Dayton’s NCR director of welfare at that time and an active civic leader, he followed the Cleveland Foundation’s development and came to believe that it was just what Dayton needed. In an effort to build support, he wrote to 10 prominent Daytonians, including John H. Patterson, asking for $10 each for the creation and dissemination of pamphlets putting forward the idea.

Patterson, founder and chairman of NCR and a highly progressive industrialist and citizen, likewise saw almost immediately the potential of a community foundation that would involve both large and small givers in bettering the community. He enlisted his sister-in-law, Julia Shaw Patterson Carnell, and nephew, Robert Patterson, to join him to contribute a total of $250,000 to help create The Dayton Foundation on April 5, 1921, and seed it with its first unrestricted endowment.

I suspect that John H. Patterson and his family would have been pleased indeed to have learned that nine decades later, The Dayton Foundation includes 3,000 committed donors and $370 million in community assets under management (an all-time high), granting more than $30 million a year to charity and the betterment of their community.

Over 90 years, The Dayton Foundation has continued to evolve in the progressive manner in which Dr. Garland and the Patterson family operated. And true to the original design to involve donors from all walks of life, brought together by a common purpose to help their community, The Dayton Foundation has continued to uphold the values of inclusiveness and commitment to the greater good.

Undertaking community leadership initiatives in recent decades has been an evolutionary way of expressing those values. A recent initiative has been in the area of diversity and inclusion, specifically in regard to growing minority business economic opportunity for the betterment of our community’s economic health as a whole.

We have reported in the past on the progress of the Commission on Minority Inclusion and the Minority Economic Development Council (MEDC), an initiative of The Dayton Foundation and the Dayton Business Committee. The Commission and MEDC have made important strides to develop minority economic potential by forging stronger links between majority and minority businesses and helping foster supplier inclusion programs.

Over the three years that MEDC operated under the above structure, the level of sensitivity to the importance of forwarding this work for the improved economic health of our region has grown exponentially. This issue was under the radar and received little attention before the establishment of MEDC, Channon Lemon’s able staff leadership and the volunteer leadership of Al Wofford and Bruce Feldman. Today this organization has become one of the major forces for the success of our region’s economic development.

It’s worthy to note the collaborative manner in which this initiative took hold. The Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce, the universities, Sinclair Community College, the county, the city, the Dayton Business Committee and a very supportive group of private funders all came together under a common goal and demonstrated the collective power of working together. This exemplifies exactly what we believe our region needs to meet the challenges and opportunities of the future.

In October, an important new chapter began when the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce brought MEDC into its structure and gave it a new name, the Minority Business Partnership (MBP). It now is one of the specialized services that the Chamber offers to area companies and will create new joint ventures between minority- and majority-controlled companies. Chamber President and CEO Phil Parker has stated that this will “champion diversity and inclusion practices and culture in companies’ strategic purchasing and workforce plans for the future,” while “growing the pie for all participants.”

We couldn’t be more pleased to have Phil Parker and the Chamber’s leadership at this crucial juncture. Their leadership and connections will allow a deliberate and ongoing effort to further the MBP’s work and grow the future of both minority- and majority-owned businesses in our region. I commend the Chamber for stepping up to lead on this critical regional issue.

Finally, in our 90th Anniversary year, we’d like to give special thanks to all of our donors who have made The Dayton Foundation what it is today—a collective force for good and a collaboration of spirit of the largest and best kind—and our many volunteers and staff members who have forwarded the Foundation’s work over the decades. In this spirit, we’d like to welcome new Governing Board member Jim Pancoast, the recently named president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Premier Health Partners. His executive and community experience will be very helpful to the Foundation as we go forward.

Special thanks go to three outgoing Board members—Tom Breitenbach, Fred Setzer, Jr., (who also served as a former Board chair) and Rick Schwartz—all of whom gave more of their time and talent to the Foundation and our community than we can begin to recount. We wouldn’t be the Foundation we are today or have accomplished as much without these three tireless and talented volunteers. Our deep appreciation goes to them for all they have done—and continue to do—and to all of our dedicated donors and volunteers who every day make our region better for all of our citizens.

Michael M. Parks, president

Special thanks goes to 90th Anniversary Media Sponsors: Dayton Daily News and WHIO-TV.