By Brian Hallenbeck
Day Staff Writer

Feb 08, 2025 3:00 PM

New London — The Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut announced it has awarded the first three grants from its recently endowed Fund for Racial Justice.

The Neighbor Fund in Willimantic will receive a grant of $100,000 to provide immigrants in the Windham area with legal assistance and other types of support, while $10,000 grants were awarded to New Haven-based Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services and the Immigration and Advocacy Support Center in New London.

All three of the organizations assist immigrants and their families in eastern Connecticut.

“These inaugural grants reflect our commitment to creating a more welcoming community, where every individual — regardless of their background — can thrive,” Maryam Elahi, the community foundation’s president and chief executive officer, said in a statement. “We believe that empowering organizations on the frontlines of this work is critical to advancing justice and building a future where all are treated with dignity and respect.”

“Those supported by these organizations have demonstrated that they are enriching our community by contributing in many ways to our society," Elahi said.

She said the awards to organizations that help immigrants are not directly tied to the Trump administration’s recent orders regarding deportations or crippling cuts in federal funding. On Wednesday, for example, some 50 people attended a candlelight vigil at the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme to support Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services, which has lost $4 million in funding, forcing it to lay off staff.

Elahi said the community foundation launched the Fund for Racial Justice and a Brighter Futures Fund for children two years ago in a bid to address the needs of groups that were found to be the worst off in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The foundation planned to begin distributing grants from the funds when they reached the $1 million threshold.

Both funds reached the threshold in January, Elahi said.

The foundation expects to make the first distributions from the Brighter Futures Fund by the end of the first quarter, she said.

“The Fund for Racial Justice is an endowed fund, which means it will make grants in perpetuity, and is committed to addressing systemic inequities and promoting racial justice in our communities,” the community foundation said. “Through its Fund for Racial Justice, the Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut is committed to advancing racial equity, supporting organizing and advocacy efforts, and providing resources to organizations and movements led by people of color in our region.”

Donations to the fund came from “strategic minded donors who want to protect vulnerable individuals in our community,” the foundation said.

To learn more about the Fund for Racial Justice or how to set up a named fund to benefit eastern Connecticut, contact the community foundation’s development team at development@cfect.org or call (860) 442-3572.

b.hallenbeck@theday.com