Children, Artists Helped By COVID-19 Community Fund Grants

Press release from The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven:

May 5, 2021

Tutoring, financial aid for creatives, food for families, and access to vaccinations along the Shoreline for the elderly and people with impaired mobility were among the critical services supported by the latest round of grants from the Greater New Haven COVID-19 Community Fund. The Fund distributed $381,000 to 23 organizations, bringing the total distributed by the fund since its inception to $4.4 million.

The Fund was established in March 2020 by The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven in partnership with United Way of Greater New Haven to respond to COVID-19 and its related impacts on the health and wellbeing of local residents.

The continuation of education services, from early childhood to grade school and beyond, was the work of several of the local organizations supported in the most recent round. The pandemic has disrupted learning for thousands of students when schools went remote. In New Haven, one out of three students were chronically absent and 2,500 missed at least one day a week, according to a December 2020 report from the New Haven Board of Education.

The Boys and Girls Club Learning Hub, Higher Heights Virtual Academy and Junta for Progressive Action’s Neighborhood Place were among several programs with learning, tutoring and mentoring services for children and youth that were supported by the Fund.

A grant to the Arts Council of Greater New Haven supported the Greater New Haven Creative Sector Relief Fund, which distributes financial assistance to low-income individual creatives and small-budget arts institutions whose incomes vanished when venues closed during quarantine.

CT Hospice in Branford created accessible free vaccine clinics, distributing more than 1,000 vaccines to a primarily elderly population. It collaborated with the East Haven Health District to help increase vaccination rates among East Haven residents, and met people with mobility impairments in their cars.

Other grants to nonprofits supported the purchase of personal protective equipment (PPE) for nonprofit staff and volunteers, food and other basic needs, assistance with rent and utility bills and access to vaccines.

“Nonprofit organizations across all sectors in Greater New Haven have stepped up in extraordinary ways to serve our residents throughout the pandemic. The work they are doing inspires us. We will come through this together as a stronger community,” says William W. Ginsberg, the President & CEO of The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven.

"Nonprofit organizations continue to provide much-needed services in our community. I am so appreciative of their dedication and creativity as they work to help our community recover and rebuild," shared Jennifer Heath, President and CEO of United Way of Greater New Haven.

A complete list of Greater New Haven COVID-19 Community Fund grant recipients to date and ways to donate to the Fund are at www.cfgnh.org/covid19fund.

This press release was produced by The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven. The views expressed here are the author's own.