*August 30, 2006 Bi-weekly newsletter*

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| **Community Fund Opens           | > ![](media/image2.png)           |
| Playground**                     |                                   |
|                                  | *Hristina Valtcheva of the        |
| hildren in the town of Radnevo   | Bulgarian Financial Supervision   |
| have a new playground, thanks to | Commission receives an LLM in     |
| their parents' volunteer work    | Securities and Financial          |
| and the Happy Childhood Project  | Regulation from Georgetown.*      |
| of the local grassroots          |                                   |
| organization "Iniziativa Za"     | **Bulgarian Lawyers Receive       |
| ("Initiative For"). USAID        | Georgetown Degrees**              |
| provided matching support for    |                                   |
| local philanthropy efforts.      | aya Dimova, a public prosecutor   |
| USAID/Bulgaria Democracy Officer | for the city of Sofia, and        |
| Gene Gibson inaugurated the new  | Hristina Valtcheva, legal counsel |
| playground on August 17.         | for the Financial Supervision     |
|                                  | Commission of Bulgaria, received  |
|                                  | master degrees from the           |
|                                  | Georgetown University Law Center  |
| "Iniziativa Za" built the        | this spring. The two women won    |
| playground and installed the     | scholarships from the East        |
| playground equipment with        | Central European Scholarship      |
| funding from the Stara Zagora    | Program (ECESP) funded by USAID.  |
| Community Fund and a matching    | Both also received additional     |
| contribution by the USAID        | tuition scholarships toward       |
| Community Fund and Social        | completing LLM degrees from       |
| Enterprise Program, implemented  | Georgetown. They will return to   |
| by Counterpart International.    | their home institutions to apply  |
| The municipality of Radnevo      | the knowledge they acquired while |
| provided the land for the        | at Georgetown. Ms. Valtcheva will |
| playground and prepared it for   | also resume teaching at Sofia     |
| construction.                    | University. Ms. Dimova secured a  |
|                                  | three-month scholarship to intern |
| ![](media/image1.png)            | at the International Criminal     |
|                                  | Tribunal for the former           |
| *A boy in Radnevo enjoys a new   | Yugoslavia in The Hague.          |
| playground built as a            |                                   |
| collaborative initiative of a    | > ![](media/image3.png)           |
| grassroots community             |                                   |
| organization.*                   | *Raya Dimova, a Sofia public      |
|                                  | prosecutor, celebrates receiving  |
| The Stara Zagora Community Fund  | her LLM in International Legal    |
| was created in 2003 to mobilize  | Studies.*                         |
| local resources for addressing   |                                   |
| community needs. Its active      | More than 120 Bulgarians have     |
| presence has helped to stimulate | studied at Georgetown under the   |
| local philanthropy, community    | ECESP program, including the      |
| initiatives, and public-private  | current Minister of               |
| partnerships. Since 2003, the    | Euro-Integration Meglena Kuneva,  |
| Stara Zagora Community Fund has  | who attended the program in 1999. |
| raised more than \$78,000 from   |                                  |
| local sources to support more    |                                   |
| than 15 projects.  With the      |                                   |
| matching support of USAID, the   |                                   |
| Fund has provided more than      |                                   |
| \$144,000 for community          |                                   |
| projects.                        |                                   |
|                                  |                                   |
| Community funds can play a       |                                   |
| particularly energizing role in  |                                   |
| former socialist countries such  |                                   |
| as Bulgaria where traditions of  |                                   |
| philanthropy are generally       |                                   |
| underdeveloped. Bulgarian        |                                   |
| community funds have raised half |                                   |
| a million dollars from           |                                   |
| businesses, citizens, and local  |                                   |
| governments since the inception  |                                   |
| of the USAID Community Fund and  |                                   |
| Social Enterprise Program in     |                                   |
| 2001.                           |                                   |
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