Community Vitality Grant Recipients Announced
Community Vitality Grant Recipients Announced!
LCF announces almost $1 million in high-impact grants to five projects that tackle critical needs in our community
Five initiatives that are addressing London’s most pressing issues received almost $1 million in grants from London Community Foundation’s Community Vitality Grant program. Funded by LCF’s Community Fund, this program supports high-impact, innovative, and collaborative initiatives that tackle issues identified in the Foundation’s Vital Signs report.
Community Vitality Grant recipients are chosen through a months-long deliberation process in which a panel of community volunteers review project proposals put forward by local agencies. Successful projects must represent true partnerships, demonstrate commitment to collaboration, leverage new or existing funding resources and tackle a need identified in LCF’s Vital Signs report. This year the Foundation received a total of 30 requests.
“The process is always challenging as there are so many worthy organizations doing great work in our community,” says LCF’s Grants Committee Chair, Dania Ajami. “Over the past year-and-a-half the pandemic exacerbated a number of already urgent social issues and the response to this year’s intake process demonstrated that there is a significant demand for support.”
This year, $990,800 will be granted through the Community Vitality Grant program. However, this is only a fraction of the Foundation’s overall impact. In addition, in 2021 LCF is projecting to grant over $4 million in total and currently has over $5 million in new investments in social impact loans which provide financing to affordable housing projects and social enterprises.
Donors choose to support LCF’s unrestricted Community Fund because they trust LCFs expertise in knowing where the funds will have the greatest impact. This allows the Foundation to be agile in responding to emerging needs in the community.
Spanning a wide range of issues, this year’s grants tackle environmental issues by engaging Indigenous youth, food security and skills training for adults with disabilities, housing and basic supports for vulnerable populations, support for newcomers and their differently-abled children, as well as pairing mentors with children facing adversities
“Our recent Vital Signs report highlighted the need to work together to create change and this year’s recipients demonstrate just that,” says Mrs. Ajami. “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.”
This year’s recipients are:
Big Brothers Big Sisters of London and Area
Carolinian Canada & Yotuni Social Enterprise
Hutton House Association for Adults with Disabilities
John Howard Society of London and District
Muslim Resource Centre for Social Support and Integration