The Weinberg Foundation is committed to supporting current grantees that are providing vital services within their communities, while facing severe operational challenges as a result of this pandemic. As in all of the Foundation’s priority regions, the Foundation is dedicated to meeting the basic needs of people experiencing poverty. To date the Foundation’s COVID-19 response includes the following actions:
- Strengthening the nonprofit sector overall by releasing over $10M in previously restricted endowments with Hawai‘i’s nonprofit organizations
- Accelerating $475,000 in payments to support community health centers in continuing to provide necessary services
- Approving $2,350,000 in COVID-19 response and community grants to Hawai‘i nonprofit organizations between April and June
In addition to Hawai‘i’s annual grantmaking of $12 million, the Foundation’s Trustees have committed an additional $1M to Hawai‘i this year in response to the COVID-19 crisis. Hawai‘i grants have focused on several key priorities:
- Housing, including rental assistance for those at risk of homelessness, and services for the unsheltered in our community
- Emergency food access and strengthening longer-term community food resilience
- Addressing family violence and sex trafficking and protecting youth at additional risk of child abuse and exploitation
- Access to health care services and mental health services, especially for our kupuna (elders), homebound people with disabilities, and others most at risk
- Addressing children’s inability to access their education because of school closures and a deepening digital divide and their inability to access the school meals they depend on
Click here to see a list of the Foundation’s COVID-19 emergency grants.
