LACF Executive Director Rachel Kizielewicz

By KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post
kirsten@ladailypost.com

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its long-term impacts on individuals and communities, the Los Alamos Community Foundation (LAFC) has partnered with several local organizations to create two nonprofit emergency response funds.

LACF and its partners raised more than $60,000 for these funds, and awarded grants of up to $1,500 each to 37 non-profit organizations in Los Alamos and Rio Arriba County, LACF Executive Director Rachel Kizielewicz said, adding that individual donors also contributed to the grants.

The first grant cycle was held in mid-April and the second in late May, she said.

The local funders that partnered with the LACF include:

• Con Alma Health Foundation;
• Delle Foundation;
• LANL Foundation;
• N3B;
• Triad National Security LLC; and
• United Way of Northern New Mexico.

“All of these funders came together to make grants to nonprofits that would help mitigate the impacts of COVID-19,” Kizielewicz said.

Organizations applied to receive grants and a selection committee chose recipients.

“We were able to fund most of the requests we received,” she said.

Kizielewicz added that the grant money went toward immediate needs such as food distribution to the most vulnerable populations. Additionally, organizations have used the grant money to increase services such as counseling for mental health, drug abuse and domestic issues. Other organizations that may not be on the front lines but that are important to the fabric of the community received financial help, too.

Several recipients spoke about how the grants helped them during this unprecedented time.

Self Help, Inc:

“Self Help has been working to provide emergency aid to those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and is so immensely grateful for Los Alamos Community Foundation’s (and all of the funders that came together to make the grant possible) support,” Self Help Executive Director Maura Taylor said. “We want to make sure no one gets evicted or goes hungry after losing their job because of the pandemic! The $1,500 received from LACF’s first round of funding will be used across our service area—including Los Alamos, Rio Arriba, Taos, and northern Santa Fe counties. The $1,500 received from the second round will go to our work in Los Alamos County specifically, particularly in partnership with All Together Los Alamos. They’ll be helping us connect to people who are struggling and are providing an awesome volunteer base for grocery deliveries and other needs. The funds will help in emergencies with things like groceries, mental healthcare, vital prescriptions and utility bills. We’re especially worried that the pandemic will affect our ability to undertake our Salvation Army Bell-Ringing fundraiser this year (our primary source of funds to help Los Alamos County residents), so this support is really important to us. Los Alamos Community Foundation is an awesome resource for this community.”

The Los Alamos Arts Council:

“Los Alamos Arts Council is honored to be selected to be a recipient of the Los Alamos Community Foundation Grant (and the other funders),” Executive Director Chris Monteith said. “Since its inception, the Community Foundation has been a great supporter of many groups. This grant is another symbol of their generosity and commitment to the organizations in Los Alamos, and beyond! Los Alamos Arts Council hopes to continue to provide our fantastic programming, to the best of our abilities, during this time. We are working to create unique events for the community that respects social distancing.”

The Family YMCA:

“We at The Family YMCA, and the Española YMCA Teen Center are profoundly grateful for the grants Los Alamos Community Foundation (and their partners) made to us during the Covid-19 crisis,” said YMCA Development, Marketing and Communications Manager Diana Martinezd. “Time will tell the larger impact these shutdowns will have on all of our communities’ organizations, and the long-term repercussions, but we unite in hope that all will be well.”

“Across the USA, current estimates are that 25 percent of YMCAs will not likely make it through this shutdown,” she added. “The Board of Directors at The Family YMCA and staff have made solid financial reserve decisions in the past that are helping us avoid that same outcome. While our revenue is drastically down right now and potentially for many months ahead, with difficult furloughs and other challenging expense reductions, we are optimistic that we will weather this storm. LACF’s grants have provided the Y with some breathing room and with hope that as a community we will make it through these difficult times.”

Martinez said the YMCA in Los Alamos plans to reopen June 8 and the Española Teen Center staff will soon release their reopening details.

“We know there will be a lot of healing together, once we are able to get the kids together,” she said.

Kizielewicz said the grant process was a success, which she credits to the collaboration between different organizations and individuals.

“This was an opportunity for all of us to step up … we couldn’t be happier with the collaborative response from every funder we reached out to … It really was a collaborative effort to come together and help our community’s nonprofits in any way we could,” she said.

If there is one thing that this pandemic has revealed it is how important it is to unite and work together, Kizielewicz said.

“What this time is underscoring for us … is the importance of working together and learning together,” she said. “We may be able to get through it alone, but we will get through it better together.”

LACF was established in 2016 and Kizielewicz said this is the first time the foundation has awarded competitive grants. LACF and its funding partners expedited the grantmaking timeline in order to get grants out to nonprofits as quickly as possible in response to funding shortfalls caused by the pandemic. She added that LACF intends to make as many grants available as possible going forward, which will most typically be provided through the foundation’s endowments.

Kizielewicz said work also is underway at the foundation to offer a nonprofit training program. The program will begin in September and run through May 2021. During the training, Kizielewicz said the hope is to meet the myriad of needs that nonprofits have.

LACF is continuing to recruit Community Builder donors to support the foundation’s operations. Additionally, the Enterprise Bank & Trust Community Challenge continues. LACF raised $50,000 during its fiscal year (ending June 30), thanks to the generosity of local community members, which will be matched dollar for dollar by Enterprise Bank.

Starting July 1, the hope is to raise another $50,000 that the bank will again match. Kizielewicz said the money will be used to create an endowment that will allow the foundation to meet the community’s most pressing needs in perpetuity.

For more information about these programs and LACF, call 505.661.4420 or email info@losalamosCF.org