Organizations Receive a Record $1.4 Million in Community Vitality Grants in 2024
Organizations Receive a Record $1.4 Million in Community Vitality Grants in 2024
London Community Foundation’s Community Vitality grant program has awarded a record $1.4 million to support the transformative work of eight organizations in London and Middlesex County.
The 2024 Community Vitality grant recipients are:
Canadian Mental Health Association Thames Valley Addiction and Mental Health Services: Francophone Ethnocultural Friendship Bench ($140,181 for 3 years)
Changing Ways: Collaborating for a Safer London ($150,000 for 2 years)
Forest City Gallery: Collaboratory Community Outreach Program ($120,775 for 3 years)
London InterCommunity Health Centre: Women of the World (WOW) – Childcare provision ($63,000 for 3 years)
London Public Library: Transitional Case Worker Program ($280,000 for 3 years)
Low-Income Family Empowerment Sole-Support Parents Information Network (LIFE*SPIN): Empowering London's Low-Income Families: A Fresh Approach to Food Security ($350,000 for 3 years)
Regional HIV/AIDS Connection: MAGICAL (Multicultural Accessible Gatherings Improving 2SLGBTQIA+ Community Affirmation in London) ($67,000 for 1 year)
Urban Roots London in partnership with Siloam United Church: Cultivating Food Security Through Urban Agriculture ($282,354 for 3 years)
Designed to respond to changing dynamics, the Community Vitality grant program provides critical support to organizations that are addressing pressing challenges and building community resilience. This year’s grant recipients are tremendous examples of this approach, offering solutions to improve food security, ensure access to community-based mental health support, reduce gender-based violence, build employment experience, support the well-being of diverse 2SLGBTQIA+ community members, and help artists thrive – all while ensuring no one is left behind.
“Community organizations in London and Middlesex are creating transformative programs to address the biggest challenges we face, and they are doing so with compassion, deep expertise, and innovation. London Community Foundation, our Grants Committee, and our Board of Directors are honoured to play a role in supporting their work.”
Lori Runciman, Director of Grants, London Community Foundation.
The annual Community Vitality grants are made possible through donations from families, individuals, and businesses to London Community Foundation’s Community Fund. It pools contributions to enable collective support for organizations that are addressing the issue areas in the Foundation’s flagship Vital Signs report: housing, racial equality, well-being (including mental health and addictions, and the arts), gender equality, food security, education, and the environment. Volunteers from the London and Middlesex region make up the Foundation’s Grants Committee, which reviews all Community Vitality applications and selects the recipients for review and approval by the London Community Foundation Board of Directors.
“We are so grateful for the generosity of the London and Middlesex community, their belief in the Community Vitality grant program, and the trust they place in our Grants Committee to select organizations focused on building a community where everyone can thrive,” said Runciman.
Since its beginning in 2011, the Community Vitality grant program has awarded more than $12.8 million to 61 organizations in London and Middlesex County.