The Omaha Community Foundation is pleased to announce the first round of Community Resilience Fund grant recipients. Five local nonprofits, serving those disproportionately affected by COVID-19, will receive funds totaling over $100,000.
Launched last month, the Community Resilience Fund focuses on providing grants in the following areas: arts and culture, housing, learning recovery, mental health, and workforce.
Applications are being accepted on a rolling basis. Funding is made possible through generous community support. Anyone can donate.
Grants Made in May 2021
LEARNING RECOVERY: Supporting enrichment programs and activities to reverse disparities that grew due to remote learning and other educational disruptions.
> Banister’s Leadership Academy: $20,000 for general operating support. Banister’s provides an array of essential wraparound services that help support students academically. Programs include after-school support, mentoring, leadership development, and mental and behavioral health services for youth. Additionally, students’ families are supported through classes around parenting, financial stability, employment, homeownership, and other resources needed for families to thrive. Banister’s also provides hot meals and snacks for students that may be impacted by food insecurity. These services have been essential to support students and their families throughout the pandemic.
MENTAL HEALTH: Meeting the increased need for services and working to improve the overall mental health system.
> International Council on Refugees and Immigrants: $50,000 for a Refugee Peer Support Specialist initiative. ICRI plans to hire, train, and certify former refugees as peer support specialists to connect refugee community members to mental health services that are culturally and linguistically appropriate. They will be working in collaboration with a mental health therapist and ICRI case workers to provide trauma-informed peer support and mental health sessions to their clients.
WORKFORCE: Helping people gain new skills or education and find employment.
> AIM Institute: $14,738.75 for their Accelerated Tech Training Program. This program is designed to address unfilled jobs in the technology sector by training and placing individuals from underrepresented communities (women, minorities, veterans, low-income) in tech careers. Program participants will also be offered ongoing career and education mentorship, as well as free access to professional development opportunities, such as technology conferences, workshops, and leadership academies.
> GROW Nebraska Women’s Business Center: $9,000 for women entrepreneurs to start and sustain their businesses. Funding from this request will go to secure B.C. Clark, a subject matter expert in focused training areas, to provide technical training and business consulting to small, women-owned businesses.
> MOMentum: $10,000 to help 15 moms secure and maintain new employment opportunities through employment consultations, assistance with resumes and applications, basic needs for first day of work, rides to work, referrals to community resources, and a connection to a community-wide Employee Resource Group.
Supporting an equitable, long-term recovery
At the Omaha Community Foundation, we are determined to help people in our community overcome the pandemic’s health, economic, and social impacts. We also have an opportunity to strengthen our connections and to solve pervasive challenges present long before COVID-19.
Be a part of our efforts for an equitable, long term recovery. Learn more about the Community Resilience Fund.