both his own life experience and the foundation his father gave him.
At the Community Foundation for Mississippi, the Anthony “Tony” Gobar Juvenile Justice Scholarship Fund is more than a scholarship. It is a lasting tribute to a man who quietly changed lives and to a family determined to make sure his example continues shaping the future for generations of young people.
Community Foundation for Mississippi Earns Reaccreditation Through Community Foundation National Standards
Community Foundation National Standards reaccreditation affirms the Community Foundation for Mississippi’s commitment to transparency, accountability and sound practices in donor services, investments, grantmaking and administration.
The Community Foundation for Mississippi has earned reaccreditation through Community Foundation National Standards, a national accreditation program that recognizes community foundations for strong practices in donor services, investments, grantmaking and administration.
The reaccreditation confirms that the Community Foundation for Mississippi meets rigorous standards for transparency, accountability and effective philanthropic stewardship. For donors, fundholders, nonprofit partners and professional advisors, it signals that the foundation has sound policies and practices in place to manage charitable funds responsibly and carry out its mission with integrity.
“Meeting the Community Foundation National Standards benchmarks is a comprehensive process, and this reaccreditation is a meaningful accomplishment for our organization,” said Jane Alexander, president and CEO of the Community Foundation for Mississippi. “When people establish a fund, make a charitable bequest or trust us with their philanthropic goals, they are putting their confidence in us. This reaccreditation reinforces that we have the policies, practices and oversight in place to honor that trust.”
The Community Foundation National Standards program requires community foundations to document their policies and procedures in key areas including donor services, investment management, grantmaking and administration. The review process is conducted by community foundation experts and is designed to provide quality assurance to donors and to their legal and financial advisors.
Community Foundation National Standards accreditation is not required. Community foundations that pursue it choose to undergo an extensive review process to demonstrate their commitment to legal, ethical and effective practices.
Serving 22 counties in central and southwest Mississippi, the Community Foundation for Mississippi works with donors, nonprofits and communities to make meaningful and lasting change. The foundation offers a range of charitable funds that help individuals, families and organizations support the causes they care about, invest in long-term community needs and respond to opportunities across the region.
The reaccreditation also affirms the Community Foundation for Mississippi’s grantmaking practices for the nonprofit community, reflecting the same emphasis on fairness, stewardship and sound administration that supports its donor services.
Documentation for the reaccreditation was reviewed as part of a peer review process established through the Community Foundation National Standards program.