Just under $1 million in grants from the London Community Foundation (LCF) is going to help local organizations tackle issues in the community.
The five recipients were chosen through a months-long deliberation process where a panel of community volunteers review proposals put forward by local agencies.
“Our recent Vital Signs report highlighted the need to work together to create change and this year’s recipients demonstrate just that,” says Dania Ajami, LCF’s Grants Committee Chair.
“Representing collaborations that are fostering connections between diverse groups in our community, each one of these initiatives shows promising impact while tackling community priorities in innovative ways.”
All of the agencies receiving funding expressed how the pandemic impacted their organizations and created a greater need for the work they do.
This year’s grants include $51,056 to Big Brothers Big Sisters of London and Area (BBBSLOA) to hire a volunteer coordinator to address the large waitlist of children in need of adult mentors.
“I am hearing from our front-line staff daily that our families are really struggling, I am hearing that over and over again,” said Janet Tufts, executive director of BBBSOLA.
A $209,000-grant will be going to the Muslim Resource Centre for Social Support and Integration to support a project to help Arabic families struggling to access supports due to cultural and language barriers.
Eugene Tremblay, manager of client services for the centre, said families they help want to be connected to the community but language is a problem.
“There is the interface between what the families are experiencing and the connections to the mainstream, but something gets lost in translation. If we can get families to advocate for themselves then the mainstream can better understand their needs and they can be more empowered,” Tremblay said.
Other agencies receiving funding are Carolinian Canada and Yotuni Social Enterprise getting $200,000 for two years for a community healing gardens project and $230,744 for Hutton House Association for Adults with Disabilities to create a full-scale accessibly urban farm in Cavendish Park in London’s Kensington Village.
“This project is giving us an opportunity to go back to the community and say let’s got to the land, let’s learn what that is, what that connection is and what that feeling is,” said Amanda Kennedy, founder, Yotuni Social Enterprise.
“It brings them to that connection, and helps them work through emotions and trauma – the mental health issues they are dealing with will then open their minds to culture.”
The John Howard Society of London and District will also be getting $300,000 over two years to address post-incarceration homelessness by providing emergency hotel stays and resources to support reintegration.
“We found with COVID there was a lot of jails that released people earlier and shelters were also taking less people in, so there was a lot of individuals when they were released that did not have places to go,” said Juli McGrenere, manager and social worker at John Howard Society.
“We were able to house 21 of 27 individuals. We had 84 referrals to the program but we were not able to connect everyone, so we are grateful to the LCF to continue this program and help more individuals.”
The $990,800 for local organizations is in addition to the just over $4 million the LCF’s estimates it has and will give in social impact loans for affordable housing projects and social entries throughout 2021.
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