Boston Foundation COVID-19 Response Fund grantmaking tops $1.7 million

Boston – The Boston Foundation today announced the fourth round of grants from the COVID-19 Response Fund, bringing grant making to over $1.7 million to date for the Greater Boston nonprofits at the forefront of the region’s COVID-19 assistance efforts. This week, 18 area nonprofits were chosen to receive $25,000 each in general operating support, bringing to 69 the number of organizations supported by the Fund. 

Fundraising for the Fund continued to be strong over the past week, bringing donations to the Fund over $6 million since the Fund launched on March 13^th. 

“We are privileged to be able to continue our support for Greater Boston nonprofits serving undocumented immigrants, communities of color, and other groups in need during this challenging time,” said Orlando Watkins, Vice President for Programs at the Boston Foundation. “The COVID-19 data make troublingly clear the health and economic inequities endemic in our communities. We all must continue to invest in organizations that are stepping in and playing critical roles supporting those in our communities whose needs are going unmet or ignored.”

Round four grantees from the COVID-19 Response Fund include: Asian American Civic Association, Inc., Boston Senior Home Care, Brazilian Women's Group, Citizens for Juvenile Justice, DotHouse Health, For Kids Only Afterschool (FKO), Granada House, Inc., Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center, Hope House, Inc., Lynn Community Health Center, Middlesex Human Service Agency, Inc. (MHSA), Networking Organization for Vietnamese Americans, Opportunity Communities, LLC, Somali Development Center, South Asian Workers’ Center (SAWC), The Salvation Army Massachusetts Division, Walnut Street Center, and Youth And Family Enrichment Services.

The focus of the Fund continues to be on organizations led by and serving communities of color, immigrants and other groups that data demonstrate are most vulnerable to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their health and well-being. For more information on the Fund, and to see a list of grantees to date, visit https://tbf.org/Covid19Fund.

Update on Donations

The COVID-19 Response Fund continues to grow with the support of hundreds of donors, growing to more than $6 million in donations.

Major donors to the Fund include the Nike Foundation, Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation, BJ’s Charitable Foundation, Wells Fargo, Comcast, Plymouth Rock Foundation, Tufts Health Plan Foundation, Cove Hill Partners, Intercontinental Exchange, IR+M Charitable Fund, Target, The DentaQuest Partnership for Oral Health Advancement, Citizens Charitable Foundation, the People’s United Community Foundation and TripAdvisor Foundation. In addition, more than 70 donor-advised fundholders at the Boston Foundation and hundreds of other donors have given to the Fund by check, credit card, or through donor-advised funds to provide millions of dollars in additional support.

The fund has also received significant support from family and private foundations, including the Ruby W. and Lavon P. Linn Foundation and many others without whom this continued source of general operating support for vitally important grantees would not be possible.

Round 4 Grantees List:

Each grantee receives a $25,000, one-time general operating support grant from the COVID-19 Response Fund. Note: A link to a running list of all grantees from the COVID-19 Response Fund can be found at tbf.org/covid19fund.

Asian American Civic Association (Boston), Inc.: to provide culturally sensitive services remotely to the immigrant community in Greater Boston. Services include homelessness prevention services, assistance with SNAP, fuel assistance, immigration counseling, assistance with EAEDC, TANF, and SSI, and translation services.

Boston Senior Home Care (Boston): to support increased case management support and services for older adults, people with disabilities, and caregivers.  Services include food and emergency supplies delivery, daily wellness check-ins with case managers, medication refills, and weekly friendly calls for those experiencing increased stress and anxiety.

Brazilian Women's Group (Boston): to provide support to undocumented immigrants, many of whom are left out of federal relief programs. Support includes cash to pay utilities, rent, mortgages, and car loans, and medication and health care access.

Citizens for Juvenile Justice (Boston): to support youth and young adults in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Services include social distancing for justice-involved youth, reducing the number of young people held in secure facilities, and transition planning for youth moving from secure settings back into their communities.  The nonprofit also provides protections for youth in confinement in DYS and in adult correctional facilities regarding health, mental health, education, family, and preventing isolation.

DotHouse Health (Dorchester): to support patients with new health and policy changes, education on and assistance with applying for income supports (WIC, SNAP, unemployment), health insurance, housing, legal assistance, food security, and short-term basic needs assistance

For Kids Only Afterschool (FKO) (Salem): to support 1,200 youth (5-14 years of age) in Chelsea, Everett, Peabody, Revere and Winthrop during school closures. Social workers and educators are conducting wellness check-ins, offering online social-emotional/mental health support, sharing community-specific emergency resource guides, facilitating parent support groups, and providing emergency child care.

Granada House, Inc. (Allston): to provide direct care support to their residents, adults with substance use history, many with compromised immune systems. Support will help care for residents with mild to moderate COVID symptoms and increased health and safety measures to protect those who are not currently infected.

Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center (Dorchester): to support a comprehensive system of care that is responsive to community health care needs.  Support includes:  increased cleaning services and sanitization to protect patients; food assistance; increased patient check-ins to seniors, parents with small children and behavioral health patients; and home deliveries of medications

Hope House, Inc. (Boston): to support Hope House, the oldest and largest residential treatment program for males with a Substance Use Disorder, as they continue to accept new patients and provide increased health and safety measures for patients

Lynn Community Health Center (Lynn): to support Lynn Community Health Center, the primary source of medical and behavioral healthcare in Lynn, in the continuation and expansion of services, including mental health, prenatal, substance use care; telemedicine appointments; mobile food bank; medical care for the homeless population; and COVID-19 treatment.

Middlesex Human Service Agency, Inc. (MHSA) (Waltham): to support over 1,000 clients daily throughout Greater Boston who are struggling with homelessness, food insecurity and addiction through their family shelters, individual shelters, and food assistance programming.

Networking Organization for Vietnamese Americans (Dorchester): to support families and individuals who do not qualify for unemployment. Support includes; rent and food assistance; translation services to access unemployment and loans/grants for business owners; school kits for students, especially for students with autism.

Opportunity Communities, LLC (Boston): to support resident services in affordable housing located in Boston, Chelsea and Revere. Services include rental assistance, meal and grocery delivery for seniors, a hotline for relief assistance, and health and safety precautions.

Somali Development Center (Roxbury): to provide accessible services to Somalis and African communities in Boston, regardless of their status. Services include access to food and medicine; assistance with unemployment enrollment; daily wellness checks; and access to mental health support

South Asian Workers’ Center (SAWC) (Weymouth): to support structure for low-income, working-class immigrant communities from South Asia and beyond. Emergency support includes culturally appropriate food, cleaning supplies; diapers; rent and utility assistance; filing for unemployment, and accessing social services and mental health resources.

The Salvation Army - Massachusetts Division (Canton): to support the distribution of disaster food boxes, each of these boxes provides 35 meals of shelf-stable food, which provides families with larger meal resources and limits the need for daily or regular contact. 

Walnut Street Center (Medford): to provide residential and telehealth programming to adults with intellectual/ developmental disabilities, autism, and ABI. 

Youth and Family Enrichment Services (YOFES) (Hyde Park): to provide financial support and translated resources to Haitian immigrant families hit the hardest by COVID-19.