United Way providing $4.65M to community organizations through overhauled funding model

A revamped community funding model will see the United Way of Elgin Middlesex provide $4.65 million in grants for 53 programs across 40 social service agencies in the two counties.

It's part of its Community Fund Program for 2022-2023 and grants were given priority to poverty reduction and prevention initiatives to the area's most marginalized populations.

Over 120 applications came from various community organizations and a team of volunteers spent over 600 hours reviewing them and making recommendations.

“We are grateful for the deep expertise and commitment of our allocations volunteers who reviewed 121 applications requesting almost $14 million in funding,” said President and CEO Kelly Ziegner in a news release. “It is clear that the need in our community is immense given funding requests outpaced grant dollars available by a ratio of 3:1.”

Some of the highlights include:

• Indigenous-led programs $426,602
• Intimate-partner violence programs $455,000
• Housing stability programs $316,410
• Basic needs and emergency support programs $805,000
• Education programs for children and youth $270,000

“The pandemic highlighted deep inequities in our community and the growing chasm between thriving and barely scraping by,” added Ziegner “Today’s investments focus on the most urgent needs people in our region are facing now.”

The grants will provide two years of funding starting April 1 with up to $300,000 in funding annually.

A second stream of one-time, smaller grants worth up to $15,000 will be announced this spring.