“There was a lot of energy in the room last night,” said Harold Stafford, Kent County African American Empowerment Fund of Delaware (AAEFD) chairman. “We added a number of new founders and identified other individuals in the area who we would like to have involved in this important initiative.”

The initial goal of the AAEFD is to obtain 100 founders who will pledge $1,000 over five years to support the fund’s work and mission. Since AAEFD’s official launch in June 2008, 70 people have pledged to invest in the organization.

The effort mirrors the successful Fund For Women, a Delaware Community Foundation fund created to improve the lives of women and girls in Delaware. That fund, which celebrates its 16th anniversary this year, has more than 940 founders and an endowment exceeding $2.5 million. Since its inception in 1993, the fund has awarded $1.2 million in grants to 200 nonprofit programs that help women and girls avoid poverty and abuse, improve their health and financial independence, and address many other social issues.

“This fund was established to provide African-American children with scholarships, after-school programs, better access to quality healthcare, and to fund other causes important to the education, social and economic empowerment of African-American Delawareans,” added Stafford. “It’s good to see us gaining momentum in involving others throughout the First State with our cause.”

The trustees of the Longwood Foundation have committed to a dollar for dollar matching grant of up to $50,000 for every one raised by AAEFD founders through the end of December 2009, providing an additional source of funding for the start-up.

For more information about the AAEFD or the upcoming AAEFD statewide meeting Wednesday, Nov. 4, at the Delmarva Power Conference Center in Newark, contact Jane C.W. Vincent, senior vice president of the Delaware Community Foundation at 302-571-8004 or jvincent@delcf.org or email Harold Stafford at hstaff@comcast.net