Year End Giving

extraordinary [ekstrəˈôrdnˌerē] adjective very unusual or remarkable

2020

It’s been an extraordinary year.

COVID-19 has challenged our community in unprecedented ways. Our neighbors strive to balance work while educating their children from home.

Many risk their lives to provide medical care, stock grocery stores, or drive a bus. Others are coping with the loss of their jobs or businesses.

Kalamazoo County has come together in remarkable ways in 2020 to offer support and deploy resources. But our community’s ongoing needs call for ongoing action. Remote learning creates even more barriers for children in poverty and threatens to perpetuate and even increase educational disparities.

The needs of those who don’t have access to stable housing or healthy food will only snowball with the coming winter. It is more critical – and more difficult – to serve our community during a pandemic.

Research shows that COVID-19 has taken a heavy and disproportionate toll on communities of color. This pandemic magnifies the disparities that Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) endure and have endured long before COVID-19. Through our Community Urgent Relief Fund and Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation Endowment Fund, KZCF is maintaining urgency as we continue to address COVID-19 and systemic racism in Kalamazoo County.

COMMUNITY URGENT RELIEF FUND

Your gift to the Community Urgent Relief Fund (CURF) will support our nonprofit partners in responding to immediate and emerging needs during a community crisis. During the first phase of deploying resources through CURF, the community provided an additional $2.4 million to local nonprofits working to meet the needs of individuals and families in Kalamazoo County. As many families continue to navigate an unconventional school year and as winter quickly approaches, we anticipate an increased need to support education, housing, food, and healthcare.

TRUTH, RACIAL HEALING & TRANSFORMATION ENDOWMENT FUND

While CURF aids in the immediate response to the pandemic, the Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT) Endowment Fund serves to address the long-standing systemic issues that affect our neighbors.

Your gift to TRHT will support a long-term comprehensive communitybased process to identify and address the effects of systemic racism.

Recently, TRHT Kalamazoo collaborated with community partners to pass the Housing Equity Ordinance in the City of Kalamazoo to ensure a fair chance for housing for every individual regardless of their race, background or identity.

Giving to the Community Urgent Relief Fund or the Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation Endowment Fund is a concrete way for you to show your love for our remarkable community.

Your gift will help build and strengthen Kalamazoo County so everyone in our community can truly love where they live.

Learn more about these funds and other ways to be part of our work by contacting our Donor Relations Team at 269.381.4416 or donorrelations@kalfound.org.

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402 East Michigan Avenue Kalamazoo, MI 49007-3888 269.381.4416 kalfound.org

@kalfound @trhtkalamazoo