Under the guidance of public health officials to slow the spread of COVID-19, all Minnesota schools were closed beginning Tuesday, March 17, 2020. Recognizing that this action would disproportionately affect marginalized communities, as does crisis in all forms, GHR has made two grants through our Catholic Schools initiative to support those students, and their families, for whom school closures will prove especially challenging.

Both grants have been made to new grantees, who are best suited to address pressing needs at this time:

• Minnesota Independent School Forum, a membership organization that connects and strengthens Minnesota’s independent schools through exceptional training, resources, and advocacy. This grant will enable our Mission schools to access funding for urgent needs, including technology support for distance learning, childcare, and deep cleaning. This grant also supports MISF to become a central resource for all 450 independent schools in the state to access current and future resources. Within 24 hours of school closures, there were requests made for over $192,488, with 50 schools having applied in that same time frame, of which GHR is responding to 37. The average school need is about $2238. 

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• The Sheridan Story, an organization equipped to serve food insecure families with take-home backpacks of food. Recommended by our partners at City Connects, The Sheridan Story has a unique and impressive capacity to ramp up service quickly and effectively, to alleviate some of the strain school closures will have on families who rely on food bags to feed children at night and on weekends. In addition to providing two weeks’ worth of food to our students and their families at a time, the organization has adapted swiftly to the evolving situation to keep its volunteers safe and develop new distribution networks.

These have been rapid response grants, aimed at addressing the most immediate needs. As GHR looks ahead to anticipate other emerging requirements and adapt to these unique and unprecedented circumstances in the longer term, we continue to learn about how we might partner boldly to best support our partners and communities.  

GHR joins our peers in philanthropy as a signatory of the Council on Foundations pledge of action, calling on leaders in philanthropy to recognize the critical need to act with fierce urgency to support our nonprofit partners as well as the people and communities hit hardest by COVID-19 and its implications.
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The widespread impacts of the COVID-19  pandemic are a reminder of the deep need for solidarity. By acting together to provide flexibility to our grantee partners, GHR joins our peers in helping them move their essential work forward powerfully and confidently in this critical moment.

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As the world confronts the COVID-19 pandemic, GHR is centering on the needs of our partners. Solidarity has always been the driver of our work and, as a globally-focused foundation, our community – and thus, our attention – extends across those we support in Africa, Asia and in the United States. 
 
Beginning Monday, March 16, 2020, GHR’s physical offices in Minneapolis closed to honor the guidance of public health professionals in slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus. Our staff continues to operate remotely as we work closely with partners to mobilize resources towards marginalized communities, who are disproportionally affected by crisis in all its forms. We are currently responding to the immediate needs of our partners, both local and global, and are enabling additional flexibility in our grantmaking while anticipating and planning for longer-term needs.
                                                                                                                         
In this urgent and dynamic situation, we are continuing to learn how best to forge ahead and be of service to those in vulnerable situations. In learning what it truly means to partner boldly, GHR is expanding our COVID-19 response outside of our current grants, to ensure we are effectively addressing the widespread impacts of the disease.
 
While these are unprecedented circumstances, the effects of which will be long lasting, we are inspired by the abundance of creativity and love we have seen around us in response. We are reminded of our interconnectedness as a global community and the deep need for national and international solidarity, empathy, and compassion. As we collectively navigate this immense challenge, all of us at GHR will continue to learn how we might lead with love in every aspect of our efforts.