For more than sixty years Robins Foundation has supported this region and in particular our neighbors in the city of Richmond. As thoughtful philanthropists and visionaries, our founders, E. Claiborne and Lora M. Robins used their wealth to improve the quality of life for residents of the Richmond community.
We are a family philanthropic foundation. We are from here. Richmond has been our hometown for five generations. We know and acknowledge her complicated and painful history. We want the Richmond region to be a vibrant and dynamic community, attractive to families and businesses, with opportunities for children and families in need, and equitable outcomes for all.
Navy Hill has the potential to help us realize that vision.
We believe Navy Hill will provide opportunities for affordable homes, significant jobs and new tax revenue for the city, including for Richmond Public Schools. While we have focused a majority of our efforts on education, we know that stable housing is critical for children and educational outcomes. Stability also comes from parents with decent jobs. The Partnership for Affordable Housing late last month released its findings in the Richmond Regional Housing Framework and highlighted the desperate housing challenges we face all over the city. You can read more about the findings here https://pharva.com/
Throughout our history, our founders and the foundation have supported initiatives like Navy Hill, including the expansion of Virginia Union University decades ago, more recently the design, buildout and opening of the Front Porch Café in Church Hill, and now the Eastlawn Shopping Center with the Boys and Girls Club in the Creighton Court neighborhood of Church Hill. We also serve as a bridge and a partner with the community through initiatives like the Lora M Robins Speaker Series and our research, and our engagement and partnership with nonprofits and initiatives in Richmond’s Northside community.
We continue to advocate, from a philanthropic perspective, for projects and initiatives that align with our vision and uphold our mission to lead transformational change in the greater Richmond community by listening, learning, and engaging through innovative philanthropy that inspires solutions to this region’s most significant challenges.
And we support initiatives that align with our guiding principles:
- Visionary Partnerships – We partner with innovative, big thinkers and organizations that are working to transform our community with new solutions to old problems
- Thriving People – Focusing on whole family success to address issues that have affected our historically most vulnerable neighborhoods so that families live safely, and work and play in the neighborhoods they cherish
- Dynamic Community – Vibrant, culturally diverse, active, sustainable and visually attractive communities add to the quality of life for all our residents and attract tourists to our city and region
We believe that investing in ideas and initiatives that enrich whole families – and whole neighborhoods – is a good idea, so we believe Navy Hill is a good idea.
In the past six decades, the Robins Foundation has invested over $100 million in this community. We care about children. And we will continue our commitment to being a part of the solution for the challenges our neighbors, and our hometown face.
For more information on our mission, guiding principles and partnerships, please visit robinsfdn.org. For more details on Navy Hill, visit navyhillrva.com.