Community fund for immigrant wellnessA partnership of funders and community-based, immigrant-serving organizations release Request for Proposals from a pooled fund of $200,000Submissions accepted starting today, Monday, February 12th, 2018(Philadelphia, PA) - The Community Fund for Immigrant Wellness releases a series of Requests for Proposals today for programs that promote positive health outcomes for immigrants and refugees living in Southeastern Pennsylvania. Grants will be made from a pooled fund of $200,000 supported by the Scattergood Foundation, United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey, and the Patricia Kind Family Foundation.The Community Fund for Immigrant Wellness is designed to alter the traditional process of philanthropic giving. In this innovative approach, a group of nine community-based, immigrant-serving organizations define the grantmaking strategy and will work to disseminate grant dollars from a pooled fund. This process shifts the power dynamic in the funder-grantee relationship by asking service providers to not only inform a funding process but to actually drive it. "Too often funders create their priorities after an internal process that might not include any representation from those they aim to support," said Oni Richards-Waritay, Executive Director of AFAHO and a member of the Community Fund granting group. "This process has proven the importance of ensuring that funding is driven by real needs within the community in order to be effective."Grants will be made to organizations serving immigrants and refugees in Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties. In developing the RFP process, the Community Fund granting group intentionally focused on a broad definition of wellness with the goal of supporting programs that account for a whole person's needs."The immigrant and refugee communities are integral to the cultural diversity and economic prosperity of our region," said Joe Pyle, President of the Scattergood Foundation. "Yet they often face unique and complex barriers to being well. Our approach of working directly with community-based providers to administer these grant dollars will help to bring culturally competent programs and services that will improve overall health and wellbeing."The Community Fund for Immigrant Wellness granting group includes the following organizations: ACANA, AFAHO, HIAS PA, La Puerta Abierta, Nationalities Service Center, Puentes de Salud, Southeast by Southeast (a Mural Arts program), SEAMAAC, and Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians.Submissions are being accepted until March 29th, 2018 at 5pm EST, with the grantees being announced on May 21st, 2018.Information about how to submit an application is available here.
