Norwalk, Connecticut, April 26, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- (Norwalk, CT) – More than a year after the Coronavirus pandemic began, Fairfield County’s Community Foundation continues to support nonprofits providing relief to those most impacted. In April 2021, the Community Foundation deployed its fifth round of COVID-19 grants, providing an additional $710,500 to 66 area nonprofits through the Fairfield County COVID-19 Resiliency Fund. This round of funding supported food security, mental and physical health, and childcare needs of vulnerable populations in the region.
Fairfield County’s Community Foundation launched the Fairfield County COVID-19 Resiliency Fund on March 18, 2020, just days after the first state shutdowns, in an effort to help minimize the social and economic consequences of the global pandemic and mitigate the widening of disparities in education, employment, housing, and health. To date, the Fund has received approximately $2.75 million in donations and distributed over $2.6 million in grant funding to more than 200 local nonprofit organizations. A full list of Resiliency Fund grantees awarded to date with brief descriptions of funding purposes can be found here: https://fccfoundation.org/ways-to-give/covid19resiliencyfund/resiliency-fund-nonprofits-receiving-funds/
With this latest round of grant funding, the Community Foundation also released new findings from its COVID-19 Resiliency Fund Grant Analysis, which details the ways in which the Resiliency Fund grants have been deployed by its nonprofit partners. The analysis, based on survey responses of 95% of the 154 local nonprofits that received grants in the first four grant rounds provides a detailed view into how organizations were impacted; where and how funds were allocated; critical community needs, populations reached; and anticipated ongoing challenges. The full report can be found at https://fccfoundation.org/ways-to-give/covid19resiliencyfund/covid-19-resiliency-fund-grant-analysis/.
Key highlights of the survey analysis include:
– Top challenges due to the pandemic identified by grantees included financial sustainability, maintaining workplace safety, reaching clients while adhering to social distancing, and maintaining service quality
– Top critical needs facing our community included accessing food & basic needs, direct financial assistance & income replacement, mental health & social isolation, and childcare
This most recent round of grants from the Fund supported 66 organizations, including:
All Our Kin, Alliance for Community Empowerment, American Red Cross, Association of Religious Communities, Boys & Girls Club of Ridgefield, Burroughs Community Center, Cardinal Shehan Center, Caroline House, Inc., Catholic Academy of Bridgeport, Catholic Charities of Fairfield County, Center for Family Justice, Inc, Central Connecticut Coast YMCA, Charter Oak Communities, Child and Family Guidance Center, Child Guidance Center of Mid-Fairfield County, Children’s Day School, Circle of Care for Families with Cancer, Community Centers, Inc., Connecticut Institute For Communities, Inc, Danbury Farmers’ Market Community Collaborative, Danbury Hospital, Domestic Violence Crisis Center, Domus Kids Inc, Exchange Club Parenting Skills Center, FaithActs for Education, Family Centers, Inc, Filling in the Blanks, Inc, Food Rescue US, Foundation for Excellence in Bridgeport Public Schools, Friends of Newtown Community Center, GBAPP-Greater Bridgeport Area Prevention Program, Green Village Initiative, Inc, Hillside Food Outreach, Inc, Homes for the Brave, Horizons at New Canaan Country School, Housatonic Community College Foundation, Jewish Senior Services, LifeBridge Community Services, Make the Road New York, McGivney Community Center, Mental Health Services at Bridgeport Hospital, Mercy Learning Center of Bridgeport, Inc, Monitor My Health, Inc, National Coalition of 100 Black Women New Haven Metropolitan Chapter, New Reach, Inc, Norwalk Community, College Foundation, Norwalk Hospital, Park City Initiative Corp, Person-to-Person, REACH Western CT, Saint Vincent’s Medical Center, SilverSource, Inc., Stamford Public Education Foundation, Inc, The Adam J. Lewis Preschool, Inc., The Council of Churches of Greater Bridgeport, The Polished Pearls Foundation, The Rowan Center, Tiny Miracles Foundation, Triangle Community Center, Under One Roof, Inc., United Way of Western Connecticut, WCSU Foundation Inc., Western CT Association for Human Rights (WeCAHR), Women’s Center of Greater Danbury, Women’s Mentoring Network, Inc., YWCA Greenwich.
“We remain humbled by and thankful for our region’s frontline nonprofit organizations and the support from our community of donors, partners, and friends. Our community still has a long way to go to recover from the long-term implications from this pandemic, but we honor all of our neighbors who have and who will continue to help meet the needs of so many people in the community we call home,” said Juanita James, President and CEO of Fairfield County’s Community Foundation.
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