Organizations and nonprofits across the nation were impacted by the pandemic, affecting the services they were able to provide for their communities. Organizations struggled to keep up with the demand, and many people quit their jobs in what has been coined the Great Resignation. Two years into the pandemic, groups are starting to recover, but they need assistance.
The 2022 A Community Thrives program, a $2 million initiative created by the Gannett Foundation, will award grants to groups looking to improve their communities. Gannett, the parent company of the USA TODAY Network, sponsors A Community Thrives.
Since the program’s inception in 2017, more than $17 million has been donated through crowdfunding efforts and disbursed to more than 500 organizations.
Starting Wednesday, A Community Thrives will accept applications for organizations looking to bring awareness to a project that focuses on community building with an emphasis on affecting historically underserved individuals and groups.
“The program offers not only grants but opportunities for organizations to extend their networks and deepen their donor base by creating connections with our consumers,” said Sue Madden, director of the Gannett Foundation. “In addition, participation in the A Community Thrives program can result in national and local media exposure. Year after year, we hear fantastic anecdotes from participants on how the program has accelerated development.”
2021 A Community Thrives winners:New Jersey urban farm project, refugee organization in Ohio among 2021 recipients in Gannett Foundation’s A Community Thrives
Organizations will raise money by crowdfunding, then they will be eligible for 16 project grants: three $100,000 grants, seven $50,000 grants and six $25,000 grants, according to the website for A Community Thrives.
There are also operating grants for eligible entrants with community operations in Gannett’s markets, incentive grants for groups that raise the most funds and bonus challenge grants for those who wish to compete.
Organizations can apply at https://acommunitythrives.mightycause.com/giving-events/act22/home beginning Wednesday. The fundraising phase of the program will take place from July 18 through Aug. 12, and recipients will be announced Oct. 5.
Why raise money for communities?
The stories told by journalists in the USA TODAY Network helped inspire the creation of A Community Thrives. Journalists hear amazing ideas to improve American communities.
“A Community Thrives further highlights Gannett’s mission to empower communities to thrive by not only telling their stories, but also providing support to those who need it most,” said Mike Reed, CEO of Gannett and chairman of the Gannett Foundation. “This initiative organically assists quality organizations that share our desire to improve lives, and we are proud to be implementing the program for the sixth year.”
Interfaith Neighbors received a $100,000 grant in 2021 to support the expansion of the Kula Urban Farm in New Jersey that assists the community with a homelessness prevention program and meal programs.
“Communities are important,” Paul McEvily, executive director of Interfaith Neighbors, told USA TODAY in 2021. “People who reside in that community need to understand and appreciate what makes the community thrive, and a community thrives when everyone in that community is doing well.”
Since the farm’s inception in 2014, “it has become a community gathering place for residents to come and harvest produce for use in their meal preparations, for young people to participate in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) learning, for people of all ages to participate in community workshops,” according to the organization’s donation page in 2021. Its Farm to Table Dinner Series “showcases local chefs and brings residents together in a social setting for fellowship and healthy eating.”
Interfaith Neighbors planned to “purchase an adjacent vacant parcel of land that will allow us to double our hydroponic growing operations, expand our seasonal farming beds, as well as build a 3-season pavilion structure to host our community workshops and educational program in expanded space,” the company wrote on its donation page in 2021.
Past winners include:
- Coastal Georgia Area Community Action Authority, a $100,000 grant recipient, enabled a Head Start program and provided space for organizations to serve community members.
- 864 Pride, a $50,000 grant recipient, helped support the development of Amaryllis Counseling’s Trans Peer Support Program. 864 Pride hopes to “create and sustain mental health programming that does not currently exist for LGBTQ+ folks and provide funding for LGBTQ+ folks to gain access to medical and mental health care,” according to its donation page in 2021.
- RefugeeConnect, a $25,000 grant recipient, used the funds toward an additional 50 families in the Community Navigation program, which “supports the long-term goals of refugee families living in the Greater Cincinnati area by ensuring that they are connected to the resources and services that enable them to thrive,” the organization wrote on its donation page in 2021.
Contributing: Jeanine Santucci