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Mayor Walsh and Fund Steering Committee Award $3 Million in Additional Emergency Grants

12 minute read

Mayor Martin J. Walsh and the Boston Resiliency Fund Steering Committee, co-chaired by Partners HealthCare President and CEO Anne Klibanski, MD, today announced the distribution of an additional $3 million in funds to support 29 organizations that provide essential services to front-line workers, health care providers and Boston families whose wellbeing is most immediately impacted by the COVID-19 public health emergency. The Boston Resiliency Fund already distributed $5.4 million in emergency grants to eight organizations on March 25, 2020.

"We are in the midst of a crisis that we haven't seen in our lifetimes. Many people are out of work, and many are dealing with illness in themselves or their family," said Mayor Walsh. "During this stressful time, people should not have to worry about accessing food and meeting their basic needs, and organizations should not have to worry about their ability to keep serving their communities. I am incredibly proud and thankful for everyone's generosity as we come together to support one another. We are confident these contributions will expand our capacity to move things forward together, using every available tool to help our most vulnerable residents."

The three initial priorities for the Boston Resiliency Fund are: ensuring Boston's children, families and seniors have access to food; supporting first responders, front-line workers, and health care workers to promote public health, and providing technology to Boston students for remote learning.

"We know that we are entering the most challenging phase of this pandemic. Since we started planning for this last month, the Boston Resiliency Fund has awarded and continues to support the immediate needs of our community with access to healthy food, support for our health care workers, and mechanisms for meeting other needs created by this pandemic."

Anne Klibanski, MD

President and Chief Executive Officer

Mass General Brigham

Since its creation on March 16, 2020, the Boston Resiliency Fund has raised over $22 million. The Fund will continue accepting donations from individuals, organizations and philanthropic partners who wish to contribute and offer their support, and 100 percent of donations will be awarded to local organizations, with the majority of future grants to be made throughout April and May. Organizations are encouraged to complete a statement of interest to be considered for future grants.

Today, 29 organizations will receive grants to expand their capacity or adjust their service model to meet the immediate needs of Boston residents during this public health emergency, targeting $1.8 million towards access to food and other basic needs and $1.2 million towards Boston's front-line workers and health care systems. 41 percent of the organizations receiving grants today are led by a person of color and 79 percent are women-led organizations.

The grants range in size and will be awarded to the following organizations:

  • Black Economic Justice Institute has already distributed $20,000 in grocery gift cards to those in need. This grant will help continue that work.

  • Black Men's Engagement Network Foundation has helped facilitate support for hundreds of people in Dorchester through coordinating phone banking efforts. This grant will be used to help deliver food, gas cards, and gift cards to additional residents in need.

  • Boston Cares mobilizes and trains individual and corporate volunteers who strengthen communities and improve the lives of people in need. This grant will support volunteer recruitment and management for food access and distribution at Boston Public Schools meal sites.

  • Boston Immigrants COVID-19 Collaborative brings together 11 immigrant-serving organizations to provide direct emergency relief and culturally competent food to over 1,200 families. Partners include: Rian Immigrant Center (fiscal sponsor), Agencia ALPHA, Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center, Brazilian Worker Center, Centro Presente, Immigrant Family Services Institute, Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, Center for Collaborative Education (BINcA), Caribbean Youth Club, Sociedad Latina, and ICNA Relief.

  • Bridge Over Troubled Waters is expanding capacity to effectively and safely provide food, shelter, housing, physical and mental health care, and safety to individuals experiencing homelessness during the COVID-19 public health emergency.

  • Building Audacity delivers breakfasts and lunches to Boston residents each week. This grant will help provide additional groceries and meals for families in need.

  • Cape Verdean Association of Boston provides food from local restaurants, toiletries and essential needs to low-income immigrant families and seniors. This grant will help continue that work.

  • Casa Myrna provides direct support for food, medical supplies, and emergency housing for survivors of domestic violence, and members of their household. Domestic violence survivors forced to remain with abusers due to the virus are at increased risk and need additional supports.

  • Catholic Charities of Boston has two food pantries that serve 180 to 200 people daily and provide food bags for partners to distribute to clients. This grant will help provide food, emergency essential supplies and food pantry program supplies.

  • Catie's Closet provides access to basic necessities, such as toiletries and feminine products, to students and families in collaboration with Boston Public Schools' meal sites.

  • Chinese Progressive Association will work with partners to staff City meal sites and deliver food straight to the homes of families in need. Staffing efforts will be focused on residents who have been laid off because of COVID-19 and who represent the diverse languages and cultures of Boston. In addition, this grant will support the Asian Community Relief Fund, launched in partnership with the Asian Community Development Corporation, AAARW, GBLS Asian Outreach Unit and VietAID.

  • City Mission will utilize this grant to increase food security for low-income single mothers in Boston through the purchase of gift cards.

  • CommonWealth Kitchen will meet the growing need for prepared foods for seniors, low-income families, and other frontline workers by engaging member businesses to help with meal production and distribution.

  • Dominican Development Center will use this grant to provide essential needs to domestic workers and immigrant mothers in need of food and other supplies.

  • East Boston Neighborhood Health Center provides COVID-19 testing services for first responders at a drive-through clinic at Suffolk Downs in East Boston, in coordination with the City, State and EMS agencies. This grant will support the staffing and supplies needed to operate the testing site.

  • Emergency Child Care Program Relief (Boston Opportunity Agenda) will support current family child care and center-based emergency child care providers for essential workers. This grant will help close the gap between state funding and operational costs to ensure the continuity of emergency child care operations through May 4th. Partners include: 20 family child care programs, 9 YMCA programs, Whittier Street Health Center, Nurtury and Wee Care JP.

  • EMS Wellness Screening Automated Texting Tool (LivableStreets Alliance) will allow central EMS staff to connect, interact with and monitor the health of front-line EMS staff through a new mobile automated texting tool.

  • Elizabeth Stone House will provide food, medicine and hygiene products to low-income and/or homeless domestic violence survivors, who are unable to openly travel to established food pick-up sites.

  • Heading Home currently serves over 500 households through shelter and housing programs. This grant will provide food, water, baby formula and the logistics support needed to deliver to Heading Home's Boston families.

  • International Institute of New England will provide Boston refugees, unaccompanied minors, and undocumented immigrants in their care with emergency food.

  • John F. Kennedy Family Service Center will provide low-income families and seniors in Charlestown with additional needed emergency food relief.

  • Lovin' Spoonfuls rescues food from grocery stores and produce wholesalers and delivers it directly to over 60 Boston-based nonprofit partners each week. This grant will rescue approximately 120,000 lbs of food, creating more than 96,000 meals over the next month.

  • Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children is continuing to deliver services via telehealth to its clients, including teen parents, grandparents raising grandchildren, and children with behavioral health needs. This grant will support the purchase of food, diapers, formula, and medicine.

  • Off Their Plate collaborates with Boston restaurant owners to restore food industry jobs while safely preparing and delivering meals to Boston hospitals and health care facilities.

  • Smart from the Start provides home deliveries of food and supplies and are currently delivering over 300 meals per week. This grant will help provide additional home deliveries of food and emergency care packages.

  • Vietnamese American Initiative for Development (VietAID) provides meal packages and hot meal delivery to older adults and families in Dorchester. This grant will help expand the capacity to additional households in need.

  • Women's Lunch Place will provide boxed breakfast and lunch for take-out, COVID-19 educational materials, toiletries, and feminine products for women experiencing homelessness.

  • WORK Inc. operates a Family Support Center for individuals with developmental disabilities and their families. This grant will support the delivery of food, toiletries and supplies to the families at the center.

  • YMCA of Greater Boston strives to meet the needs of low-income Boston families through the activation of food sites and emergency child care centers throughout the city. This grant will support additional staffing costs, food supplies, and meal delivery.

Since its formation, the Fund has raised more than $22 million from over 2,800 individual donors, with commitments of $1 million or above from Berkshire Partners, Michelle and Bob Atchinson, Bain Capital, Bank of America, Paul and Sandy Edgerly, John & Cyndy Fish / Suffolk, Gross Family Foundation, John Hancock, Liberty Mutual, Partners HealthCare, and the Vertex Foundation. Over 70 percent of donors to the Boston Resiliency Fund have contributed under $100.

A Steering Committee was established after the Fund's formation to provide direct oversight and funding recommendations based on statement of interests received. The three-member committee includes Jack Connors, Jr., Anne Klibanski, MD, President and CEO of Partners HealthCare, and Jeffrey Leiden, MD, PhD, Executive Chairman of Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Goodwin Law serves as pro bono legal counsel to the Fund. The review committee, which reviews applications and provides recommendations to the Steering Committee, is composed of more than 25 representatives from City departments.

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 email brf@boston.gov.

To learn more about other funds serving Boston nonprofits, please visit Philanthropy Massachusetts' resource page. In addition, the COVID-19 Response Fund at The Boston Foundation and the COVID-19 Family Support Fund at the United Way are working to rapidly distribute resources to organizations and individuals in Greater Boston that are disproportionately affected by the coronavirus outbreak.

Media Contact

Rich Copp

Phone: 617-278-1031

About Partners HealthCare

Partners HealthCare is an integrated health care system, founded by Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, that offers patients a continuum of coordinated and high-quality care. In addition to its two academic medical centers, the system includes community and specialty hospitals, a health insurance plan, a physician network, community health centers, home health and long-term care services, and other health care entities. Partners is a non-profit organization that is committed to patient care, research, teaching, and service to the community. In addition, Partners is one of the nation’s leading biomedical research organizations and is a principal teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School.