ANN ARBOR, Mich. – United Way of Washtenaw County has awarded $192,545 to 13 nonprofit organizations and groups around Washtenaw County from its COVID-19 Community Relief Fund.
The fifth and final round of funding brings the total grants investments from UWWC up to $1,050,000. Since April, it has given grant investments ranging from $10,000 to $20,000 to 64 organizations and agencies in Washtenaw County.
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This round of giving by UWWC included support to agencies in need of direct emergency financial assistance and those working toward virtual programming.
Notable grants given include Synod Community Services to support PPE purchases for staff and to Ann Arbor Spanish Seventh-Day Adventist Church to support housing and food needs within the community.
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“One of the things that became apparent to me during the pandemic is that we can, as an agency, go further, go deeper and go faster in community and that the institutionalized ways we had historically done things were not always the best or optimal for the community,” said Pam Smith, president and CEO of UWWC.
“As part of our on-going equity work moving forward I want to look at how the pandemic forced us to change and what did we learn while making those changes. We have so many new networks and we are deeper in the community than ever before so we will be intentional in moving forward to help our community thrive.”
According to UWWC, it has continued prioritizing grants to services located in 48197/98 zip codes and rural areas in order to benefit communities of color, low-income individuals and to help nonprofits with rising staffing demands.
In May, the 48197/98 zip codes had a high rate of COVID-19 inflections and were considered a prioritized area by the Washtenaw County Health Department.
For a full list of organizations that have received funding by United Way of Washtenaw County, visit uwwashtenaw.org/covid-19-response-and-impact.