COVID-19: OUR COMMUNITY’S
OPPORTUNITY FOR AN EQUITABLE RECOVERY
In Grand Rapids Community Foundation’s nearly 100-year legacy of responding to the most pressing issues in Kent County, we have learned that out of every crisis comes opportunity. Opportunity to lean further into your values and tap into resilience you never knew you had. Opportunity to innovate and reimagine. Opportunity to chart new paths and build new partnerships. As West Michigan recovers from the COVID-19 crisis and works to right the wrongs of generations of systemic racism so many opportunities await our community.
As we work to better understand the long-term impact of this crisis, we will remain in a posture of listening, learning and collaboration with organizations and networks seeking to advance equity through their recovery efforts. We know for sure that our recovery efforts will prioritize 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 COVID-19 pandemic.
When it became apparent in early March that West Michigan would need to brace for COVID-19’s emergence in our community, our team began preparing for the unknown. Amid so much uncertainty, a few things anchored us. Early on, we knew our response to COVID-19 would be multifaceted, so collaboration with our many community partners would be essential. We knew this pandemic’s impact would be long term and that we’d need to prepare for an extended recovery. And, while we didn’t know the details of our response, we knew that it would be rooted in equity. That’s why our response had to be co-created with those most impacted and directed toward communities navigating generations of disparities that would only be intensified by the pandemic.
GROWING OUR CAPACITY TO STRENGTHEN OUR IMPACT
LESSONS FROM COLLABORATION Early in March, we began collaborating with area foundations, nonprofits, business leaders and local governments to assess the immediate, near and long-term impacts of this crisis. “We shared information, resources and networks to ensure a comprehensive approach,” said Diana Sieger, Community Foundation president. “The group has expanded and furthered each of our organizations’ individual actions. I’m proud of the collaboration in our community and the commitment to using our resources for good.” As a result of these conversations, one of our first steps was a grant to Heart of West Michigan United Way’s Kent County Coronavirus Response Fund. This fund had a tremendous impact in supporting nonprofits serving vulnerable populations to meet immediate needs, such as housing and food. Our nonprofit and community partners have led in innovative ways, and we have invested our trust, resources and partnership in them. They helped us identify and respond to gaps. For example, many relief efforts aren’t available to people who are undocumented. Language and literacy are barriers to critical health and safety information. Our partners confirmed the need to increase access to mental health and emotional support services during Michigan’s Stay Home, Stay Safe order. They reinforced the critical role of anchor institutions, who have built trust capital in communities of color, amid a pandemic. Together, we saw how many historically under-resourced entrepreneurs of color lacked access to capital and other relief opportunities. Our nonprofit and community partners quickly mobilized to create critical and timely solutions. Our role was to walk alongside, offering financial assets, operational support, flexibility on existing grants and other resources.
PARTNERS in community | 4
“I am very proud of the Community Foundation’s swift response to incredibly challenging circumstances that arose in very short order,” said Michael Rosloniec, immediate past chair of the Community Foundation Board of Trustees. “The staff was able to act with such speed and focus to get funds to the most marginalized in our community because they have been deliberate in researching those organizations best positioned to help. They have built outstanding relationships with amazing partner organizations throughout Kent County.”
WORKING TOWARD AN EQUITABLE RECOVERY We simply cannot ignore the reality that COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted communities of color. This reality drives us deeper into our commitment to pursue equity for everyone who calls West Michigan home. The heart of our recovery work is to address the deep and historic racial, social and economic inequities that exist in our community and are intensified in times of crisis. A.R.L.
L.N.P.
We knew early on that we’d need resources beyond what our endowed Fund for Community Good could provide to mobilize dollars quickly. So, the Kent County COVID-19 Recovery Fund was established at the Community Foundation to respond to the near and long-term impact the COVID-19 pandemic will have on the most marginalized, especially communities of color. This fund will be a vehicle for the Community Foundation and our donor partners to pool resources to collectively support the recovery of nonprofits and small businesses serving those disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our donor partners have already shown their support to kick start the fund. The Kent County COVID-19 Recovery Fund is non-endowed to ensure dollars will be used to rapidly respond to the evolving crisis and long-term recovery plans. Our community’s recovery from COVID-19 has just begun. While we know it will take time, we’re in it for the long haul. As a community foundation, we were built for times such as this. We are fortunate to walk alongside our donor, nonprofit and community partners on this journey and look forward to the opportunities that will emerge from this crisis. The saying “Never waste a crisis” holds true as we embark on a new chapter in our community’s storied history. This is an opportunity for West Michigan to overcome the pain and loss and claim victory through an equitable recovery and a new future that creates pathways for us all to thrive.
To learn more about the Kent County COVID-19 Recovery Fund, a fund of Grand Rapids Community Foundation, and to join our grfoundation.org/COVID19. long-term recovery efforts, visit grfoundation.org/COVID19 See PARTNERS in Progress on page 6 for details on new grant partnerships related to COVID-19.
