A Message from the President and CEO

Dear Nelson,  

When was the last time you did not pay a bill so you could afford groceries? Or, you went to a food pantry because you did pay the bills. Or, either way, you and your children went to bed hungry. Unfortunately, this happens to over 20% of our working families who cannot regularly purchase nutritious food for their families. Moreover, this number jumps to over 30% for our black and brown neighbors. That’s food insecurity, and it’s getting worse. 

Food insecurity is not a new issue. However, it was exacerbated by Covid and continues to persist as one of the greatest needs in our community. Food insecurity is more than hunger – it’s about being healthy. And this is especially true for our children. Kids who don’t get enough nutritious food, especially in their early years, have a serious disadvantage. They are more likely to be hospitalized and face higher risks of health conditions later, like asthma, high blood pressure, and diabetes. It also often translates into problems at school and in other social situations.  

Food insecurity is a significant quality of life issue in our community. Over the years, especially during Covid, the Foundation has granted millions in response and continues to do so.

In the greatest country in the world, nobody should want good healthy food – especially the kids. So please help by supporting local food drives, food pantries, food banks, or other non-profits that operate in this space. Or please contribute to the GLCF Community Needs Fund. I assure you it will be well spent.

Stay cool,
Jay Linnehan
GLCF President + CEO

GLCF in the News

GLCF Awards $321,000 to Improve Residents’ Health in Nashoba Valley (Concord Patch, 7/25/23)

Lowell officials consider how to respond to city’s growing homeless population (WGBH, 7/11/23)

Lowell Folk Festival Performance Schedule (Grateful Web, 7/17/23)

GLCF grants to Nashoba Valley nonprofits (Lowell Sun, 7/6/23)

Greater Lowell Community Foundation announces new fund to support the LGBTQ community (Mass Nonprofit News, 7/12/23)

Lowell Folk Festivals (Khmer Post, 7/28/23)

Greater Lowell Community Foundation announces new fund to support the LGBTQ community (Nashoba Valley Voice, 7/13/23)

GLCF Awards $321,000 to Improve Residents’ Health in Nashoba Valley (Action Unlimited, 7/6/23)

GLCF Awards $321,000 to Improve Residents’ Health in Nashoba Valley (Mass Nonprofit News, 6/25/23)

GLCF News

Celebrate Giving 2023: Creating an Inclusive Cultural Economy

Wednesday, October 25 from 5 - 7 pm

UTEC, 35 Warren St, Lowell, Mass.

Join the Greater Lowell Community Foundation on October 25 at UTEC in Lowell as we focus on the Creating an Inclusive Cultural Economy at this year’s Celebrate Giving event. This event will highlight our related work in the community, including Mosaic Lowell, a fiscally sponsored program of GLCF and other creative partners.

We are honored to welcome Michael J. Bobbitt, Exec. Director, Mass Cultural Council as our keynote. Bobbitt is a theater director, choreographer, and playwright who has dedicated his professional career to arts leadership. He joined Mass Cultural Council as Executive Director in February 2021, and is the highest-ranking cultural official in Massachusetts state government. Upon joining the Agency, he was invited to serve on the Board of Directors for the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) and the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies’ (NASAA). As Executive Director Michael has led Mass Cultural Council through the development of its first-ever Racial Equity Plan; worked with staff, Council Members, and cultural sector advocates to secure and distribute a historic $60.1M in state pandemic relief funding; and overseen the drafting and adoption of the Agency’s FY24-FY26 strategic plan.

Nominations Wanted

Please consider nominating an individual for the following awards to be given at GLCF's Oct. 25 event. Details and criteria in links below.

2023 Bankers’ Volunteer Award for Lifetime Achievement

2023 GLCF Steven Joncas Community Connector Award

NOMINATIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY OCTOBER 4 by NOON.

Greater Lowell Community Foundation Grants Lift Up Cambodian Voices

Lowell, MA – The Greater Lowell Community Foundation (GLCF) is promoting inter-generational communication and showcasing the shared experience of Lowell’s Cambodian community through the foundation’s Racial Equity and Inclusion Grants awarded to local nonprofits.

Two arts organizations — The Cambodian American Literary Arts Association (CALAA), and Merrimack Repertory Theatre (MRT) – received grants in 2021 and 2022 to support literary and theater workshops, and community dialogues. All events were designed to lift Cambodian voices and showcase Khmer artists to the wider community.

“For the past three years, GLCF has focused on racial equity and inclusion in our grantmaking,” said GLCF President and CEO Jay Linnehan. “These grants collectively work toward creating a better quality of life for all residents, and support local nonprofits providing essential programs and services.”

Thanks to its 2021 GLCF grant, the Cambodian American Literary Arts Association was able to host a series of six workshops and one community dialogue. “CALAA was born from wanting to highlight Cambodian writers — both emerging and established writers,” explained Sanary Phen, a past CALAA president and local writer.

All six workshops were led by local artists and writers and covered such topics as “What Does Being Khmer Mean to You?” and “Peeling Back the Layers of Our Identity.”

The community dialogue, titled “Racism, Anti-Blackness and Colorism in the Khmer Community,” featured a panel of community leaders. All the gatherings were designed to engage participants in envisioning what an inclusive community might look like to them.

MRT’s 2022 GLCF grant supported a week-long workshop of the first full production of Cambodian American playwright/actor Kalean Ung’s “Letters From Home.” The autobiographical one-woman play, starring Ung, was staged last January and February at MRT.

“Our grant was connected to amplifying Khmer writers and voices, and centered around ‘Letters From Home,’ ” explained Courtney Sale, MRT’s Nancy L. Donahue Executive Artistic Director. “It allowed us to do thoughtful and robust community engagement around the show, so audiences had ways to better connect with the play.”

Learn more.

GLCF + Community Partners
GLCF and Community Foundation of North Central Massachusetts Gathering

In July, GLCF was fortunate to have the team from the Community Foundation of North Central Massachusetts join us to share best practices, new initiatives, and mutual challenges facing community foundations. It was a rare and rewarding opportunity to spend some devoted time with a neighboring community foundation. We were thrilled to welcome them to Lowell.

GLCF Grant Highlight
GRANT HIGHLIGHT - The Wish Project

The Wish Project (TWP) is a household goods bank assisting low-income Greater Lowell children and families, providing new and like-new goods to people exiting homelessness, at risk of homelessness, or struggling to make it. Working with over 30 agencies and their caseworkers, TWP provides goods directly to families and individuals.

The Wish Project (TWP) received a 2022 GLCF Discretionary Children’s Services Grant to provide basic and special needs for 16,000 Greater Lowell children in low-income families or living in homeless shelters. They provided clothing, shoes, warm coats, hats, and mittens; diapers, baby wipes, car seats, strollers, cribs, and newborn baby supplies; items for toddlers to support developmental growth (e.g., books, toys, crayons); backpacks filled with new back-to-school supplies for students; toys for children at holiday time; and Birthday Bags for kids on their birthday.

The Greater Lowell Community Foundation’s Discretionary Grants Program includes the following strategic funding categories: Racial Equity and Inclusion, Leclair Elder Services, and Children’s Services and its purpose is to improve the quality of life for residents in GLCF’s 21 communities.

Fiscal Sponsor News

Mosaic Lowell Updates

The work of Mosaic Lowell will be highlighted at GLCF's Celebrate Giving 2023: Creating an Inclusive Cultural Economy on Wednesday, October 25 from 5 - 7 pm at UTEC, 35 Warren St, Lowell, Mass.

View Mosaic Lowell's Arts, Culture and Creative Economy Plan for All of Lowell.

Community Partner News

SURVEY: We need your help to create housing goals for Lowell!

The City of Lowell is undertaking its first ever Housing Production Plan, a sister document to the Lowell Forward Comprehensive Master Plan. To inform this plan, we’ve created a community survey to ask residents about the city’s housing needs. Our goal is to have over 500 responses to the Homes, Housing, and Community Survey that will guide this plan—and if everyone we email responds to this survey and asks at least 5 others, we’ll be there! Your answers will guide the goals of these two documents, which will work together to advise City staff, elected officials, partner nonprofits, and others in changing policy, zoning, investments, and more.

Lowell Housing, Homes, and Community Survey

This survey will close Friday, August 18, 2023, so please take it today! If you have questions about this survey or have difficulty taking it, please contact Chris Hayes, Housing and Economic Development Planner, at [email protected]

Support the Work of GLCF
Become an Annual Sponsor

Since 1997, the Greater Lowell Community Foundation has supported this community with grants to nonprofits, scholarships to deserving students, and leadership to help determine, address, and resolve a wide variety of needs and opportunities.

With more than 390 donor-driven funds and expert staff, the Foundation provides vital resources that build on our community’s strengths, addresses its challenges, and brightens futures by helping deserving students to achieve their dreams.

To achieve more, we need your partnership through a generous annual sponsorship.

Learn more

Give to the Future: Make a Planned Gift

Everyone has a legacy. What’s yours?
Your legacy can be shaped to support the causes you care about now and provide financial and estate savings.

To discuss creating a personalized estate plan that supports issues important to you, please call Jay or Howard at the Greater Lowell Community Foundation at 978-970-1600.