Arizona

The Community Foundation for Southern Arizona has announced that Santa Cruz County will direct $1.5 million of its American Rescue Plan of 2021 funding toward a small business and nonprofit financial asset building program. The program will award grants ranging from $25,000 to $45,000 to 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(6) organizations to help local small business employers, employees, artists, and entrepreneurs build and preserve financial wealth and mitigate the negative economic impacts of the pandemic. Recipients will have access to operating capital to expand their services or offer new training, services, classes, mentoring, and related supports that help residents of the county build economic opportunity.

California

The San Francisco Foundation has announced that its Youth Power Fund has awarded a second round of unrestricted grants totaling $870,000 to 29 youth organizing groups in Northern California. Launched in 2019 by funders that recognized the importance of youth organizing and its role in sustaining a vibrant, inclusive society, the fund invests in young people of color, particularly young Black and Indigenous leaders, who are reimagining and transforming communities and systems. In 2020, the fund issued its first round of grants, awarding $30,000 each to 25 organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area. The latest round of grants of $30,000 each includes a planned second-year extension of the same amount. To expand the impact of the Youth Power Fund, this round of grantmaking was extended to include organizations in far Northern California, Sacramento, and the Central Coast.

The Sacramento Region Community Foundation has announced that it awarded $18.2 million in grants and scholarships in 2021, boosting the total it has awarded since its inception in 1983 to more than $200 million. Charitable funds at the foundation awarded more than 2,300 philanthropic grants to nonprofits serving a range of sectors—including health, human services, education, and arts and culture—within El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, and Yolo counties. And 38 new funds were established by individuals, families, and businesses last year.

Connecticut

The Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut in New London has announced that its Women & Girls funds awarded a record $324,784 in 2021, a 44 percent increase year over year. The Northeast Area Women & Girls Fund awarded $24,485 to 11 organizations, the Norwich Area Women & Girls Fund awarded $20,000 to three nonprofits, the Southeast Area Women & Girls Fund awarded $217,300 in support of 21 organizations, and the Windham Area Women & Girls Fund awarded nearly $63,000 to 17 groups.

Illinois

The Community Foundation of Central Illinois in Peoria has announced the hiring of Carley Allensworth as its new director of communications. She previously served as a legal assistant before working in a communications position with the Peoria Park District for nearly three years.

Massachusetts

The Boston Foundation has announced that 16 community-based programs in the city of Chelsea are sharing $825,000 in grants as part of Chelsea 2021—a collaboration between the foundation’s donors and community leaders to provide effective, locally targeted funding in support of a just and equitable recovery from COVID-19 and racially based injustice. The initiative includes monthly meetings to bring together donors and foundation staff with community leaders and members, who would share their experiences across several themes, such as collaborative philanthropy; discussions of the state of the food, housing, business, and entrepreneurship ecosystems in the city of Chelsea; and a community review of the Chelsea 2021 Call for Ideas. Recipients include Chelsea Black Community, Revival International Center, CAPIC, and La Vida Scholars.

Michigan

The Kalamazoo Community Foundation has announced the appointment of three new trustees to its board. Artrella Cohn is senior director of community engagement and student investment at Communities in Schools of Kalamazoo; Kama Mitchell is founder and CEO of Rootead Enrichment Center, which works to reduce epigenetic stress and trauma and destigmatize mental health; and L. Marshall Washington is president of Kalamazoo Valley Community College. In addition, the foundation has promoted Emily Olivares and Frances Vicoso to serve as co-directors of its Truth, Racial Healing, & Transformation initiative.

New York

The Brooklyn Community Foundation has announced that 16 Youth Advisory Council members, ranging in age from 16 to 24, helped select 55 youth-serving nonprofit organizations to receive $2.5 million in grants from the foundation. Nearly three-quarters of the grantees are BIPOC-led, and the grants mark the foundation’s full transition to a participatory grantmaking approach. Recipients include America on Tech, Footsteps, Genspace NYC, and STEM from Dance.

Ohio

The Isabelle Ridgway Foundation, a supporting organization of the Columbus Foundation, has awarded three grants totaling $120,000 in support of organizations serving elderly African Americans in the community. The investments recognize the nonprofits’ efforts to improve the quality of life and systems that impact aging African Americans, the core mission of the foundation. The recipients are the Central Community House, At Home by High, and Catholic Social Services.

Pennsylvania

The Pittsburgh Foundation has announced its first Exposure Artist Fellowship awardees: director and filmmaker Chris Ivey, who will work in co-fellowship with staff of the Kelly Strayhorn Theater; visual artist Shikeith, who will work in co-fellowship with the Carnegie Museum of Art; and illustrator-filmmaker Ana Armengod, who will pursue a self-curated fellowship. Established last summer, the Exposure Artist Fellowships will provide the artists who identify as BIPOC a $50,000 grant to continue their work at the intersection of arts, social inquiry, and activism. In addition, the two arts organizations will each receive $15,000 and work with the artists to address systemic racism in the arts and culture ecosystem.

Wisconsin

The Oshkosh Area Community Foundation has announced a $50,000 grant through its Basic Needs Giving Partnership to help launch the Traveling Closet, which provides a large truck filled with clothing, bedding, winter wear, and personal care items from the Community Clothes Closet. Each month of the school year, the truck visits the Boys and Girls Club of Oshkosh to benefit local youth, allowing pre-registered students shop for items that are free of charge. The Basic Needs Giving Partnership includes support from the U.S. Venture Fund for Basic Needs, the J.J. Keller Foundation, and other community partners. Other funders of the Traveling Closet include the Theda and Tamblin Clark Smith Family Foundation and the Take 5 Fund of the Oshkosh Area Community Foundation.