Denise Abboud Fund
The Denise Abboud Fund was created to honor our colleague, her ideals, and her contributions to the planning profession. The outpouring of love for Denise from friends and colleagues across the state following her tragic and sudden death in 2007, and the donations spontaneously offered to establish a lasting memorial to her work and legacy, resulted in creation of the Fund and the Georgia Planning Memorial Foundation.
Since the fund’s establishment, additional contributions have been made to honor other colleagues who have passed in recognition of their service and professional accomplishments. Recent contributions have been made in the honor of William Ross the Younger, Jamie Cochran, Allison Whidden, Leon Eplan, Kemberli Sargent, Eric Graves, Heather Alhadeff, Jim P. Brown, and Steve Foote.
An important goal of the Denise Abboud Fund is to help communities that otherwise could not afford professional development programs to expand the skills and knowledge of their professional and citizen planners. This is something Denise would have been particularly interested in– she strongly supported GPA reaching out to include everyone in its programs and offerings, and she made sure that practical, useful programs were always included in the many conferences she facilitated as GPA Vice President.
Scholarships
The Foundation focuses on two programs for scholarships to be offered through the Denise Abboud Fund each year. Scholarships may be awarded to public employees or volunteer appointees, including local government staff, an appointed Planning Commissioner, a Regional Commission planner that provides services to local governments, and similar public employees or volunteer appointees. Planners who work in for-profit companies or statewide agencies are not eligible for Georgia Planning Memorial Foundation scholarships.
GPA Fall Conference
The Foundation offers scholarships in an amount up to $500 to attend GPA fall conferences. Additionally, the conference registration fee may be waived for GPA members. To apply for the upcoming GPA Fall Conference Scholarship, please fill out a scholarship form and email it to Eric Bosman along with a reference letter.
Community Planning Institute
Scholarships in an amount up to $250 are offered to cover the registration fee and/or travel expenses for attendance at Community Planning Institute workshops. For more information on the CPI workshops, please visit the DCA website. Completed scholarship forms with a reference letter should be emailed to Eric Bosman.
All applications must be accompanied by a Letter of Reference from one’s supervisor or other person in a leadership position related to the applicant’s official planning role. An application for either of these events can be submitted by or on behalf of any qualified recipient and is not limited only to GPA members.
In order to consider all requests, applications must be received at least 4 weeks in advance of the desired event, with preference given to those that are received prior to the deadline for early registrations for the event.
In the event that the number of applications exceeds our funds availability for the event, grants will be made based on those best meeting the Foundation’s adopted selection criteria.
Selection Criteria
When requests for grant assistance to attend an event exceed our funds availability for that particular event, grants will be made based on those best meeting the following selection criteria from among those submitted.
The evaluation of applications for assistance from the Denise Abboud Fund will focus on the central purpose of the Fund, which is to further the education and ongoing professional development of those who work in or serve Georgia communities in an official planning role and that would otherwise not be able to obtain such opportunities.
The group of applications received for grant assistance to attend a particular GPA conference or CPI session will be evaluated and grants will be awarded on the basis of 1) comparable statistical rankings for the county or , for a city, the county in which the applicant’s community is located, and 2) the applicant’s commitment to planning and the benefit of the assistance to the applicant and their community.
Statistics relevant to the evaluation include:
- The proportion of the workforce employed in “farming, fishing or forestry.”
- Farm earnings as a percent of total earnings.
- Median household personal income.
- Per capita personal income.
- Such other credible, statistical data that would compare the relative “need and benefit” of each community to the other applications in the group.
- The evaluation of commitment and the potential benefits to the applicant and their community will be based solely on the information provided on the application form.
Board Members and Officers
The Foundation’s current board members and officers are:
President: Eric Bosman
Vice President: Ray White
Secretary: Marilyn Hall
Treasurer: Todd Barker
William Ross
Inga Kennedy
Lisa Westin
Tom Couch
If you have any questions regarding the Georgia Planning Memorial Foundation, please email Eric Bosman.
The Georgia Planning Memorial Foundation was established in 2008 as a 501(c)(3) corporation through the efforts of GPA and the pro bono assistance of David Kirk and his associates at Troutman Pepper Locke.