Mission Statement of TigerMountain Foundation | Non-Profit | Phoenix, AZ
Written by Darren Chapman
The Mission of TigerMountain Foundation
The mission of TigerMountain Foundation (TMF) is to empower people by building flourishing community gardens, providing job skills, support and workforce development through neighborhood revitalization and beautification with our multi-ethnic and multi-generational initiatives. 1123 persons plus their families and friends were directly served by TMF programs in 2018. Also many of whom were referred to us through parole/justice systems. Another 2200 volunteer mentors also helped us accomplish this outreach initiative to resolve food scarcity and educate participants on job skills to earn a living wage. An additional 3,000 also gained knowledge through speaking engagements. Funding has generally been from grants and individual and corporate donors. However, in 2019 has seen a major push for self-sufficiency through our agriscaping (agricultural landscaping) initiatives and farmers market sales.
Many of the staff, including CEO Darren Chapman, are formerly incarcerated persons from the very neighborhoods we serve. Our advisors and 8 board members come from administrative positions in such large organizations. These include Vitalyst Health, Bank of America, and Keep Phoenix Beautiful. We are an Arizona Qualified Charity and receive tax credit donations plus receive individual donations through various employer payroll deductions.
Social and Economic Mobility
To us, “social and economic mobility” means achieving tangible personal agency – building within each person a genuine self-value and competency that enables them to rise above poverty. The TigerMountain strategy empowers adults and youth via our agriscaping initiatives alongside capable hard-working professionals as volunteers who encourage and mentor them through every step. These programs culminate in the development of good professionals. Participants leverage the skills and morals they’ve learned to build an honest life for themselves, free of criminality and desperation, and have the skills to earn a living wage.
For non-participant community members, SEM means finding genuine nourishment in the food we grow – we are what we eat, after all. TMF initiatives address food scarcity in this food desert area of Phoenix, AZ plus empower the economically disadvantaged participants with job skills to enable them to earn a living wage. In this 80% recidivism area, TMF participants enjoy an 85% rate of NOT returning to jail, or entering the justice system in the first place! We use an Asset Based Community Development model that gives community members a hand up, not a handout.
Our Purpose
How We Empower Communities To Help Themselves
- Restore pride in a community through beautification of vacant lots.
- Inspire people to volunteer and engage in their community.
- Provide youth the skills they need to prepare them for employment—and a better life.
- Provide people on-the-job opportunities through landscaping, planting in community gardens, and selling and marketing what they grow at farmers’ markets.
Our Values: “TIGER”
- Tenacity: Aggressively change your own condition
- Integrity: Strive for authenticity and honesty in living one’s life
- Greatness: Dare to be epic and proud
- Empowerment: Take responsibility for life choices and their outcomes
- Resiliency: Never give up
TigerMountain Foundation is Partnering With AmazonSmile
AmazonSmile is a simple way for you to support your favorite charitable organization every time you shop.
To have TMF get a percentage of every purchase you make, You MUST enter through smile.amazon.com.
For setup: go to your account settings, go to “Other programs” select “Change your Amazon Smile charity” and choose TigerMountain Foundation. Once you set your account up that way, every time you buy at smile.amazon.com it automatically generates something for TMF. Do NOT enter through Amazon.com or TMF won’t participate.
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Thank you goes out to our Sponsors
Support a local organization like TigerMountain Foundation that is helping Phoenix grow and thrive. Your contributions give hope and support to the community.