MAYOR WALSH AND STEERING COMMITTEE ANNOUNCE $780,200 IN BOSTON RESILIENCY FUND GRANTS TO 20 ORGANIZATIONS
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BOSTON - Thursday, May 28, 2020 - Mayor Martin J. Walsh and the Boston Resiliency Fund Steering Committee today announced over $780,200 in grant funding from the Boston Resiliency Fund that will support 20 organizations working to help individuals most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Continuing the Boston Resiliency Fund's commitment to equity, 60 percent of the organizations receiving funding this week are led by a person of color, and 45 percent are led by a woman.
Since the first round of fund distribution, the Fund has raised over $30.8 million from 6,000 donors. The Fund has now contributed over $19.2 million to over 230 organizations. In total, 46 percent of grantee organizations are led by a person of color and 59 percent of grantee organizations are led by a woman.
"This week, we are funding organizations that are bringing fresh, nutritious and culturally appropriate food to seniors and homebound families, expanding critical testing, supporting individuals experiencing homelessness, and so much more," said Mayor Walsh. "I am especially proud of our work to use these funds to support grassroots organizations in communities of color, that hire locally, contract locally, and support neighbors helping neighbors, including seniors, at-risk youth, and people who have experienced trauma."
"What is required to effectively address the needs of people as a result of COVID-19's impact on already vulnerable communities has, at times, felt impossible as a smaller community-based organization," said Cathy Draine, Executive Director of Neighborhood Network Center, Inc. "However, when you get the fretful calls from the older adult who is homebound due to their diabetes or the single parent who just lost their job, you know you have to find a way to keep doing the work. Further, you realize the boxes of food, the packages of supplies, etc. let people know they are not forgotten. By funding the Neighborhood Network Center, Inc and smaller organizations like ours, Mayor Walsh and the Boston Resiliency Fund is not only strengthening our collective response to COVID-19 but also demonstrating how to build an exceptional system of support in our city."
About Fresh: The funding will allow About Fresh to sustain door-to-door delivery of 'Fresh Boxes' to approximately 2,500 Boston households through the end of June, and hire staff needed to increase the number and operating hours of Fresh Air Mobile Markets in neighborhoods throughout the City.
Boston Public Market Association & Pine Street Inn: The funding will extend the partnership between Boston Public Market and Pine Street Inn for two additional weeks. Funds cover the cost of ingredients and staff time to assemble and pack around 560 meals a day for Pine Street Inn, as well as transportation, delivery and operational/administrative costs.
Breakfast IV Brothers: Breakfast IV Brothers (BIVB) will use the funding to partner with Harvard Pilgrim Health Care (HPHC), DoorDash, and Fresh Foods for meal delivery and grocery store gift cards for BIVB community members in Mattapan, Roxbury, and Dorchester. BIVB will support connectivity for multiple young men and veterans in Mattapan, Roxbury, Dorchester, who relied on libraries, employers, and community center computers and are unable to invest in their own personal computer. The organization will also provide coordinated sessions with mental health professionals of color, as well as facilitate targeted conversations related to the trauma males of color in Boston are facing both personally and culturally during the pandemic.
Caribbean Integration Community Development: Caribbean Integration Community Development (CICB) will hire part-time staff who speak Haitian Creole to work with individuals/families and assist with applications and referrals to appropriate agencies.
Catholic Charities Boston & Teen Center at St. Peter's: Catholic Charities and the Teen Center at St. Peter's will use the funding to continue the delivery of food and prepared meals to the families of over 350 youth who live in Bowdoin-Geneva and support the increased need at the agency's two Boston food pantries in Dorchester and the South End, which are now serving more than 10 times as many people as they were before the pandemic.
Circle of Hope, Inc.: Circle of Hope (COH) will use the funding to purchase essential supplies like towels, toiletries, underwear, and clothing and make emergency deliveries to homeless and domestic violence shelters. Given the COVID-19 pandemic, shelters no longer have the ability to sort used clothing donations. COH delivers to Bowdoin Geneva Teen Center, 112 Southampton Street, St. Francis House, ATASK, Woods Mullen, Boston Police Department (community resource officers), Casa Nueva Vida (Jamaica Plain, Roxbury, Dorchester), Cathedral Lunch Program, Fenway Health, Jewish Family & Children Services, Project Hope Shelters, Renewal House (domestic violence shelter), Rosie's Place, Dimock Center, and Women's Lunch Place.
Community Caring Clinic: Community Caring Clinic will use the funding to open up mental health services to first-line responders and low-income individuals with a focus on immigrant communities by adding a bilingual clinician. Community Caring Clinic will also provide grocery store gift cards for those clients in need.
Dignity Matters, Inc.: Dignity Matters, Inc. will use the funding to purchase and deliver one months of essential feminine hygiene products to 600 adult women in Boston in partnership with the YMCA of Greater Boston and the Mattapan Food Pantry. This will ensure these women do not experience the negative physical and social effects of a disruption in access to menstrual care.
Franciscan Children's: As the largest pediatric post-acute medical and pulmonary rehabilitation hospital in the Northeast, Franciscan Children's will use the funding for universal screening of patients to help decrease disruptions to critical care.
Greater Love Community Care: Greater Love Community Care will use the funding to provide box groceries for one week, financial support, and transportation as needed to support low-income families and seniors.
Health Care For All: Health Care For All (HCFA) runs a free multi-lingual consumer assistance HelpLine that provides health insurance enrollment support for those with public or private healthcare coverage, as well as those who are uninsured. Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the HelpLine's call volume has soared with thousands of newly unemployed and uninsured residents, the long-term uninsured seeking coverage for the first time in years, and those who disenrolled or did not renew their coverage and now need health care services. The funding will allow Health Care for All to hire multilingual health counselors in Spanish and Portuguese.
La Alianza Hispana: The funding will provide food and supplies for La Alianza Hispana's Latino senior clients, as well as support for transition to online telehealth services.
Neighborhood Network Center, Inc.: Neighborhood Network Center's 'Operation Safety Net' will use the funding to provide boxes of food to high-risk or immuno-compromised households, and provide two weeks of food and supplies for households where there is an active case(s) of COVID-19.
The PIM Project: With over 25 years of experience in dealing with servicing the City of Boston's at-risk youth, the PIM Project will provide food and financial assistance for youth who are having financial difficulty at this time.
Project Place: Project Place will use the funding to provide stipends to clients in the organization's stabilization program for access food, clothing, etc. and remote stabilization services through Zoom and Google Classroom.
Somali Development Center: The Somali Development Center will use funding to make 80 hot meals per day for 30 days from two local restaurants, Tawakal Halal Cafe in East Boston and Khadija Express Cafe in Roxbury, and hire eight out-of-work drivers to distribute the meals to seniors and other home-bound families.
South End Community Health Center: The funding will allow South End Community Health Center to expand access to neighborhood-based COVID-19 testing by funding new self-contained screening units and test kits. In addition, the Center will provide culturally-competent outreach and education to individuals, in conjunction with testing, to increase knowledge of disease transmission and ways to prevent spread.
The Urban Farming Institute of Boston, Inc: The Urban Farming Institute of Boston (UFI) will use the funding to teach families dealing with food insecurity, and who may be unemployed, in Mattapan, Dorchester and Roxbury, how to grow food, in order to add fresh food into their diets.
Wilahmena's Place, Inc: Wilahmena's Place will use the funding to provide essential and immediate services to Boston women and girls in the form of hygiene products, feminine products, diapers/baby formula, and grocery store gift cards.
Young Man with a Plan: Young Man with a Plan provides front line academic and social-emotional support for 110 young men, with an average of over three years tenure with the program. During this crisis, their weekly meetings were replaced by Zoom meetings. The funding will allow the organization to provide food, personal care and cleaning supplies to households in need.
The Fund is still accepting donations from individuals, organizations and philanthropic partners who wish to contribute and offer their support. All of the donations will be awarded to local organizations. Organizations are encouraged to complete a statement of interest to be considered for future grants.
As the effects of the coronavirus pandemic are quickly evolving and potentially long-lasting, the City and the Steering Committee will work closely with non-profit partners and service providers to understand how their needs will change. As a result, the priorities of the fund may change as the needs of Boston residents evolve.
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, please visit: boston.gov/resiliency-fund. For general inquiries, please emailbrf@boston.gov.
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