The COVID-19 Relief Fund was created in Spring 2020 as Detroit experienced our first wave of COVID-19 and pandemic-related impacts. The fund was created to support grassroots and community efforts to meet the evolving needs of their communities during the pandemic. The fund was distributed in two cycles throughout spring and summer. Through this fund, TPF was able to distribute $70,000 to over a dozen organizations. COVID-19 Relief Fund grantees were selected by our Community Table.
COVID-19 Relief Fund Grantees include:
- 1 Michigan for the Global Majority
- Metropolitan Detroit Diaper Bank
- Southwest Detroit Community Care Collaborative
- Cass Community United Methodist Church
- Warriors on Wheels of Metropolitan Detroit
- Enjoy Detroit
- Northend Christian Community Development, INC
- Trans Sistas of Color Project
- Health and Illness Awareness Fit for you – Raising Awareness with Students
- Brightmoor Connection
- St. Moses the Black / St. Vincent de Paul Conference Emergency Food Pantry
- Journey to Healing
- APIA VOTE-MI
- Detroit Heals Detroit
Grantee projects work to ease the impact of COVID-19 and focus on different resources, services, and communities within Detroit. For example, Detroit Heals Detroit focuses on combating mental health impacts of COVID-19 for Detroit youth by offering personalized care kits, peer-to-peer mental health check-ins, and other programming to support youth community-building, while Trans Sistas of Color Project focused their efforts on providing emergency stipends and care packages for trans women of color. Other organizations including Southwest Detroit Community Care Collaborative, Metropolitan Detroit Diaper Bank, and others distributed a variety of resources from groceries and meals, to other essentials including diapers, PPE, and utility assistance funds.
The dedicated work of these and other community-led organizations to both build and sustain grassroots infrastructure, meeting community needs over a span of years, is the reason resources from this fund have been able to reach many of the households in Detroit most vulnerable to impacts caused and exacerbated by the pandemic. Transforming Power Fund is honored to support urgent and necessary efforts grassroots organizations have been moving forward during the pandemic. For more information about upcoming events and grant opportunities, please sign up to join our email list here!