SARAH ROSE is the director of engagement for the Southcoast Community Foundation, which recently won a 2021 APEX Award from the One SouthCoast Chamber of Commerce. The community foundation is a New Bedford-based nonprofit funder that has provided financial assistance to various local organizations.
How has the foundation assisted the community’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic? The community foundation established the SouthCoast Emergency Response Fund in March 2020 to swiftly distribute aid to the most vulnerable communities and regional nonprofits experiencing the detrimental impact of COVID-19. Private individuals, institutions and donor-advised funds responded swiftly. And state dollars sustained our efforts. To date, we have raised more than $12.1 million and granted more than $9 million.
What areas of the community are still struggling to recover from the pandemic and how will the foundation respond? We found that people who have recently immigrated to the United States typically have limited access to traditional resources, and therefore they were disproportionately affected by the pandemic. So, we have and still are putting a huge focus on those communities. In fact, we are currently in the middle of collecting applications and will be granting very soon $2.6 million for food security from the CARES [Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security] Act Community Development Block Grant. These dollars will support individuals and households … who are experiencing food insecurities due to COVID-19 by significantly assisting vulnerable and underserved populations who are living below 80% of the applicable AMI [area median income] and households with no, or very limited, access to sources of economic relief.
In addition to the pandemic, in what other areas did the foundation support the community over the last 12 months? The community foundation strives to be an anti-racist organization and, in 2021, established the Leadership Equity Fund to address racial disparities and work toward a more diverse, equitable and inclusive society. It supports and serves two purposes: nonprofit organizations working to end racism and run by leaders who identify as Black, Indigenous and people of color, and the professional development and advancement of employees of nonprofit organizations who identify as BIPOC.
What new initiatives, if any, is the foundation working on to help the community?We are very excited to be partnering with Mayflower Wind through their newly created Mayflower Fund, which will make a significant commitment to local workforce and economic development. Over the next 10 years, the Mayflower Fund will receive a total of $27 million toward inclusive, equitable and diverse employment, training and supply chain opportunities related to the offshore wind industry in the southeastern Massachusetts region. Also, we are deepening our commitment to education success by making early education and child care a significant focus for the organization.
