The Foundation granted over $1 million to organizations serving immigrants, refugees and communities vulnerable to hate and discrimination.
In 2019, through our Community Action Fund, Rose Community Foundation awarded over $1 million in grants to 61 nonprofits serving immigrants, refugees and communities experiencing hate and discrimination. Joined by 50 individual donors, we reaffirmed our commitment to helping make the Greater Denver region safe and welcoming for all.
“Rose Community Foundation will not sit idly by as our community is impacted by hate and discrimination,” said Lindy Eichenbaum Lent, president and CEO of Rose Community Foundation. “We are compelled by our founding values of justice and non-discrimination to deploy the tools we have at our disposal – our grantmaking dollars and voice – in service of our immigrant and refugee neighbors.”
The Community Action Fund was launched at the end of 2016 in response to emerging issues that threatened the sense of safety and security for vulnerable populations in Greater Denver. After three full years of grantmaking to nonprofits on the front lines of this critical work, the Foundation has now granted $2,339,890 through the Community Action Fund.
Rose Community Foundation is proud to support the numerous local nonprofit organizations serving and standing up for immigrants, refugees and communities experiencing hate and discrimination. We will continue to serve these communities in the future as we lean into advancing equity, justice and inclusion in the Greater Denver region under our new strategic plan.
2019 grants from Rose Community Foundation’s Community Action Fund were distributed to local nonprofits in the following areas:
Anti-Hate and Discrimination: Grants directed toward preventing or responding to hate incidents, connecting communities to reporting, education and training resources, and fostering community dialogue and healing.
Community Integration & Support: Grants directed toward providing opportunities or support for immigrant, refugee and asylum-seeking populations and welcoming/receiving communities to connect and engage through programming and services that promote community support and unity.
Events: Grants directed toward events responding to emerging community needs and aligned with Community Action goals of making Denver a safer and more welcoming place for all.
Initiatives: Grants directed toward initiatives created to serve communities vulnerable to hate and discrimination.
Legal Services: Grants directed toward supporting legal defense services for vulnerable populations that would not otherwise have legal representation in our judicial system during detention and deportation cases. The work and 2019 grant dollars outlined below not only has the purpose of creating different outcomes regarding legal immigration status but also the long-term goal that all immigrants served will be less fearful and experience less discrimination.
Go Deeper: Further grantmaking was distributed to organizations whose work aligned with both the Community Action Fund priorities and the Foundation’s five historic focus areas of Aging, Child and Family Development, Education, Health and Jewish Life.
In 2019, Rose Community Foundation prioritized making its Community Action work more open, responsive and broad in its reach. Staff from across the Foundation’s departments informed and led an open RFP grantmaking process. Perhaps most valuably, the Community Action work led to the development of relationships with new communities and new voices that will inform and guide our ongoing work.