As the Clearfield County Charitable Foundation approaches its 20th year of existence and a new decade begins, the board of directors of the foundation has been looking at ways to stimulate growth and identify new projects for the foundation to become involved in.
To attain this goal, in early 2019, the board of directors began searching for an executive director to run the operations of the foundation and a central location for an office for the foundation.
Foundation Board Chairman Kevin McMillen has announced the Clearfield County Charitable Foundation is appointing Mark B. McCracken to the position of executive director and, in the very near future, an office for the foundation will be opened in the former Sears building at the corner of Market and Third streets in Clearfield.
The office space is being leased from Community Media Group, the parent company of The Progress.
McMillen stated, “We are pleased to have Mark McCracken working for the Clearfield County Charitable Foundation. He recently completed 16 years serving as Clearfield County Commissioner, and has experience working with communities and leaders throughout the county.
“He has past experience serving on area charitable and community agency boards including the Clearfield County Area Agency on Aging, Central Pennsylvania Community Action, Clearfield Area United Way and the former Clearfield Chapter of the American Red Cross.
“Additionally Mark has served on many important regional and state level boards including the North Central Pennsylvania Regional Planning and Development Commission board, he was twice appointed by Gov. Tom Wolf to the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) 911 Advisory Committee and he was a founding member of the Pennsylvania Counties Health Insurance Purchasing Cooperative (PCHIPC), where he served 10 years as chairman of the PCHIPC board.”
On accepting the position, McCracken said, “This is an exciting opportunity and I look forward to continuing the work the original founders of the Clearfield County Charitable Foundation started almost 20 years ago.
“The current board of directors have put a great amount of time and effort into growing the foundation in recent years, and I want to build on that success.
“I am also looking forward to working with the people who have established individual funds managed by the foundation. My foremost goal is to recruit new involvement and grow all the funds so communities and individuals throughout Clearfield County can see benefits and positive results.”
The Clearfield County Charitable Foundation was formed on Nov. 4, 2001, starting with one fund valued at $10,000 and has now grown to 46 active funds totaling almost $7 million in value as of Dec. 31, 2019.
Through scholarships and grants, the Clearfield County Charitable Foundation is working to enhance the quality of living in communities all over Clearfield County. Since 2006, the CCCF grant program alone has awarded over $102,900 to 74 different groups in Clearfield County.
You can learn more about the Clearfield County Charitable Foundation by visiting its Web site at www.clearfieldcharitablefoundation.org.
