Rihanna, Jay-Z, Jack Dorsey to Co-Fund Over $6 Million in Coronavirus-Relief Grants
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Rihanna’s The Clara Lionel Foundation (CLF), Twitter & Square CEO Jack Dorsey’s #startsmall and Jay-Z’s Shawn Carter Foundation (SCF) today announced additional joint grants dedicated to supporting COVID-19 rapid response efforts in the United States and across the globe, the organizations announced today.
According to the announcement, the latest funds, totaling over $6.2 million, will continue to go towards protecting and serving marginalized populations, helping the most vulnerable in the United States, with a focus on New York, New Orleans and Puerto Rico as well as international communities.
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Domestically, grants will go towards:
Give Directlyin support of cash transfers to low income families in the mainland US as well as in Puerto Rico.
Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City to support the Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence (ENDGBV) to support domestic violence survivors who need a capital injection to ensure their safety and stability during COVID-19. Micro grants will allow the financing of immediate needs of food, clothing, temporary housing, and more.
Covenant House New Orleansto support shelter, food, clothing, counseling, and
medicine for homeless, at-risk and trafficked youth, many of whom are jobless at the
moment. Funds will support six-months of shelter, food, medical attention and supplies for homeless youth.
World Central Kitchen(WCK) to support meals for homeless and senior populations in New Orleans. Funds will support the activation of local restaurants and workers.
Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans & Acadiana, the Feeding America network member that serves the city. Funds will support food sourcing and storage, non-touch distribution and delivery services, and supplemental staff due to a decrease in volunteers.
Total Community Action, in partnership with the New Orleans Mayor’s Office of Community and Economic Development, to support rental assistance for economically vulnerable Orleans Parish residents impacted by the pandemic. Funds will match the current government funding to grant up to $750 in rental assistance per household.
The Hispanic Federationto support health clinics in Puerto Rico. Funds will go towards triage shelters, supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for a network of over 20 clinics across Puerto Rico.
Internationally, grants will go towards:
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières(MSF) to support COVID-19 response efforts in the hardest to reach and most vulnerable areas of the world. Funds will go towards COVID-19 case management, training, set-up of ICU and hospital beds and isolation units, and development of response guidelines and best practices.
The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundationtosupport the Global AIDS Interfaith Alliance (GAIA) Community-Based HIV Testing Services to work with mobile clinics to manage the anticipated spread of COVID-19 in the Mulanje and Phalombe districts of Malawi.
Direct Reliefto support purchasing of testing cartridges to build COVID-19 testing capacity Saint Lucia, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica,St. Kitts and Nevis, and Antigua and Barbuda. This grant will also support medicine kits needed in hospital ICUs to over five additional locations throughout the Caribbean.
Team Humanityto support sanitization efforts in the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesvos.
In response to CLF, Dorsey and SCF’s global relief efforts, the UBS Optimus Foundation, a foundation linked to a global wealth manager staffed with philanthropy experts, has generously committed to matching one hundred percent of our $1 million grant with an additional $1 million dedicated to Médecins Sans Frontières.
Last week, CLF and Dorsey’s #startsmall announced a joint grant in the amount of $4.2 million to the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles to address the current crisis for domestic violence victims in Los Angeles as a result of the COVID-19 “stay at home” order. Dorsey also announced earlier this month that he was dedicating $1 billion of his equity in Square to help fund COVID-19 relief efforts, girl’s health and education, and Universal Basic Income pilot programs.
Earlier this month, CLF and SCF announced $2 million in grants to COVID-19 response efforts to support undocumented workers, the children of frontline health workers and first responders, and incarcerated, elderly and homeless populations in New York City and Los Angeles. The Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles was one of the designated organizations to receive emergency funding along with the Fund for Public Schools, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the New York Immigration Coalition. Prior to that, CLF announced $5 million in grants to on-the-ground partners working on the frontlines of the coronavirus response to protect and prepare vulnerable and marginalized communities in the United States, Caribbean and in Africa for whom the full impact of the pandemic is still to come.
Over the past five years, CLF has been one of the first organizations to respond to some of the world’s most devastating natural disasters, and the organization has seen firsthand the profound and unintended consequences of not being prepared. As a result, the foundation is committed to quickly getting ahead of the outbreak in order to protect as many frontline health workers and marginalized communities as possible.
Founded in 2012 by Robyn “Rihanna” Fenty, the Clara Lionel Foundation works with community-based leaders and organizations around the world innovating high-impact approaches to education and emergency response and preparedness. CLF will continue to be engaged in COVID-19 response efforts and donations can be made via their website here.
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