Landmark Foundation, Elizabeth River Crossings receive Chancellor’s Awards for Leadership in Philanthropy

Pictured, from left: Carol Curtis, TCC Educational Foundation Board; Marian Anderfuren, vice president for Institutional Advancement; TCC President Edna Baehre-Kolovani; Carley Dobson, Elizabeth River Crossings; VCCS Chancellor Glenn DuBois; Tiffany Whitfield, Elizabeth River Crossings; Frank Batten, Landmark Foundation; LaVerne Ellerbe, executive director, TCC Educational Foundation; Christine Damrose-Mahlmann, associate vice president for Student Affairs; Lynn Clements, TCC College Board; and Donna Henderson, TCC Educational Foundation campaign manager

Two Hampton Roads organizations were honored Tuesday for their support of Tidewater Community College students.

The Landmark Foundation and Elizabeth River Crossings, LLC received Chancellor’s Awards for Leadership in Philanthropy during the 13th annual awards ceremony in Richmond. In attendance were Frank Batten, president and director of the Landmark Foundation, and Tiffany Whitfield and Carley Dobson, representing Elizabeth River Crossings.

More than two dozen individuals, families, businesses and foundations from around Virginia have been honored with the 2018 Chancellor’s Award for Leadership in Philanthropy.

Hosted by the Virginia Foundation for Community College Education (VFCCE), the annual event recognizes leading philanthropists from each of Virginia’s 23 community colleges as well as the statewide foundation. This year’s class of distinguished philanthropy leaders has contributed a combined total of $6 million to Virginia’s Community Colleges.

“In 2017, the TCC Educational Foundation launched its innovative TCC Women’s Center STEM Promise Program, and we are pleased to honor two early investors, Elizabeth River Crossings, LLC, and the Landmark Foundation,” said President Edna V. Baehre-Kolovani.

“The goal of the program is to increase the number of women and minority students receiving STEM degrees at TCC. Both ERC and the Landmark Foundation saw the future value of a more diverse technology workforce – ERC in the area of engineering and construction and Landmark in meeting the IT needs of Dominion Enterprises, a Norfolk-based multifaceted media company.”

President Kolovani noted that the Landmark Foundation also supports dual enrollment scholarships for high school students in foster care who are earning college credits at TCC.

“I am grateful for the support of both of these organizations,” she said. “They truly put the ‘community’ in ‘community college.’”

Keynote speaker Paul Koonce, executive vice president and president and chief executive officer of the Power Generation Group, Dominion Energy, called the community college system “one of Virginia’s greatest inventions.”

He borrowed a passage from a 1903 Teddy Roosevelt speech to underscore the invaluable connection between higher education and opportunity: “Far and away, the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.”

The purpose of supporting community colleges, he said. “is to make sure that prize – meaningful work – the best prize that life offers, remains within reach of every Virginian.”

The TCC Educational Foundation works to lower financial barriers for students seeking college educations. For information on supporting TCC scholars, contact foundation@tcc.edu or 757-822-1080.