Savannah Music Festival Jazz Academy Music Director Fellowship Program

The Chestnut Family Foundation donated $50,000 to the Savannah Music Festival (SMF) to support the Jazz Academy Music Director Fellowship. They’re a free after-school jazz program for students from 5th through 12th grade. The program provides free weekly private lessons, group classes, semester-end performances and instruments to its students. SMFJA serves under-resourced communities, promoting social justice through high quality, trauma-informed music education and mentoring of its students.

The Music Director Fellowship program ensures the continued growth and success of the jazz education initiative. The Fellow is the lead teaching artist for SMFJA and will nurture a trauma-informed, assets-based curriculum for all instructors and staff, guiding students toward instrumental proficiency and mastery of jazz forms.

The Chestnut Family Foundation is proud to support this important program and the SMFJA students across Chatham County.

$25,000 Gift to Helping Mamas

The Chestnut Family Foundation donated $25,000 to Helping Mamas to support the significant services they’re providing for women and children across Georgia. Helping Mamas is the baby supply bank for Georgia, collecting and distributing essential child and baby items such as diapers, wipes, car seats, cribs and more. In 2020, they served 65,000 women and children in need and, despite supply chain issues, are on track to serve almost 80,000 individuals in 2021.

Helping Mamas also works to ease period poverty by partnering with school nurses and partner agencies to distribute period supplies to low-income women and girls in Georgia. They’re committed to keeping girls in school and women in the workforce, distributing 800,000 period products to the community in 2020.

We’re proud to support their important work!

AFCEA Henry M. Chestnut Scholarship Awarded to Two High School Seniors

Alexis Eunice Davis (left) and Mary Anne McCord (right)

Alexis Eunice Davis and Mary Anne McCord are the 2021 recipients of the Henry M. Chestnut Scholarship awarded through the Augusta-Ft. Gordon AFCEA Educational Foundation. Each student will receive $2,000 to use towards their college degree.

Alexis graduated from Evans High School and plans to major in Biology at the University of Georgia. Mary Anne graduated from Screven High School and plans to major in Biology at the University of Georgia.

We created the Henry M. Chestnut Scholarship in 2019 to honor of Ben’s beloved father, Henry M. Chestnut, whose military career helped inspire his love of technology and industrial design. It’s an annual scholarship for two students who have shown excellence in STEM subjects and who plan to seek a bachelor’s degree in a STEM-related field at a four-year institution or community college, so long as they intend to transfer and complete their bachelor’s degree. The Augusta-Ft. Gordon chapter’s scholarship committee selects the recipients every year.

Ben Chestnut was a recipient of an AFCEA scholarship in 1996, which proved to be transformational. We’re proud to give students this same opportunity and wish Alexis and Mary Anne the best of luck as they continue their studies!

Chestnut Family Foundation Partners with Atlanta Music Project to Launch Innovative College Scholarship Fund

Two-Year Pilot Provides Comprehensive Support for College, Living and Educational Expenses

The Chestnut Family Foundation (CFF), together with the Atlanta Music Project (AMP), announces the launch of The Chestnut Family College Scholarship Fund, an innovative scholarship program designed to provide financial support to AMP seniors and alumni. The CFF has committed to funding the two-year pilot, which will launch in Fall 2021.

According to Learn4Life’s data, only 29% of college enrollees in Georgia complete their degrees within five years. Students can often be derailed by emergencies and unexpected financial hurdles that can prevent them from completing their education. The Fund will address these challenges and build upon AMP’s goal of providing quality, accessible and affordable education to all who seek it.

“A significant challenge many of our alumni face in planning for their future is the financial barrier to start and complete college,” says Dantes Rameau, AMP’s Chief Executive Officer. “Now, thanks to the tremendous generosity of the Chestnut Family Foundation, we are now able to expand our mission to support our students before and during their pursuit of higher education.”

“Having followed the remarkable progress of AMP’s dedicated and talented students, we are inspired to deepen our commitment to AMP and their mission to support and help their students by removing the financial barriers that so often prevent students from persisting to degree completion,” said Teresa Chestnut, Trustee of the Chestnut Family Foundation. “We value education and want to do our part to ensure that the young people AMP serve in this community achieve their post-secondary goals.”

The Fund will provide support in preparing for, paying for and persisting through college. It will aid with educational costs such as tuition, books, housing, music instruments and emergency living expenses. In addition, the Fund will support the hiring of a full-time college-prep counselor to assist AMP students with the college application and completion process. 

Graduates of AMP and current AMP high school seniors meeting specific requirements and who have been accepted into a four-year degree institution, are eligible for support from the Fund. A panel consisting of AMP faculty, parents, board members and alumni will review applications to the Fund and recommend scholarship awards.