Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | July 6, 2020 | Worcester Business Journal 13 Worcester Together: COVID-19 fund grants for civil rights nonprofits The Worcester Together Fund was created to help local organizations survive the financial strain caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Grants ranging in size from $5,000 to $50,000 were given to these nonprofits who support communities of color. F I N A N C I A L P L A N N I N G F O C U S Black advocacy groups largely went to large nonprofits like Black Lives Matter, which has established a $12-million fund for organizations fighting institutional racism, according to e Seattle Times. Or money went to local organizations where killings happened. ere's now a push for more funding in Massachusetts, including from the Black Economic Council of Massachu- setts, which has challenged state business to commit up to $1 billion to reduce racial inequities over the next decade. Worcester nonprofit Legendary Leg- acies is hoping to build its budget using the momentum created by the anti-rac- ism movement, although it has yet to see a donation influx, said Co-Founder Ron Waddell. "We're looking at how we continue this going. It's been really impactful for the young men who have historically have been labeled, or even see them- selves, as a liability for the community to see themselves as assets has been transformative," said Waddell. Legendary Legacies focuses on helping men ages 17-24 become productive citizens through mentoring programs, life skills development, community outreach, case management, and family support services. While its mission is not strictly focused on the Black communi- ty, most of its clients are men of color, and it is one of a handful of Central Massachusetts nonprofits run by a Black professional. Waddell founded Legendary Legacies in 2018 and started receiving enough funding through the Worcester Commu- nity Action Council at the start of 2020 to make running the nonprofit his full- time job. e organization has a $97,000 annual budget, but Waddell would like to grow that to $210,000. About 80% of that budget is state funded and the rest comes from foun- dations, donors, and churches. Since the WCAC funding is so new and the state is looking at budget cuts in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Waddell is worried about the stability of his budget. "Because we are primarily grant fund- ed … we are unsure of what we're going to be dealing with as far as when those budget cuts come," said Waddell. WCAC "proposed to us an amount that would get us to the end of this calendar year." As a small organization, Legendary Legacies has had a difficult time breaking into other sectors to share the impor- tance of the work the nonprofit is doing, Waddell said. With the new attention around efforts helping the Black commu- nity, Waddell is hopeful. "It's being about engaging other funding streams," Waddell said. "We're in a great limbo period right now not knowing what our future will look like." Legendary Legacies did receive $10,000 from the Worcester Together Fund, run jointly by the GWCF, United Way of Central Massachusetts and the City of Worcester. Legendary is using the funds for its grocery delivery program to Black communities and the elderly. "Fortunately for us we were able to re- ceive a generous grant from the Worces- ter Together Fund," said Waddell, "We were flexible enough to adapt quickly with COVID-19 as well." Large organizations helping local ones e Worcester Together Fund was created in the wake of COVID-19 to provide grants and resources to orga- nizations to cope with this pandemic, which has disproportionately impacted communities of color. Barbara Fields, president and CEO of the GWCF, said there has been an out- pouring of support for the COVID-19 Fund. GWCF, which typically distrib- utes $110 million in grants to Central Mass. organizations annually, saw how Black communities were disportionately affected by the pandemic. "COVID-19 is exposing the health and economic racial inequities in our community," said Fields. "As a fund we have been thoughtful, listened, and try to be using the equity lens in the delivery of resources." Beyond the Worcester Together Fund, GWCF in the wake of Floyd's killing de- cided to use a portion of its community, quick turnaround grant funding specif- ically for the immediate and emerging need of civil rights action. GWCF has received 43 applications for these racial equity focused grants, providing funding of up to $2,000 each. ough GWCF has dedicated portions of its budget to racial equity, it has not seen specific donations for civil rights causes. Some donors have called looking for more information about what GWCF is doing, but no donations have labeled for this cause have come in yet. YWCA Central Massachusetts, which advocates fighting racism as part of its mission, is utilizing its resources to help other local nonprofits without its scale. ough YWCA has not received donations specific to civil rights, it partners and serves as fiscal agent to or- ganizations like Massachusetts Women of Color Coalition and Coalition for a Healthy Greater Worcester. "We are larger and have more capacity than many very small grassroots organizations," said the YWCA Executive Director Linda Cavaioli. We "lend out our resources to make sure that organizations doing the work have the resources they need if we have the opportunity to assist them with that." Nonprofit Grant purpose African Community Education, Worcester Technology and educational supplies Boys & Girls Club of Worcester Supporting young people with lots of services like virtual case management Legendary Legacies, Inc., Worcester Food delivery program Refugee & Immigrant Assistance Center, Worcester Supporting increased capactiy of clients Worcester Refugee Assistance Project Supporting immigrant families YMCA of Central Massachusetts, Worcester Emergency childcare support YWCA Central Massachusetts, Supporting women's domestic violence Worcester shelter Source: Greater Worcester Community Foundation W As part of its response to COVID-19, Legendary Legacies has started a grocery delivery program for Black communities.

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