Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com • November 9, 2020 • GIVING GUIDE • Hartford Business Journal 5 Respond. Recover. Reimagine. Rebuild. W e can all agree that 2020 has been a year like no other. We're living through a global pandemic and fighting for social justice, while also navigating homeschooling children and finding ways to stay connected to friends and family as we practice social distancing. While each of us has been affected by COVID-19, the pandemic underscores the health and economic disparities of lower-wage earners and people of color. People in our region are facing challenging situations — limited childcare and youth programs, financial instability due to furloughs and layoffs, and food insecurity. While these are not new issues, more people are affected today as result of COVID-19. The tough work needed to help people recover is the very work our United Way was built for. We bring the right people and resources together to ensure that children and youth succeed academically, people get good jobs and are healthy, and basic needs are met. This has never been more important than now. No one person or single organization can address the big challenges we are up against. It takes all of us, collectively combining our resources and talents. When you give to United Way, you support a network of community partners and volunteers who work together in an integrated way to address the immediate and long-term needs of local individuals and families. United Way has always been the organization you can turn to when times are tough and that is as true today as it was when we began. For us, getting "back to normal" or learning to adapt to a "new normal" is not enough. We need to reimagine a better normal that results in equity and opportunity for every person in every community. Now, more than ever, we need your support. Join us in building a better normal. Paula S. Gilberto President and CEO United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut From Our Founding Sponsors t Sharpening Our Vision COVID-19 sharpened our vision in 2020. What began as a public health crisis has quickly expanded into an economic, educational and social crisis. Record numbers of our region's residents are seeking help from nonprofit organizations, even as nonprofits' revenues are declining. Like many organizations, the Hartford Foundation quickly pivoted this spring and launched the COVID-19 Response Fund. Thanks to hundreds of generous individual and corporate donors, we have awarded more than $9 million to nonprofits working to meet basic human needs throughout the region. Additional grant dollars remain available to nonprofits to help cover the cost of re-opening. Looking at the effects of COVID-19 through the lens of race, it has become undeniably clear that the health and financial ravages of the pandemic disproportionately impact Black and Latinx residents. At the same time, people across America have taken to the streets to demand racial justice in the wake of the senseless murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor. We are bearing witness to a second pandemic: systemic racism. Through our 2020 grantmaking, we have sought to ease some of the symptoms of these "dual pandemics." A few significant examples: • The Foundation and the Travelers Championship announced a three-year, $400,000 police training initiative, helping officers in Greater Hartford build bridges with communities of color. • We lifted up minority- and women-owned businesses through our support of the Small Business Emergency Assistance Grant Program. • We partnered with the City of Hartford and Dalio Philanthropies to establish free, high speed internet for all city residents. These "dual pandemics" have reinforced the urgent call to dismantle racist structures built over decades and rectify the disinvestment in many of our communities. It is not only the right thing to do; it will also help us repair the social damage caused by COVID-19, get our economy back on track and safeguard us against future crises. If 2020 has helped to sharpen our vision, 2021 holds the promise of a more just society. We cannot do this work alone. Please join our journey. Jay Williams President Hartford Foundation for Public Giving

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