Yawkey Foundation Announces $4 Million Commitment to COVID-19 Response

July 8th, 2020

DEDHAM, July 8, 2020

The Trustees of the Yawkey Foundation today announced $4 million in grant funding to more than 60 Massachusetts nonprofit organizations responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. The grants, which have been paid since the beginning in March, are focused on providing equitable access to critical human services and health care to the most vulnerable individuals and families impacted by the pandemic.

“Our Trustees took great care to ensure that we invested this $4 million in effective, trusted organizations, inspired leaders, and heroic front-line teams who are delivering critical support, resources, and hope to the community,” said Maureen H. Bleday, CEO of Yawkey Foundation. “We know that Tom and Jean Yawkey would have felt passionate about responding to the many challenges facing nonprofits who are not only struggling to deliver on their core missions, but doing so much more to keep those they serve safe, healthy, and treated with dignity and respect as our community works toward eventual recovery and healing.”

As part of this effort, Yawkey Foundation made grants to Boston Health Care for the Homeless, Boston Medical Center, Brockton Neighborhood Health Center, Duffy Health Center, East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, Greater Lawrence Family Health Center and several other organizations providing critical health care access for their communities. The Foundation made grants to Community Servings, Cor Unum, Fall River Mobile Food Market, Food for Free, Greater Boston Food Bank, Lovin’ Spoonfuls, Merrimack Valley Food Bank, and Project Bread, among many other impactful food assistance programs in Eastern Massachusetts. Grants were provided to organizations providing shelter and housing assistance, including Bridge Over Troubled Water, Father Bill’s & Mainspring, Lazarus House, My Brother’s Keeper, Pine Street Inn, Rosie’s Place and several others. The Foundation also reached out to provide support to numerous organizations such as Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association, Chelsea Collaborative, La Comunidad, UTEC and several Boys and Girls Clubs in Southeastern Massachusetts who have been playing a critical support role in their communities for a broad range of services during the COVID-19 crisis.

In addition to program and operating support, the Yawkey Foundation awarded a $1 million charitable grant to Brockton Hospital to support the organization’s mission of providing high-quality and accessible healthcare to individuals in Brockton and the surrounding areas, with particular focus on economic mobility workforce opportunities at the Brockton Hospital School of Nursing during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. In recognition of this support, the Brockton Hospital School of Nursing Building will be re-named the Yawkey
Center.

“Yawkey Foundation Trustees reflected upon the ways in which COVID-19 revealed and exacerbated the deeply entrenched structural inequities that have plagued so many of our most vulnerable communities, and we approached this grantmaking deliberately and strategically,” said Reverend Dr. Ray Hammond, Trustee of the Yawkey Foundation. “We believe that these grants are solid investments in supporting nonprofits that are dedicated to partnering with individuals, families and communities in overcoming those inequities.”

Among the organizations receiving grants from the Yawkey Foundation COVID-19 response initiative are the following Massachusetts nonprofits:

Health Care Organizations

  • Boston Children’s Hospital (Martha Elliot Health Center, and pediatric programs at health centers in Quincy,
  • Brockton, Chelsea, Fall River and New Bedford)
  • Boston Health Care for the Homeless
  • Boston Medical Center
  • Brockton Hospital
  • Brockton Neighborhood Health Center
  • Community Health Center of Cape Cod
  • David’s House
  • Dimock Health Center
  • Duffy Health Center
  • East Boston Neighborhood Health Center
  • Franciscan Hospital for Children
  • Greater Lawrence Family Health Center
  • Health Care Without Walls
  • Massachusetts General Hospital (Chelsea and Revere Health Care Centers)
  • The Boston Home

Organizations Providing Food Access

  • American Red Cross of Massachusetts
  • Catholic Charities (Brockton, Lowell, Somerville, Lynn, Boston)
  • Cape Cod Council of Churches-Faith Family Kitchen
  • Charity Guild
  • Community Servings
  • Cor Unum
  • Food Bank of Western Massachusetts
  • Food for Free Committee
  • Greater Boston Food Bank
  • Fall River Mobile Food Market (GBFB)
  • Lovin’ Spoonfuls
  • Massachusetts Military Support Fund-Food4Vets
  • Merrimack Valley Food Bank
  • My Brother’s Table
  • Project Bread
  • The Family Pantry of Cape Cod
  • Women’s Lunch Place

Organizations Providing Housing and Shelter

  • Bridge Over Troubled Water
  • Caritas Communities
  • Casa Myrna Vasquez
  • Family Aid Boston
  • Father Bill’s & Mainspring
  • Housing Assistance Corporation
  • Housing Families
  • Lazarus House
  • Lucy’s Hearth
  • Mission of Deeds
  • My Brother’s Keeper
  • New England Center & Home for Veterans
  • Pine Street Inn
  • Project Place
  • Rosie’s Place
  • St. Francis House
  • St. Mary’s Center for Women and Children

Organizations Providing Multiple Assistance Services to Youth and Families

  • Boys & Girls Club of Fall River
  • Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence
  • Boys & Girls Club of Metro South-Brockton Club
  • Boys & Girls Club of Metro South-Taunton Club
  • Boys & Girls Club of Greater New Bedford-New Bedford Club
  • Boys & Girls Club of Greater New Bedford-Wareham Club
  • Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association
  • Chelsea Collaborative
  • Emmanuel Gospel Center
  • House of Possibilities
  • Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción
  • Interfaith Social Services
  • La Comunidad
  • People Acting in Community Endeavors (PACE)
  • Progreso Latino
  • Ron Burton Training Village
  • UTEC

About the Yawkey Foundation

Yawkey Foundation is dedicated to perpetuating the philanthropic legacy of Tom and Jean Yawkey, whose eight decades of quiet generosity supported individuals and families in the communities that were closest to their hearts – Massachusetts and Georgetown County, South Carolina. Having awarded more than $500 million to-date in charitable grants to organizations focused on Health Care, Education, Human Services, Youth and Amateur Athletics, Arts and Culture, and Conservation and Wildlife, Yawkey Foundation is committed to preserving and sustaining the charitable values of the Yawkeys by investing in impactful nonprofits providing resources, opportunity, and dignity to the vulnerable and underserved. For more information, please visit www.yawkeyfoundation.org

For more information, please contact:
yawkey@yawkey.org
Follow: @YawkeyFdns