{"id":79074,"date":"2025-12-03T02:07:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T02:07:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/79074\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T02:07:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T02:07:06","slug":"fresno-forward-foundation-launches-endowment-to-back-chamber-education-programs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/79074\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresno Forward Foundation launches endowment to back chamber education programs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img width=\"800\" height=\"331\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/250319-VALLEY-BUSINESS-AWARDS-128-e1747950768600.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"attach_desc\">Photo by Mariano Friginal\/Fresno Chamber | Isaak Thammavong (center) receives his Student Entrepreneur of the Year award last month from Fresno Chamber EOC Scott Miller, left, and Board Chair Nick Rocca.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tpublished on December 2, 2025 &#8211; 3:28 PM<br \/>Written by <a href=\"https:\/\/thebusinessjournal.com\/byline\/frank-lopez\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Frank Lopez<\/a><\/p>\n<p>A local non-profit has launched a new endowment to strengthen and sustain the Fresno County Chamber\u2019s educational programs.<\/p>\n<p>The Fresno Forward Foundation announced today the launch of the Fresno Forward Endowment to provide long-term, stable funding for initiatives that equip local students, emerging leaders and workforce talent with valuable tools and experiences.<\/p>\n<p>The foundation\u2019s programs include Young Entrepreneurs Program (YEP), Leadership Fresno, Small Business University, San Joaquin Political Academy and Business News.<\/p>\n<p>Additional educational opportunities help connect business and education with the community.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Fresno Chamber\u2019s mission extends beyond advocacy, it includes cultivating the leaders, workforce, and innovators who will shape tomorrow\u2019s Fresno\u201d said chamber CEO Scott Miller. \u201cInvesting in the endowment ensures that the programs shaping Fresno\u2019s future workforce will remain strong, innovative, and accessible well into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The first gift to launch the endowment was donated by longtime businessman Steve Geil and his family. Geil and his wife Eileen founded Geil Enterprises in 1986, growing it into one of the largest security and janitorial service companies in Central California.<\/p>\n<p>Geil and his son Jason are also past Chairs of the Board of Directors.<\/p>\n<p>The endowment will be managed with dual goals of preserving principal and providing annual support to enhance and expand programming.<\/p>\n<p>Community members, businesses, and philanthropic partners are invited to contribute by calling the Fresno Chamber of Commerce office or line at <a href=\"https:\/\/fresnochamber.com\/forward-fresno-foundation\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fresno Chamber Giving<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo by Mariano Friginal\/Fresno Chamber | Isaak Thammavong (center) receives his Student Entrepreneur of the Year award last&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79075,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-79074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}