Together Toward Recovery and Renewal

Since COVID-19 emerged in our community, we’ve seen how the pandemic magnifies issues that have long existed in our region. The heart of Grand Rapids Community Foundation’s work has been and will continue to be addressing equitable education opportunities, health care access, housing, workforce development, environmental justice and cultural opportunities — and the racial disparities that undergird them.

As we journey toward recovery, we don’t want to return to what was. Our community’s deep racial, social and economic injustices have existed for far too long. That’s why we’re working with our community and donor partners to reimagine a renewed West Michigan, one more deeply committed to building and sustaining an inclusive economy and thriving community.

We have listened, learned and collaborated with partners and community members who bear the brunt of COVID-19. “Our initial focus was to work with our philanthropic partners to address immediate basic needs and reduce barriers for people to access supports until governmental resources became available. As the mechanisms to address basic needs fell into place, we turned our attention to the broader nonprofit sector,” said Kate Luckert Schmid, our vice president of program.

ADVANCING EQUITY THROUGH LISTENING AND LEARNING

The Community Foundation asked our partners, extended networks, local leaders, residents and community organizers about how they were experiencing the pandemic. We learned a lot:

• The pandemic has exacerbated historic racial inequities.

• We need translation and interpretation services so everyone can access COVID-19 information and resources—especially in Spanish, Swahili, Burmese, Nepali, Vietnamese, Arabic and American Sign Language.

• People who are undocumented are not eligible for most, if any, federal relief programs and are typically without healthcare. Even when they qualify for services, few pursue those benefits. They fear continued immigration enforcement, lack familiarity with institutions and face language barriers. This population accounts for at least 13,000 people in Kent County

• Entrepreneurs and business owners of color face many barriers to accessing financial relief funds.

We responded by prioritizing an equitable allocation of resources to pursue racial, social and economic justice. Our partners led us to invest in initiatives led by or reaching communities of color; organizations with limited access to financial support through traditional philanthropy or loan opportunities; and those most impacted by the pandemic.

BUILDING CAPACITY BY CENTERING COLLABORATION

Our grant partnerships have focused primarily on building the capacity of anchor organizations and collaborative community initiatives, so people have enough resources to face the long road to recovery and renewal.

This approach created pathways for us to support community led initiatives like La Lucha Fund. Led by LatinxGR, Movimento Cosecha and the Grand Rapids Area Mutual Aid Network, this fund provided emergency financial resources directly to undocumented and mixed status families in Kent County. The Community Foundation came alongside as fiscal sponsor for La Lucha, which raised more than $761,000 to assist more than 5,100 individuals in Kent County.

Our focus led to new partnerships with organizations like Black Impact Collaborative. This consortium of organizations, businesses, leaders and networks is rooted in Black communities. It identifies and illuminates needs of Black people in the Grand Rapids region.

We’ve had opportunities to support organizations working collaboratively and sharing resources to address educational and economic disparities. For example, a group of grassroots community organizations is providing in-person, academic support for K-12 students and families struggling to navigate virtual learning. This collective response of Baxter Community Center, Boys and Girls Clubs of Grand Rapids Youth Commonwealth, Bridge Street Ministries, Grandville Avenue Arts and Humanities, New City Kids, The Other Way Ministries and YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids shows the power of partnership and pooling resources to meet immediate needs.

We have renewed partnerships with organizations like Urban Core Collective. Their consortium has a long history of service and trust in Black and Latinx communities. We trust their approach to reimagining their systems. We see how they build community and center community voice in making decisions.

Our partners are working in new ways to address how the pandemic disparately impacts people of color and women in the workforce. This led to shifts in our existing grant partnership with Start Garden to provide immediate support to entrepreneurs of color and women. It also led to grant partnerships with Rende Progress Capital, West Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, West Michigan Center for Arts and Technology and Women’s Resource Center. All work at grassroots and systems levels to help workers sustain and reimagine their career and entrepreneurial pathways during COVID-19 and beyond.

DONOR PARTNERS INVESTING IN RENEWAL

Our nonprofit partners’ frontline staff led community recovery efforts with courage, ingenuity and tenacity. Our Community Foundation staff provided expertise, operational support and networks. But we could not have helped meet so many community needs without our endowments and Fund for Community Good. We’re so grateful for donor partners—individuals, families and organizations that invested in our community’s future decades ago.

“COVID-19 reminded us how quickly things can change amid crisis—and that we can make great impact by allocating our resources,” says Marilyn Zack, our vice president of development. “We will keep growing our unrestricted resources through our Fund for Community Good, so we can quickly respond to future problems.”

Donor partners also helped us rapidly amass nearly $365,000 for our COVID-19 Recovery Fund. This non-endowed fund helped us pool resources and quickly dispatch dollars for crisis response and long-term recovery.

Our Donor Advised fund holders continue to play critical roles as we work toward recovery and reimagining our community’s future. In 2020, our DAFs increased the amount of grant dollars distributed to nonprofits by 23 percent.

A FUTURE REIMAGINED

We press on toward recovery and renewal, without knowing what the future holds. “Our philanthropic response will remain fluid as we adapt to consequences we can’t even imagine yet. What will not waver is our commitment to ensuring the current response and long-term recovery is equitable and just. It is critical that those most affected by the pandemic are engaged in identifying the problem and co-creation of strategies to shift social conditions that continue to perpetuate inequity,” says Kate.