Mojave Foundation

Marathon, half, 10 mile, 10k, 5 mile, 5k OverviewThe Mojave Foundation (MF) is a nonprofit 501c3 organization registered in the state of California dedicated to improving quality of life in Mojave, CA in order to make the community a more attractive place to live and do business. We will do this by raising charitable donations through a combination of public and private donors to execute community development projects quickly and efficiently, and make tangible improvements in a relatively short period of time. Our goal is to fundamentally change perceptions about what is possible here – to invest in this community’s incredible social and economic potential, and to encourage more people who work in Mojave to live in Mojave. There are four functional areas where we will focus our efforts:(1) Security: improving public safety in Mojave by organizing a volunteer police unit, and working with local residents and businesses to install security cameras and lighting.(2) Housing: promoting healthy neighborhoods and sustainability by cleaning and securing vacant homes, removing hazardous structures, and educating residents on how to build and upgrade their homes in environmentally-friendly ways.(3) Amenities: bringing lifestyle businesses and critical services to Mojave by teaching local residents how to start their own business (coffee shop, restaurant, fitness center, day care, cleaning service, plumber, etc.) and actively recruiting service providers to locate here (medical clinic, dentist, legal services, CPA, etc.).(4) Beautification: developing high visibility community parks and gardens to promote social and environmental health, and keeping our neighborhoods free of graffiti and vandalism.First and foremost, MF is an execution organization. We take good ideas generated through community forums such as the Revitalize Movement, the Chamber of Commerce, and Neighborhood Watch, and put them into action! Due to our nonprofit status we intend to receive corporate donations, and raise funds through state, federal and private grants, to properly resource community initiatives. We can respond quickly and efficiently to the needs of our donors, in accordance with the direction set forth by our board of directors and the Revitalize Vision Plan.We believe that the only way to make sustainable changes in the community is for residents to pull together and do it ourselves, and that in this town of 5,000 people we already possess the human capital and potential energy to do it. If we wait for the government to save us, or some wealthy investors, we will never develop the skills and initiative to make sustainable progress. But if we put the tools in the hands of local residents to learn new skills, and start their own business, or fix their own homes, then we will develop this community in socially and environmentally responsible ways. When residents get involved cleaning up their neighborhood, or making their streets safer, they develop and emotional stake in the outcome. And once people invest their own blood, sweat and tears into something, they will defend it indefinitely.Mojave, California holds a special place as the center of the commercial space industry; and since a successful industry depends on recruiting and retaining the world’s top talent, this community is critical to the long-term success of the commercial space industry and exploration. As industries compete for top university graduates, quality of life will play an increasingly important role in the decision engineers make about where to build a career. The Mojave Foundation aims to fundamentally change expectations about this community – to encourage people to live closer to where they work. We will do this by connecting private and public stake-holders with local development efforts, to deliver the security, housing, amenities, and beauty to support the jobs of the 21st century. Most importantly, we are dedicated full-time to providing the planning, fundraising and project management to ensure that Mojave is a more livable, attractive community on par with any knowledge-based city in the world.