In March 2020, the Community Foundation created the Neighbors for Neighbors Fund in response to the coronavirus epidemic.
As the COVID-19 crisis heightened inequities in our communities and made life even more difficult for already-vulnerable populations, over 150 grants totaling $1,472,322 from the Neighbors for Neighbors Fund helped people access the most basic human rights: food, housing, healthcare and education.
Below are some of our incredible nonprofit partners who have been addressing food insecurity, housing, healthcare, shelter, childcare and other supports to ensure the stability and well-being of our region’s residents.
Immigration Advocacy and Support Center (IASC) assists immigrants from all countries by providing low cost, high quality immigration-related legal services. IASC received a NFN Fund grant to help cover the fees associated with the various steps towards citizenship. IASC Board Member Kathy Parker reported that not only were they able to assist 23 individuals but this grant has proven that removing the financial barriers along the path to citizenship is a key strategy in their work.
Faced with a significant increase in residents feeling the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Salvation Army in Willimantic has been inundated with requests for assistance. As a result, it is using its NFN Fund grant to hire a case worker to provide support for those in need of food, hygiene items, help with rent and utilities, and referrals. With the moratorium on evictions being lifted and enhanced unemployment benefits ending, The Salvation Army’s new Corps Officer Capt. Carmen Colon anticipates that the need for this assistance will only continue to grow.
With 54% of Norwich residents living below or near the poverty guidelines, Norwich Human Services (NHS) has long seen inequity and lack of opportunity at work. The COVID-19 pandemic just magnified the need for flexible funds that allow NHS to meet people where they are, to access all existing resources, and to then fill in the gaps with housing, transportation, food and other necessities. NHS Director, Lee-Ann Gomes says, “We serve multitudes of diverse people with a compassionate, holistic view. Yes, we need to meet those tangible basic needs but we also care deeply about an individual’s or family’s overall well-being as they move toward financial recovery.”
As the community action agency for Windham and Tolland Counties, Access believes that communities and organizations that work together can create positive changes that enable people to meet their basic needs. The pandemic has brought the issue of food insecurity to the forefront and highlighted the longer term implications and improvements needed to support the food delivery system. Access Senior Director Kathleen Krider observed that, “As a direct result of the Neighbors for Neighbors Fund grant, we are better able to work with a wide range of partners to locate and serve COVID-19 impacted individuals, families and communities. We are building greater capacity to receive food, track it through proper inventory and distribute to partners in the region so they can get it to the people who need it.”
We reached out to experts – locally and nationally – to better understand the wisest and most strategic way to direct the funds coming to towns through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to transform our communities into a thriving region. The guidance was unequivocally clear. Invest in:
- Early childhood care and education;
- Mental health and wellness;
- Affordable and safe housing.
These three intertwined policy and strategic investments would turn around our communities in measurable ways.
We called upon all our municipal leaders and superintendents to invest “30% Plus” of the ARPA funds into these three areas. We worked closely with our Councils of Governments who endorsed our call to action. And, along with municipalities, nonprofits and community partners, we advocated to encourage legislation that supported these investments.
Released in January 2021, Essential Equity: Women, COVID-19 and Rebuilding CT documents the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on women and girls.
This report examines how women and girls – particularly women and girls of color – have experienced these inequities across the areas of physical and mental health, economic security, child care, housing, food security, and safety. It helps to set the stage for continued discussion and planning to come up with equitable solutions, particularly as Connecticut looks to emerge from the impact of the pandemic.
Women and girls’ funds from Foundations across the state recognize the power and impact of data to decision-making at all levels. Essential Equity is funded collaboratively by the Aurora Women and Girls Foundation, Fairfield County’s Community Foundation’s Fund for Women & Girls, Community Fund for Women and Girls of the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, the Northwest Connecticut Community Foundation in honor of their Women and Girls Fund, and the Women & Girls Funds of the Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut.
CONTACT US
Call us at 860-442-3572 or email us.
Call us at 860-442-3572 or email us.
