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Barbara
T. (Bobbi) Cleveland
Legendary
Philanthropist
BY
BILL VALLADARES
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| Barbara
(Bobbi) Cleveland (second from left) gathers with her Georgia
Family Connection Partnership colleagues (from left) Aubrey
Harris, director of Community Support; Albert Wright, Board
chair; Gaye Smith, executive director; and Linda Long and Marilyn
Bradbury of Resource Development. |
Barbara
(Bobbi) Cleveland, who helped launch Georgia Family Connection Partnership
(GaFCP) and served on its executive committee for seven years, recently
received the Legendary Philanthropist Award at the 17th annual Georgia
Nonprofit Summit.
The
award recognizes revolutionary leaders and organizations with Georgia's
nonprofit sector and celebrates themwhile inspiring and motivating
others. Cleveland was acknowledged for her remarkable and ongoing
legacy as a leader, advocate and community catalyst for more than
three decades. Today she continues to be a strong supporter of GaFCP.
"Bobbi
played a key role in crafting the merger between the Georgia Academy
for Children and Youth Professionals, and Georgia Family Connection,
which created one of the only state-level intermediaries of its
kind in the country," said Gaye Smith, executive director of GaFCP.
"She stayed the course by serving as vice chair of the transition
board and on the executive committee of the newly created GaFCP
Board. The continuity of her leadership and commitment was critical
in establishing the entity's credibility. Bobbi never hesitates
to champion the work of Georgia Family Connection, or to connect
us to partners we can work with to better support children and families
across Georgia."
Cleveland
has served as a consultant to state government and nonprofit organizations,
working on projects related to planning and evaluating health and
human-service programs. She was a founding board member of APPLE
Corps, a predecessor to the Atlanta Education Fund, and in 1987
became executive director of the Tull Charitable Foundation, a private
grant-making foundation that funds Georgia-based nonprofit organizations.
In 2003 Cleveland was instrumental in the founding of Voices for
Georgia's Children, and she provides leadership for the formation
of EMBRACE, a statewide public-private initiative that focuses on
the recruitment and retention of foster families.
The
legendary philanthropist award recipient thanked the founders of
new organizations, executive directors of existing nonprofit organizations,
volunteer board members, and all those agents of positive community
change for all they have taught her about making positive change
happen.
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| Bobbi
Cleveland accepts the Legendary Philanthropist award. |
"You
have taught me that change is always 100 percent more challenging
and time consuming than you think it will be," said Cleveland. "There
are always unforeseeable pitfalls and difficulties despite the best
of plans and preparation, especially unexpected and unanticipated
resistance and fear of change. But you have also taught me that
no dream is impossible if you have clarity of vision, passion for
the cause, the resourcefulness and creativity to successfully negotiate
the many barriers and hurdles you encounter on the way to your goal,
and the perseverance, commitment, and dogged determination to keep
on keeping on."
And
though she thanked those agents of positive change for being her
teacher, Cleveland herself excels in the role of teacher, inspiring
other leaders in the nonprofit industry.
"I've
turned several times to Bobbi for advice and guidance, knowing she
will be forthright and will help me see all sides of a situation
in order to make a better decision," said Smith. "I'm always confident
that she will have the best interest of the children and families
at heart. There have been many who have benefited from her tenacity
and leadership and will never even realize it."
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