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A Message from the President and CEO |
Greetings!
A core principle of the Greater Lowell Community Foundation is diversity, equity, and inclusion. It is embedded in our mission and in everything we do. Promoting equity and inclusion for all is beneficial to everyone.
Earlier this year, along with key partners, the Foundation initiated Mosaic Lowell (see below). Mosaic Lowell is Lowell’s next cultural economy plan. It is a city-wide, community-driven planning process that is open to everyone. The pandemic has made outreach much more complicated, so we’re hopeful that all stakeholders will reach out and get involved. Lowell’s ethnic and cultural diversity is a significant strength, so please get engaged.
On another front, in furtherance of cultural equity, the Foundation has taken on specific projects. These projects, among other things, amplify and strengthen the voices of artists of color; or spark a new national conversation about American identity today led by the next generation, or support Lowell’s first and only professional chamber orchestra. These projects are executed under a fiscal sponsorship agreement that allows an entity to operate as a nonprofit for a designated period under the Foundation to achieve a charitable objective. Without such an agreement and GLCF’s commitment to cultural equity, these activities would not be possible.
On October 13th, Celebrate Giving 2021: Cultural Equity (see details below), the Foundation, along with key partners, will present these initiatives. I hope you will join us to learn more about these incredible projects and participate in this vital work.
We are all stronger together!
Be well,
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Jay Linnehan
GLCF President + CEO
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Celebrate Giving Sponsorship Opportunities
To view sponsorship opportunities for this event: PDF
To Sponsor Celebrate Giving: Link
Tickets
Register by Oct. 10
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NOMINATIONS WANTED:
GLCF Steven Joncas Community Connector Award
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The GLCF Steven Joncas Community Connector Award award recognizes an individual or organization that meets one or more of the following criteria and aligns with this year's theme: Cultural Equity in Greater Lowell:
• Helping individuals and/or their community through one or more extraordinary acts during the past year;
• Performing exemplary deeds of service to the community in the Greater Lowell;
• Making efforts to combat persistent problems that impact entire communities.
All nominations must include a 250-500 word nomination essay that details how the nominee meets the criteria listed above, and why they should be recognized at GLCF’s annual Celebrate Giving event on October 13.
NOTE: Award recipient will receive a $500 grant, funded by GLCF, to give to a Greater Lowell nonprofit of their choice.
NOMINATIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY SEPTEMBER 24.
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DEADLINE:
The deadline to apply is September 10th
at noon.
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GLCF Grant Opportunity
COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund Recovery Phase
Supporting Mental Health
in Greater Lowell
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As vaccinations increase across the country and activities begin to return to normal, experts warn that people may continue to suffer negative mental health effects as a result of the pandemic. More than half of all Americans report experiencing adverse mental health effects across the spectrum from our children, teens, adults, elders, and especially in underserved communities. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in Greater Lowell will be addressed by funding from the GLCF’s COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund.
NOTE: We encourage our nonprofit partners to think about potential collaborations and consider applying together for funding.
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Introducing Mosaic Lowell
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With lead support from the Barr Foundation, the Greater Lowell Community Foundation, in partnership with the City of Lowell, the Lowell Plan, and a wide range of organizations across the city, is leading the Mosaic Lowell, a next cultural economy plan for all of Lowell. Mosaic Lowell’s planning process and implementation will unite a broad cross-section of art practitioners and patrons, neighborhoods, businesses, and organizations from across the city, to work together to amplify and elevate the power and reach of the City’s creative and cultural offerings and those who produce them. The Mosaic Lowell will help advance Lowell as an even more exciting place to live, work, and visit for all.
For more information on the Mosaic Lowell, or to get involved, please contact Howard Amidon at howard@glcfoundation.org.
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GLCF’s Women Working Wonders (WWW) Fund awards six grants totaling more than $56,000 |
The Women Working Wonders (WWW) Fund, a permanently endowed fund of the Greater Lowell Community Foundation, has announced the recipients of $56,800 in grants. These grants will support local nonprofit programs that empower women and girls to effect positive change in the community.
“During this time of economic hardship and public health crisis, Women Working Wonders is proud to support these six organizations in their work to improve the lives of women and girls,” said Carolyn Gregoire, Women Working Wonders Fund board president. “Now more than ever, our philanthropy and attention are needed in the Greater Lowell community.”
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Concord, Mass. – On a rare bright July day, GLCF Grants Team Jennifer and Sharon, toured Gaining Ground, a nonprofit organic farm in Concord, Massachusetts, that grows vegetables and fruit with the help of several thousand community volunteers to donate to area meal programs and food pantries.
Gaining Ground’s Executive Director Jennifer Johnson and Farm Manager Anna Kelchlin showed us around the farm, and we met members of their team as we toured the three acres that are actively cultivated to grow over 50 organic vegetables and herbs in fields interspersed with perennial hedgerows.
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Lowell, Mass. – Continuing our Greater Lowell farm tour, GLCF’s Grants Team popped by Mill City Grows (MCG)’ Big Farm on a bright August day. MCG’s Executive Director Jessica Wilson showed us around the bountiful four-acre site.
The Big Farm was launched in 2014 and is leased from the City of Lowell. This thriving space is where MCG grows their larger crops and the bulk of their products. We marveled at the new wash and pack station used for cleaning and processing harvested produce for their Mobile Market. We learned a new farm term/concept known as fertigation, a fertilizer application method in which dissolved fertilizers are delivered to the crop through the irrigation system used at the Big Farm. The farm crew and volunteers were busy harvesting watermelons, tomatoes, lettuce, and more.
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Attention Greater Lowell Nonprofits:
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Hidden Battles
5th Annual Cornhole Tournament & Family Day
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- Saturday, September 25, 2021
- 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM
- UTEC
We open our third season with music that evoke the cosmos. Mandolinist Joseph Brent will be the soloist of Anna Clyne’s “Three Sisters.” We will also open the concert with the winning composition of our first call for scores: “Hypernovae,” by Micah Roberts. And finally, the very well known and monumental Symphony No. 41 by W. A. Mozart
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Give to the Future: Make a Planned Gift |
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Everyone has a legacy. What’s yours? |
Your legacy can be shaped to support the causes you care about now and provide financial and estate savings.
To discuss creating a personalized estate plan that supports issues important to you, please call Jay or Howard at the Greater Lowell Community Foundation at 978-970-1600.
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GLCF COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund |
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For the latest info on the GLCF COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund, see the Fund webpage.
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Open Table: Mobile Meals and Groceries Program
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GLCF provided grant support for Open Table's Mobile Meals and Groceries Program which provides healthy, prepared meals to supplement the groceries available at their pantries. These meals are prepared in their kitchen, frozen, and distributed at mobile pantries in Concord as well as to other community partners in the Greater Lowell area.
From Open Table:
“We currently serve 600 Mobile Meals each week and with the recently completed kitchen expansion we will be serving 1000 meals by the end of the month. As an example, we deliver 75 meals per week to the Westford Food Pantry and, once a month, deliver 150 fresh meals to all seniors through the COA. Mobile Meals are available at each of our pantries. More community partners are
interested in working with us and our Healthy Helpings program for seniors was well-received. We found that offering "health-based" meals helped reduce the stigma associated with accepting help with food insecurity.”
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SURVEY: Lowell Community Food Assessment
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Help Mill City Grows learn more about Food Access in Greater Lowell! If you’re a Lowell resident, please take the Community Food Assessment survey TODAY and share your thoughts.
Your input and feedback is essential to the work they do together to improve Healthy Food Access in our city. The survey is completely confidential and is available in multiple languages. Please share this survey with friends and family who live in Lowell.
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Pollard Memorial Library's Lowell Reads
To My Kin Contributor’s Reading (virtual)
Thursday, September 16th at 7:00 pm
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Join a virtual evening celebration of Black Joy with project creator Thaddeus Miles. Featuring readings from To My Kin book contributors.
Anthology of youth stories, poems, and narratives surrounding the theme of Black Joy. It was created to remind youth that while we are facing challenging times, we have a story beyond trauma and must remember to center joy. In this anthology the youngest author to be featured is 11 and the oldest is 20. It isn’t everyday as an adult where we get to hear directly from youth. We rarely hear of their experiences and perspective of what’s happening in the world.
This program is supported by funds from the Greater Lowell Community Foundation.
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100 Merrimack Street, Suite 202
Lowell, MA 01852
PHONE 978-970-1600
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