Twenty-fourth round of Boston Resiliency Fund grants announced

Mayor Martin J. Walsh, along with the Boston Resiliency Fund Steering Committee, today announced $360,000 in funding to six nonprofit organizations serving the community, as part of the next round of Boston Resiliency Fund grants. Organizations who receive this funding work directly with the Boston community to increase the availability of essential needs. Of grantees awarded this round, 67 percent are led by a person of color and 45 percent are led by women. 

"Collaborating with community partners and nonprofits has been fundamental to providing supports to residents as part of our response and recovery from COVID-19," said Mayor Walsh. "I want to thank every organization who has been involved in our efforts to ensure vulnerable residents have the resources they need. When we work together, we are able to help more residents get the vital help they need."

"The Black Ministerial Alliance's receipt of this Boston Resiliency Fund Grant is, literally, an answer to prayer. With these funds, the BMA/TenPoint will help our network of churches and community organizations provide resources to the increasing number of families facing food insecurity because of the pandemic," said Reverend David Wright of Black Ministerial Alliance. "This partnership with Mayor Walsh and the City of Boston is proof of why Boston will get through this crisis successfully. We deeply appreciate working with the City to ensure all of Boston's residents have access to healthy food."

"We know that many of our businesses, non-profits, and houses of worship are still not officially open to the public, but they are still providing targeted services out of their spaces, such as food pantry, and crisis relief support," said Virginia Morrison, Executive Director of Grove Hall Neighborhood Development Corporation. "The support from the Boston Resiliency Fund allowed us to retain a local, Black-owned business to clean over 40 of these spaces. Thanks to BRF and Rise & Shine Cleaning for making it possible to stay vigilant in our fight to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in our community!"  

Since March, the Boston Resiliency Fund has raised $33,300,000 and distributed $28,700,000 to 353 local nonprofit organizations in Boston. Fifty-four percent of organizations to have received funding are led by a person of color, 56 percent are women-led and 27 percent are immigrant-serving. A map and list of every organization that has received funding from the Boston Resiliency Fund can be found here.

This round's grantees represent organizations working to expand food and testing access, hygiene products and cleaning supplies for community members and organizations, intentionally focused on supports for organizations serving communities of color in Mattapan, Roxbury and Dorchester.

Asian American Civic Association, Inc.: Asian American Civic Association will use these funds to continue serving disabled and elderly residents, as well as households that have experienced job loss due to the pandemic. AACA will support residents by providing local supermarket gift cards, transportation assistance, and support for childcare expenses for families. 

Black Ministerial Alliance of Greater Boston, Inc.: The BMA will use funds to provide supports to groups of churches and ministries. The first group are those with regular distribution days that are well-known by our community residents. The BMA will support ongoing efforts and help expand food distribution. The second group comprises smaller churches, organizations, and ministries that have smaller, intimate relationships with the local community. These groups hand-deliver necessary resources to seniors and other abled people who are housebound during the pandemic.

Catholic Charitable Bureau of Boston: Catholic Charities will use funding to support the expanded demand and continue to serve approximately 4,000 people each week at their two Boston pantries. Each household receives a bag of 25 to 30 pounds of food, and they are able to visit the pantry once per week. Catholic Charities also will support the Teen Center at St. Peter's and its community partners to provide bags of food for an additional 200 households each week.

Charlestown Mothers Association, Inc.: CMA will use this grant to create family support kits for residents in need.  Each support kit will contain items such as grocery store gift cards, health essentials, and activities to engage small children while staying safe at home. Kits will be distributed at partner sites in Charlestown including the Charlestown Boys & Girls Club, the Kennedy Center, and Harvest on the Vine.   

Grove Hall Neighborhood Development Corporation: Grove Hall NDC will work with non-profit organizations and churches in the greater Grove Hall area who need support to clean their spaces. They will contract with a local WMBE, who is OSHA- and CDC-certified, to thoroughly clean these community spaces and train existing staff to do follow up cleaning on a regular basis. 

Prince Hall Grand Lodge: Prince Hall Grand Lodge will use this grant to support increased COVID-19 testing in the Grove Hall neighborhood to two days a week to increase testing in communities of color. Prince Hall will also use the BRF grant to support their remote learning program, which supports students and their parents to ensure that they receive technical and holistic educational support as needed.