Stonington Resident Alice Fitzpatrick Named Chamber Citizen of the Year

Alice Fitzpatrick, president of the Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut, is the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut's 63rd Citizen of the Year, the chamber announced Monday.

“Alice is very deserving of this recognition,” said Tony Sheridan, the chamber’s president & CEO, said in a press release.  “She is truly a regional thinker and her work to serve the entire region has benefitted all in eastern Connecticut. 

“For many years she has been a quiet force for good in region and has demonstrated a sense of altruism above and beyond what we might expect.”

She will be honored May 30th during a special dinner.

Sheridan noted that during Fitzpatrick’s tenure at the Community Foundation, it has "grown steadily from just under $7 million in assets when she took over in 1995 to $42 million, a six-fold increase that has allowed the philanthropic organization to give out $3.2 million in grants last year alone," he said.

Today, the Community Foundation serves the 42-town region in the eastern third of the state, an expansion from southeastern Connecticut to a region that extends to the Massachusetts border.

“It was a move that allowed the foundation to expand its ability to help more people,” Sheridan said.  “Because of her efforts, the foundation is now able to provide grants to more non-profit organizations than ever to give them the ability to strengthen the region. The foundation also awards scholarships to students in the area.”

She has a number of other notable achievements, including:

• In 1999, she started the first Women & Girls Fund in southeastern Connecticut. It now is the second largest women’s fund in Connecticut at $2.2 million and has expanded to Norwich, Windham and beyond.                  
• She also oversaw the development of Let’s Read, a children’s literacy initiative that is designed to help local schools, libraries and other programs to get children reading at grade level by 3rd grade.
• In 2008 during the community foundation’s 25th anniversary, the foundation gave a gift to the community in the form of $100,000 to each of the 13 libraries in its then-territory.
• In addition, the foundation created a $200,000 permanent endowment to support these libraries in perpetuity.