News

Especially during these challenging times, we want to highlight accomplishments of our local youth, virtual gatherings, and grant opportunities. In this e-news issue: Youth Council Year-End Celebration & Senior Send-Off, Virtual Community Conversation (9/15/20), Washtenaw County's 2020 Young Citizens of the Year, and AAACF Grantmaking Opportunities for Summer & Fall.

We are writing to share an update about AAACF’s grant programs. Since the start of the pandemic, grantmaking Committees and staff have been working together closely to provide responsive funding to emergent needs on an ongoing basis. This summer and fall we will have a number of grant programs and funding opportunities available that focus on continued community relief and the start of community recovery. Please read through the program descriptions below carefully because each program has a different request and decision making process generated by grantmaking Committees and staff that are in alignment with the availability of funding and priority areas.

Although this is the last of the weekly updates instituted during the pandemic, AAACF will continue to share important news throughout the summer and beyond. We will also continue to update our dedicated COVID-19 response webpage.

Although their rites of passage and other school activities have been impacted by the pandemic, young people are showing their resilience and creativity as they adjust to a new reality and continue working toward their goals. We are encouraged by a future generation of Washtenaw County leaders. We share as illustration two existing programs that continue to evolve and demonstrate the potential of our young people.

In 2018, AAACF began increasing its focus on older adults through the Glacier Hills Legacy Fund, building on decades of work through the Bach Fund and others. Washtenaw County values the wisdom, experiences, and contributions that older adults bring to our community. We began sharing a sobering call to action: the number of local seniors in poverty will likely double by 2040. Our community must be prepared for (and better yet, reverse) this long-term trend.

As another month begins, AAACF will maintain the weekly electronic updates we began in April. We’ll continue to share pandemic response news and information, along with updates from activities that occur annually around this time.

We recognize that this report is being released during an incredibly challenging time and that many people and organizations in Washtenaw County are facing dire economic hardships. AAACF has been sharing news of granting more than $1 million in response to the pandemic (our dedicated COVID-19 page continuously updates grantee listings, with forthcoming updates on up to an additional $500,000 in nonprofit loans) to provide a source of hope to all in our community. In this same spirit of hope—and in the comfort many of us now find in familiar traditions and activities, we share our 2019 Annual Report.

This week, we recognize key components of “community” in the Community Foundation. Although we have adapted in many ways to this crisis, we have also maintained important fundamentals such as working with hundreds of community volunteers comprising all our committees.

In this week’s update, we focus on action through recent grants for communities most impacted by this pandemic, according to data both quantitative and qualitative. Building on our previously shared collaborative, community-driven and research-based approach, AAACF has deployed more than $1 million in grants to date.

In this week’s update, we examine the nexus between institutions and individuals. Engagement with both organizations and people informs every aspect of our work, and here we highlight three examples.