Junior Achievement of Southern Nevada announced the addition of Brett Valdez to its board of directors. He brings more than 14 years of banking experience in finance and relationship building and past JA volunteering experience to the nonprofit organization dedicated to educating youths about financial literacy, workforce readiness and entrepreneurship. Valdez is senior vice president and relationship manager at PNC Bank, where he is responsible for helping to build the organization’s commercial banking business in Nevada. He also serves on the board for the Las Vegas chapter of the Association of Latino Professionals for America.
The Dunn Family Foundation has established a $1 million endowment through the UNLV Foundation to fund the creation of the Dunn Family Assessment Collection in the UNLV University Libraries. The endowment will enable UNLV Libraries to purchase more robust testing collections to support student educators at UNLV and teachers in Southern Nevada. The collection will primarily be housed in the Teacher Development & Resources Library, located in the Carlson Education Building on UNLV’s Maryland Parkway campus. For more information on resources for educators available through the UNLV Libraries, visit the Teacher Development & Resources Libraries at
library.unlv.edu/tdrl.
Project 150, a local nonprofit that helps high school students in need, announced a contribution of $250,000 from The Frias Charitable Trust to continue providing services and support to local homeless, displaced and disadvantaged high school students. Project 150 earmarked $100,000 of the donation for its scholarship fund. The remaining $150,000 will be used to purchase two new box trucks to assist with weekly deliveries of nonperishable food, school supplies and hygiene items to the 75 Southern Nevada high schools that Project 150 serves.
On February 13, Sahara Las Vegas team members distributed more than 350 pairs of shoes to underprivileged students at Robert E. Lake Elementary School as part of the property’s Sahara Cares initiative. The shoes were donated by team members across various departments. While shoes were the main focus of this distribution, other clothing items were collected, such as underwear, socks, hats, scarves and mittens. The scarves and mittens were hand-knitted by some of the team members. All donated articles of clothing were placed in the school’s clothing closet, which allows students to come in and grab clothes and shoes as needed.
Commercial Alliance Las Vegas and Las Vegas Realtors are partnering with other local real estate organizations to support Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth by collecting donations and volunteering to renovate residences that house previously homeless teens. Other organizations supporting this cause include the Nevada Appraisal Institute; Building Owners and Managers Association; Southern Nevada CCIM; Commercial Real Estate Women; Institute of Real Estate Management; NAIOP Southern Nevada; Nevada State Apartment Association; and Society of Industrial and Office Realtors. On Saturday, April 22, volunteers plan to renovate several of NPHY’s local housing units that provide temporary homes for previously homeless youth. Through March 31, CALV is collecting donated items from NPHY’s Amazon Wish List to help with the beautification and renovation project. To make a donation, go to tinyurl.com/calv-donations,
The Helms Helps Foundation gifted the Collaboration Center Foundation with $500,000 toward renovations on its stables, which are going to be converted into a larger multiuse indoor area housing a treatment and therapy space for community partners to operate, which will include a developmental pre-school, treatment facilities, educational and training classrooms, an art center, an autism assessment clinic and a new grab and go café.
Through a partnership with theShaquille O’Neal Foundation and Reebok, Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Nevada has renovated the outdoor area at the Boulder Highway Clubhouse to include a brand new, artificial turf, multisport field. Funded by more than $60,000 in donations from foundation and Reebok, the new field will allow for more programming at the club, including enhanced play, sports, recreation, and fitness activities.
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