Neighbors for Better Neighborhoods announces COVID-19 grant program
Neighbors for Better Neighborhoods (NBN) is bringing much-needed resources into neighborhoods across the city to help alleviate the impact of the COVID-19 crisis.
NBN recently unveiled the Grassroots Grants COVID-19 Response Fund, a new grants program that is designed to provide additional assistance and support to enable community members to strengthen and assist their neighbors and friends during the COVID-19 crisis. Grant applications will be accepted on a rolling basis for immediate response projects up to $1,000. The grant program will be focused on food support, healthcare, emergency housing, emergency financial assistance, assisting older adults, and other COVID-19- related issues.
“NBN prides itself on its ability to connect people, strengthen voices and leverage resources, and we believe this mission is more important than ever in the face of so much uncertainty,” commented Executive Director Latoya Robinson. “The Grassroots Grants COVID-19 Response Fund is just one of the many ways we are working to be there for our community in this time of great need.”
In addition to the grants program, NBN is helping to staff daily food distribution at the Saltbox where NBN is housed and distributing protective masks to individuals and families in low-wealth communities in partnership with the Mask the City project.
Food distribution is held weeknights at the Saltbox from 6-7 p.m. through the end of April. More information on the mask giveaway will be posted on NBN’s website as soon as it is available.
NBN staff has been hard at work ensuring that residents still have access to the programs and services they need in order to help their neighbors and their communities continue to thrive in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, Robinson said.
In observance of health and safety guidelines from the State, NBN has shifted its service delivery model to an online platform where individuals can access programs from the safety of their homes. The organization’s popular Organizers’ Circle program streams on Facebook Live every Tuesday at 12 noon, and trainings and technical assistance for current and prospective grantee partners is available in a virtual format by contacting NBN’s main office at 336-602-2519 or by visiting the website. NBN is continuing to offer its traditional Grassroots Grants program, which has monthly deadlines and supports neighborhood work across the county.
“We just want the community to know that NBN is still here with them,” Robinson remarked. “We are all in this together, and NBN is working hard to ensure that all the communities we serve will come out of this crisis stronger than ever.”
NBN is located in the Saltbox, 1650 Ivy Ave. in Winston-Salem. More information on all NBN programs and services can be found at www.nbncommunity.org or by calling the main office at 336-602-2519.
