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BY BILL VALLADARES
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 them—while 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.
"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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