Local Community Foundation acknowledges potential for improvements to Public Safety

ENGLEWOOD, FL (December 30, 2011) – The Denise Amber Lee Foundation today announced it has received a grant from the Gulf Coast Community Foundation to build infrastructure and organizational capacity to continue its goal of strengthening our community and nation’s 9-1-1 emergency response system. This grant confirms the importance and direction of the foundation’s progress and successes during its brief operational tenure.

“Our focus this past year was setting in place best practice policies and procedures to instill confidence and attract potential donors and support of our vision of seeing that every person fielding a 9-1-1 call is highly trained and certified to do so”, said Nathan Lee, President of the Denise Amber Lee Foundation.

This grant will help to build a systematic database that documents weaknesses in the 9-1-1 Emergency Response Systems like the ones that led to the tragic death of Nathan’s wife, Denise Amber Lee. This database will highlight that these weaknesses are not just local in nature, or not even confined to the State of Florida, but rather are nationwide in scope requiring a coordinated national response. The grant will also assist with the development of a powerful communications package including hard data, compelling visuals, and skilled presenters who can carry this important message to the public.

About the Denise Amber Lee Foundation

The mission of the Denise Amber Lee Foundation, a 501c3 non-profit, is to promote and support public safety through uniform training, standardized protocols, defined measurable outcomes and technological advances in the 9-1-1 system. Established in June 2008, in response to the murder of Denise Amber Lee, the foundation seeks to use the emotional power of this senseless tragedy to promote and encourage the use of technology, training, and procedures to reduce the occurrences of human error. The foundation is determined to channel and focus the public outrage of these tragic events to drive rapid change to public policy and procedures. For more information, please visit www.deniseamberlee.org.

About Gulf Coast Community Foundation

Together with our donors, Gulf Coast Community Foundation transforms our region through bold and proactive philanthropy. Gulf Coast is a public charity that was created in 1995 through the sale of the Venice Hospital. Since then, we have welcomed more than 500 charitable funds created by generous donors, and we have invested more than $129 million in grants in the areas of arts and culture, health and human services, education, civic and economic development, and the environment. Learn more at GulfCoastCF.org.

Media Contact:

Mark Lee
941-716-4343
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It is transition time for the Denise Amber Lee Foundation. Since our inception in June of 2008, we have been working under the umbrella of the Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice. This has been a wonderful relationship and allowed us to focus on our mission of raising awareness of the inefficiencies in the country’s 9-1-1 system. They handled the legal and paperwork issues of a 501 (c) 3 non-profit.

As we have traveled the country telling our story, our vision has focused into areas and causes that can better be addressed by being on our own. So we currently are in the process of establishing our own 501 (c) 3 and 501 (c) 4 corporations. This will give us the flexibility to work with state and local legislatures to promote uniform, mandatory training standards.

This is an expensive and time consuming process as the review of our non-profit application with the IRS can take up to 6-8 months. It also is hampering our ability to commit to events and raise funds. Therefore, we have continued our non-profit, tax exempt fund with the Gulf Coast Community Foundation until the IRS finishes its review. We do, however, have our own tax ID set up for direct non-tax exempt contributions to help us with expenses during this time of transition. Please continue to support us and our effort to improve the 9-1-1 system for all citizens.

It is a very special day for the Lee and Goff families as a special dedication was made to her at the park in Englewood where she often took her children.

A plaque with her likeness was unveiled at the Englewood Sports Complex. It reads:

"It was at this playground that Denise would bring her two sons to play. Her family meant more to her than anything. On January 17, 2008, Denise gave her own life to ensure the safety of her children. It is because of her heroism that not only her sons can continue to come here to play, but also their children and all generations to come."

Denise would have been 24 yesterday, August 6, 2010.