White Center Now: The blog about White Center

Four White Center organizations are getting a share of a new fund. Here are the details, via a county news release:

Public Health—Seattle & King County has assisted the Seattle Foundation and United Way of King County to identify areas of need for over $10 million in grants to community organizations working with vulnerable workers and families impacted by the coronavirus crisis.

More than $10.1 million in grants will support vulnerable families and workers during COVID-19 crisis, through cross-sector partnership hosted by Seattle Foundation.

A new fund is bringing needed support to vulnerable workers and families in the Puget Sound region who were affected first and hardest by the coronavirus crisis. Public Health—Seattle & King County is assisting Seattle Foundation and United Way of King County to identify where the need is greatest and where funds can have the biggest impact.

The COVID-19 Response Fund – hosted and administered by Seattle Foundation – has made over $10 million in grants to 128 community-based organizations, Seattle Foundation announced yesterday. Public Health’s Pandemic Community Advisory Group, which consists of more than 40 local leaders and experts, helped identify grantees. The Advisory Group, Seattle Foundation, United Way of King County, and a diverse set of Fund partners tapped into deep community knowledge to elevate nonprofits that aligned closely with the focus on emergency assistance within disproportionately impacted communities.

With the novel coronavirus, we know there are communities that are most negatively impacted — including people of color, immigrants and refugees, low-wage workers and older people — both in terms of the virus itself as well as the economic impact. With broad representation from many sectors, we were able to focus the funding where the needs are greatest and support our strong, resilient communities,” said Matías Valenzuela, director of Equity and Social Justice for Public Health and a member of Public Health’s Pandemic Community Advisory Group.

The Fund prioritized supporting low-income residents without health insurance and/or access to sick days, low-income workers in healthcare and the service industry, gig-economy workers, communities of color, people experiencing homelessness, as well as people with disabilities, greater health risks, limited English proficiency, and others.

The initial group of grantees includes Asian Counseling and Referral Services, Byrd Barr Place, Casa Latina, Chief Seattle Club, Eastside Refugee & Immigrant Coalition, Seattle Indian Health Board, White Center CDA, and many others. The full list of grantees can be found at www.seattlefoundation.org/COVIDGrants.*

The COVID-19 Response Fund expects to make multiple rounds of grants as the pandemic unfolds. The Fund is supported by a broad coalition of 3,000+ online donors alongside more than 45 partners from philanthropy, business, and government, such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the City of Seattle, Connie and Steve Ballmer, King County, Macklemore, Microsoft, Pivotal Ventures, and Seattle Seahawks. Individuals and organizations can donate and find additional information about the COVID-19 Response Fund via www.seattlefoundation.org/covid19.