BOSTON
- Friday, November 27, 2020 - Mayor Martin J. Walsh, along with the Boston
Resiliency Fund Steering Committee, today announced over $1,750,000 in
funding to 17 nonprofit organizations serving the community, as part of the
next round of Boston
Resiliency Fund (BRF) grants. Of the 17 organizations awarded grants, 70
percent are led by a person of color and 76 percent are led by a
woman.
"The
Boston Resiliency Fund has served as a lifeline for our most vulnerable
residents since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. In collaboration with
our partner nonprofit organizations, we have supported programming for youth
and families, ensured public health and availability of COVID-19 testing, and
increased access to food and basic needs," said Mayor Walsh. "Thank
you to everyone who has donated to the Boston Resiliency Fund and to the
nonprofits who have been vital to our response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The
Boston Resiliency Fund shows the power of working together."
"Kelli
Bos is thankful and humbled for being awarded funding from the Boston
Resiliency Fund for our creative art and sewing program," said Kelli
Conway, founder of Kelli Bos Sewing for Success. "The Boston Resiliency
Fund will help us tremendously in providing a lifelong skill to children and
families which will help them to sustain themselves for a lifetime, passing
down their skills to generation, all while promoting positive mental health
in a safe and loving environment."
"The
Community Builders is helping keep Boston neighborhoods strong during the
pandemic," said Elizabeth Gonzalez Suarez, Vice President of Community
Life for The Community Builders. "With support from the Boston
Resiliency Fund, the TCB New Franklin Park food pantry will continue to be a
lifeline for families in need."
Since
launching in March, the Boston Resiliency Fund has raised $33.4 million from
over 6,700 individual donors. Including this most recent round of grants, the
Fund has distributed $29.4 million to over 360 local nonprofit organizations
in Boston. Overall, 56 percent of grantees are led by a person of color and
58 percent are women-led. Additionally, 29 percent of all grants have gone to
immigrant-serving organizations. A map and list of every organization that has
received funding from the Boston Resiliency Fund can be found here.
This
round's grantees represent organizations working to expand access to youth
development programming, promote public health in our neighborhoods, support
families (especially those with young children), and increase access to food
and other basic needs in Boston's neighborhoods. These grants are
intentionally focused on supporting organizations serving immigrant
communities and communities of color. The grants announced today range in
size and will be awarded to the following organizations:
Expanding access to safe youth programming
Boston
After School and Beyond: Boston Beyond will use the BRF grant to support a network of
youth development programs that have committed to serving high-need Boston
students and providing care for children who are doing remote learning so
families can work and children can be safe. In total, over 130 nonprofit
Boston programs are hosting 300+ different in-person learning and enrichment
opportunities during and after the school day reaching 6,250 students. The
network includes partners like the YMCA of Greater Boston, Boys & Girl
Clubs of Boston, Catholic Charities of Boston, East Boston Social Centers,
West End House, Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center, and many others.
"Extraordinary
collaboration is making the city a classroom for young people," said
Chris Smith, executive director of Boston After School & Beyond, which
coordinates a citywide network of after-school and summer programs.
Kelli
Bos Sewing for Success: Kelli Bos will use the BRF grant to support extra-curricular
learning and activities for students, seniors and families within the City of
Boston. They will work with the Boston Centers for Youth and Families to
teach sewing classes; students will learn how to make masks to distribute to
the community.
Transformative Culture Project:
Transformative Culture Project will use the BRF grant to expand their
Creative Classrooms to additional schools and community centers that need
support by hiring additional teaching artists and providing stipends to
students for their time participating in the program. In addition, they will
work with Outside the Box to increase community investment in these projects,
as well as expand the reach of online Community Classroom resources to
families throughout Boston.
Promote public health in our neighborhoods
Black Boston COVID-19
Coalition: The Black Boston COVID-19 Coalition will use the BRF grant
to collaborate with the City of Boston's Health and Human Services to
increase the amount and continuity of testing, outreach and community health
messaging in Boston's Black communities. They will also utilize youth and
young adult outreach workers to spread educational information and
conduct COVID-19 wellness and safety checks for seniors and other vulnerable
residents who continue to be homebound. Finally, the Black Boston COVID-19
Coalition will collaborate with the Health Commission on culturally-competent
messaging on masks, physical distancing, education about COVID-19, holiday
gatherings, and vaccines.
Building Alliance to Support Immigrant Mental Health (BASIMH): BASIMH will use the BRF
grant to retain the services of 6 different multilingual providers and 2
program coordinators to support essential workers who are experiencing
extreme stress related to COVID-19.
TeleHealth Access for Seniors:
TeleHealth Access for Seniors will use this grant to provide
TeleHealth-compatible smartphones or tablets to elderly and low-income
patients in partnership with Mattapan Community Health Center so that
patients will be able to manage their care at home through video-calls.
Trinity Boston Connects: Trinity
Boston Connects will use the BRF grant to sustain services for frontline
youth workers. In addition, they will coordinate emergency resources for high
need participants in their Trinity@McCormack program.
Supporting families, especially those with young children
Boston Cares: Boston Cares has seen a
35% increase in the need for volunteers compared to this time last year, and
BRF funding will allow them to continue to provide recruitment, management,
and tracking of volunteers to fill these needs, specifically at Boston Public
Schools.
Delta
Sigma Theta, Boston Alumnae Chapter: Delta Sigma Theta, Boston
Alumnae Chapter will use the BRF grant to ensure they can continue to meet
the academic and social-emotional needs for over 100 young girls, all of whom
are Boston Public School students or residents of the City of Boston, through
their Delta GEMS program.
English for New Bostonians:
Responding to needs raised by English as a Second Language (ESOL) students,
ENB will recruit, train and deploy an "Allies for Immigrants ESOL
Virtual Team" to work with students in virtual classrooms and small
groups. The Virtual Team will help approximately 240 ESOL students get
connected, offer Zoom troubleshooting, and help parents navigate school
communication and support their children's online learning.
Neighborhood Villages:
Neighborhood Villages will use the Boston Resiliency Fund grant to support
the Boston Children's Relief Initiative. This initiative will place
AmeriCorps members in Boston early learning centers and after-school
organizations that are caring for and educating young children during the day
while their parents work. AmeriCorps members will support the instruction of
young children and support efforts to ensure that wraparound supports, such
as nutrition and material goods, are delivered to children and families in
need.
United
South End Settlements: United South End Settlements will use the BRF grant to
continue providing fresh produce and pantry items for 200 households in the
South End and Roxbury.
Ensuring and increasing access to food and other basic needs in
our neighborhoods
STEAM Ahead: STEAM Ahead provides
free S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math)
programming to underserved groups of youth throughout Boston. STEAM
Ahead will use the BRF grant to prepare healthy grocery packs along with
educational materials and deliver them directly to their participants and
their families. They will also distribute free personal protection supplies
to city residents who are at the highest of pandemic risk.
The
Community Builders, New Franklin Park: The Boston Resiliency Fund
grant will enable The Community Builders to operate and stock the New
Franklin Park (NFP) food pantry for residents. The pantry currently
distributes food almost every week to over 400 households in its Dorchester
neighborhood.
The Food Project, in partnership with Dudley
Square Neighborhood Initiative: DSNI has addressed the need for food
access in its community by coordinating an outdoor food distribution site
throughout the pandemic, providing resources from the YMCA, Breaktime, The
Food Project and the Mayor's Office of Food Access. Together, they will use
the BRF grant to establish an indoor food hub in the community space at The
Food Project's office, with capacity to sort, pack and distribute food on a
curbside basis on West Cottage Street in Dorchester.
Transgender Emergency Fund of
Massachusetts, Inc.: The Transgender Emeregency Fund of MA will use
the BRF grant to provide ongoing support to low-income and homeless
transgender and gender non-conforming individuals living in Boston.
Urban Guild, Inc.: The Guild will use the
BRF grant to continue their work of providing holistic support for their
community, including distributing personal care supplies and providing food
access support for their community by purchasing and distributing food boxes
through local businesses.
The
Boston Resiliency Fund exists within the Boston Charitable Trust, an existing
501(c)(3) designated trust fund managed by the City of Boston's Treasury
Department. For more information on how to make a donation, or how to submit
a statement of interest form, please visit: boston.gov/resiliency-fund. For
general inquiries, please email brf@boston.gov
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