Tom Tom Founders Festival Named One of 25 Finalists for The Atlantic Magazine’s Second Annual Renewal Awards

written by Newspack Team | February 7, 2017

Charlottesville, VA—The Tom Tom Founders Festival, a one-of-a-kind weeklong celebration of the power of innovation, entrepreneurship, and community, has been selected as one of 25 finalists for The Atlantic magazine’s 2017 Renewal Awards.  Launched in 2016, the Allstate-sponsored Renewal Awards recognize outstanding local organizations leading positive change in communities across the nation.

“We are honored to have been chosen by The Atlantic as a Renewal Award contender in the community action category,” says Festival founder and director Paul Beyer.  “Since its inception six years ago, the Tom Tom Founders Festival has been committed to making Charlottesville—and all American communities—centers of positivity, progress, and empowerment.  We are pleased that our efforts have been recognized by The Atlantic, and we are inspired by the tremendous achievements of our fellow Renewal Awards nominees.”

Honoring high-impact local organizations in the categories of community action, ingenuity, neighborhood revitalization, self-starter, and Allstate youth empowerment, the Renewal Awards seek to highlight smart grassroots solutions to challenges faced by America’s communities in an era of rapid change and economic instability.  The top-ranked organization in each category will receive a $20,000 grant from Allstate; winners will be announced in mid-March, 2017.

The inaugural 2016 Renewal Awards were presented after a yearlong search for America’s most promising social innovation organizations. The six winners, chosen from a pool of more than 230 nominees, were: B-Lab (Wayne, PA); Champlain Housing Trust (Burlington, VT); Global Detroit (Detroit, MI); P-TECH (New York, NY); and WorkPlace (Bridgeport, CT).  Girlstart (Austin, TX) was the “Allstate Youth Empowerment” winner.

The Renewal Awards are associated with The Renewal Project, a social-first website and newsroom highlighting people and organizations advancing social good and contributing to civic innovation across the country.

For more information on this year’s Renewal Awards nominees, or to cast your vote for the Tom Tom Founders Festival, visit: