The Kresge Foundation announced today a third round of COVID-related grantmaking commitments – totaling nearly $2.4 million – to support national and place-based nonprofit organizations that are providing vital services and supports to communities hit hardest by the pandemic. Since April, Kresge has granted an estimated $9.2 million to equip national and local nonprofit and government organizations with the resources required to meet the challenges of this unprecedented moment.

This suite of new grants, an estimated $1.6 million in total, provides Kresge funding to the following nonprofit organizations:

• Foundation for Louisiana, New Orleans – A $120,000 grant will support the Louisiana Fund for COVID-19 Relief, which aims to lessen the negative impacts of COVID-19 in the state through targeted supports that address emergent community needs including lost wages, childcare expenses, medical expenses, adequate medical care and protections for people who are incarcerated. The fund is managed by the Foundation for Louisiana; the grant is funded jointly by the American Cities, Detroit and Health Programs and the Opportunity Fund.
• Citizen Detroit, Detroit – A $75,000 joint grant from the Detroit Program and the Opportunity Fund to develop and execute a civic engagement strategy in Detroit in response to the COVID-19 crisis.
• The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, Detroit – A $30,000 grant from the Detroit Program to support the Everybody VS COVID-19 digital unity festival as well as to elevate the importance of filling out the 2020 Census and to provide greater access to City of Detroit COVID-19 crisis resources.
• Eastern Market Corp., Detroit – A $100,000 grant from the Detroit Program to support renovations and improvements to facilities for immediate and longer-term food security challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Association of Chamber of Commerce Foundation, Alexandria, Va. – A $360,000 grant from the Education Program to build, elevate and support local chambers of commerce to advance Urban Higher Education Ecosystems as key economic recovery drivers in the wake of COVID-19.
• The Graduate! Network, Philadelphia – A $180,000 grant from the Education Program to support efforts to re-enroll and graduate the 36 million “comebacker” students, who have some college credit but no degree, and who will increasingly seek additional education and training in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• UNITE-LA, Los Angeles – A $180,000 grant from the Education Program that enables UNITE-LA to continue convening and partnering with Los Angeles’ cradle-to-career institutions, as the community responds to COVID-19.

• DAISA Enterprises, South Hadley, Mass. – A $550,000 grant from the Health Program to support field-building strategies for Equitable Food Oriented Development, a community-driven model for food systems reform that is especially needed in the COVID era.

• Progress Michigan Education, Lansing, Mich. (fiscal sponsor) – A $25,000 grant from the Opportunity Fund to build the capacity of Rising Voices of Asian American Families, which seeks to increase the civic participation of Asian American women and families in Southeast Michigan as well as to support the adaption of the organization’s cultural organizing strategies and digital engagement amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Tides Center, San Francisco (fiscal sponsor) – A $25,000 grant from the Opportunity Fund to bolster efforts of Detroit Action, which seeks to conduct civic engagement and voter education of the housing insecure and low-wage workers of color in Southeastern Michigan while also providing immediate aid for these communities who have been impacted by COVID-19.

In keeping with an earlier commitment to offer current Kresge grantees greater flexibility and resources, the foundation is also providing supplemental financial support in new grant amendments – totaling nearly $780,000 –  to help organizations meet the monumental challenges presented by the pandemic:

• AS220, Providence, R.I. – This $80,0000 amendment from the Arts & Culture Program will enable AS220 to continue its efforts to support staff, operations, and project artists, along with providing a twelve-month extension during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• PolicyLink, Oakland, Calif. – This $100,000 financial amendment from the Arts & Culture Program will allow for the retention of its Arts, Culture, and Equitable Development team and continue an artist-in-residence project with New Orleans spoken word artist, Quess.
• Michigan College Access Network, Lansing, Mich. (fiscal sponsor) – This $100,000 grant amendment from the Education Program enables the Detroit College Access Network to expand its partnership with GetSchooled to provide additional college advising support for current high school students whose pathways to college have been disrupted by COVID-19.
• Anthropocene Alliance, Micanopy, Fla. – A financial amendment in the amount of $15,000, provided by the Environment Program, to implement Recovery Gardens in 11 communities of color to support COVID- 19 response.
• Environmental Community Action, Atlanta – A $6,500 grant amendment from the Environment Program will support purchasing of materials, supplies and videographer services to transform their environmental education and advocacy training program into an online course.
• The Greater New Orleans Foundation, New Orleans  –The Greater New Orleans Foundation will receive a financial amendment of $12,000 to its current grant in support from the Environment Program for the Water Wise Gulf South project in response to additional technology needs due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
•  The Michigan Community Health Worker Alliance, Ann Arbor, Mich. –  The Environment Program and the Health Program are providing a financial amendment of $15,500 to improve the functionality of the organization’s website to support Community Health Worker virtual trainings and to repurpose funds currently allocated for travel support. rt.
• Southeast Sustainability Directors Network, Asheville, N.C. – This $100,000 grant amendment from the Environment Program provides support for general operations, staff to manage and deploy implementation funds for capacity-building activities related to equity, sustainability and resilience and staff time to work with members to identify opportunities where previously planned activities need to pivot due to the current COVID-19 crisis.
• New Venture Fund, Washington, D.C. (fiscal sponsor) – This $250,000 grant amendment from the Health Program will support resources to support the Funders for Housing and Opportunity’s pooled grantmaking fund, Elevating What Works, which has pivoted to being a COVID-response fund.
• Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit – This financial amendment of $100,000 from the Presidential Discretion Fund at Kresge will support the final production of the iDetroit publication and its accompanying public event, which have experienced increased production costs as a result of COVID-19.

For more about Kresge’s response to the COVID pandemic and resources for grantee partners, please visit our COVID-19 Response page.