The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta announces a final round of grantmaking for 2021, issuing $1.5 million to 34 organizations.

Funding will support nonprofit organizations among several focus and interest areas – a full list of grant recipients is below. These grants support issues including:

• Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA)–19 grants totaling $860,000 to support communities in the City of Atlanta, Clayton county and Cobb county. In addition to capacity support for organizations and direct rental assistance for renters not eligible for available government programs, this funding supports advocacy efforts focused on preventing evictions, improving ERA funding processes and continued affordable housing options in the region. Estimates suggest that as many as 40% of all renters in Georgia may face eviction, affecting nearly 400,000 people. There are 800,000 households that rent in metro Atlanta and while the data is not firm, estimates indicate one-fifth of households could be at risk for eviction. To prevent evictions, local jurisdictions and the state are using direct rent payments as the primary avenue.

• Co-investment though Field of Interest Funds– seven grants totaling more than $315,000 to support organizations and initiatives seeking to increase equity of opportunity through systems of education, health, housing and safety and justice. These “Field of Interest Funds” were set up by Community Foundation donors who wished to leave a legacy of support to causes that were meaningful to them and their families.

• General Operating Support through nonprofit effectiveness– three grants with a total of $85,000 to help regional nonprofits manage operations. These grants allow organizations to direct the funding where it is most needed.

• Community Activation Grants – five grants totaling $180,000 to support grassroots and community groups. These grants offer one-year programming support of up to $50,000 to nonprofit organizations that are led by and center the leadership and agency of Black communities, Indigenous communities and communities of color. These organizations are working to help themselves and their communities create broad systems change through community organizing and movement-building efforts. Partners utilize 75% of the funding to re-grant to groups, collectives, or organizations with evidence of long-standing relationship with the community, and 25% for administrative and coordination costs to implement the project.

“The Community Foundation began 2021 with our focus still largely on the evolving COVID-19 pandemic through which we granted out  nearly $30 million in nonprofit support in partnership with United Way of Greater Atlanta,” said Frank Fernandez, president and CEO of Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta. “As we close the year, COVID still ravages the community, largely through a potential housing eviction crisis that could impact thousands of our neighbors, as well as through continuing economic and racial inequities that are only multiplied by the impact of COVID. On the verge of 2022 we remain focused and committed to lifting up organizations that can bridge these divides of inequity and make our region stronger for all who live here.”

Grants awarded in this cycle for advocacy and emergency rental assistance include:

Africa’s Children’s Fund, $50,000

Atlanta Legal Aid: $50,000

Atlanta Volunteer Lawyer’s Foundation: $50,000

Buckhead Christian Ministries: $50,000

Center for Family Resources: $40,000

Center for Pan Asian Community Services: $40,000

Crossroads Community Ministries: $40,000

Enterprise Community Partners: $50,000

Hearts to Nourish Hope: $50,000

Homes of Light: $40,000

Housing Justice League: $50,000

Housing Plus: $50,000

Latino Community Fund: $100,000

Martin Luther King Sr. Community Resource Collaborative, Inc: $40,000

Mercy Housing: $40,000

MUST Ministries: $50,000

Rebecca’s Tent: $40,000

Sweetwater Mission: $40,000

United Way of Greater Atlanta – Motel to Home: $40,000

Grants awarded in this cycle from Field of Interest Funds include:

Atlanta Cancer Care Foundation, Inc: $58,000

Canine CellMates: $30,000

Covenant House Georgia: $56,431

Friends of the Estherville Public Library: $20,000

House of Dawn: $36,000

Southside Medical Center: $100,000

Special Needs Schools of Gwinnett: $15,000

Grants awarded in this cycle for general operating support include:

Catchafire: $30,000

Greenlight Fund Atlanta: $50,000

Historic Cook Park Oversight Committee: $5,000

Grants awarded in this cycle for community activation include:

The Counter Narrative Project: $50,000

Keeping it Wild & Elements Collective System: $15,000

The Ke’nekt Cooperative: $50,000

Melanated PEARL Corp: $15,000

Partnership for Southern Equity: $50,000

The Community Foundation’s grantmaking process is supported and ratified in partnership with its Community Committee of volunteer advisors, co-chaired by Rabbi Peter Berg and M. von Nkosi.