Dear Nelson,  

The holidays are all about celebrating the values that we share in life. These values of unity, generosity, and gratitude (among others) connect us with our family and friends. These values also connect us with our neighbors, particularly with those in need. And there are many in need in our community. 

Just last month, in the Acre neighborhood, the Lowell Housing Authority City View Towers was flooded, necessitating the evacuation of the entire building that housed a couple hundred elderly and disabled residents. The Coalition for a Better Acre sprung into action to coordinate a relief effort to provide, among other things, food and shelter. To assist in that effort, the Foundation created the Moody Street Flood Relief Fund to collect donations. 

In true community fashion, many volunteered to provide their time and money. As of yesterday morning, the relief fund had raised about $20,000. Then another key community partner, Eastern Bank Foundation, donated $20,000 to match the amount already raised. Thank you to the Eastern Bank Foundation and all our other partners who have stepped up.

But we’re not done. There is much more to do. And if you’d like to donate to support this effort, please go to the Moody Street Relief Fund at the Greater Lowell Community Foundation. And please know that 100% of your donation goes directly to those in need. Give now. 

Wishing you all a happy and healthy holiday season. And as you gather in the days ahead to celebrate, please don’t forget those that can’t.

Thank you for sharing,

Moody Street Flood Relief Fund

The Greater Lowell Community Foundation announced the creation of the Moody Street Flood Relief Fund, established to support residents displaced by the water main break that occurred on in Lowell, Monday, Nov. 28 in The Acre neighborhood. A major water main burst spewing thousands of gallons of water into several neighborhood streets, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of elderly and disabled residents from the Lowell Housing Authority City View Towers and several surrounding homes.

“As we have done for the past 25 years, GLCF supports our neighbors. In this case, our neighbors who were displaced by the water main break in The Acre,” says Jay Linnehan, GLCF president and CEO. “We are grateful and fortunate that so many stepped up and contributed to the fund to help those in need.”

Learn more

Donate to the Fund

GLCF awards $150K in additional grants to address mental health needs

The Greater Lowell Community Foundation (GLCF) announced it deployed a new round of COVID-19 related grants, providing an additional $150,000 to seven nonprofits in Greater Lowell addressing mental health needs. These grants were part of the latest round of distributions from the GLCF COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund.

Grants were determined through a competitive process with community members serving on the selection committee. GLCF solicited applications from nonprofits and local programs addressing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in Greater Lowell.

“GLCF received more than $700K in grant requests for this cycle – the needs are enormous as the community deals with the mental health implications of COVID-19,” said GLCF president & CEO Jay Linnehan. “We are grateful to our volunteer selection committee that used their collective expertise to review many worthy applications to make some hard decisions relating to grant funding.”

The seven nonprofits receiving grants to address mental health needs are:

-Adolescent Consultation Services (Cambridge) for Direct Mental Health Services for Court-Involved Children in Greater Lowell – $25,000

-Alternative House (Lowell) for Support for Child Survivors – $15,000

-Boys & Girls Club of Greater Billerica for Club Social Worker – $50,000

-International Institute of New England (Lowell) for Lowell Refugee Youth Mental Health Initiative – $30,000

-ThinkGive (Concord) for SEL program expansion to five Greater Lowell sites serving under-resourced youth in 2022–2023 – $5,000

-UTEC (Lowell) for Improving mental health for proven-risk adolescents – $20,000

-Westford Health Department for applying under the shared grant service NorthWest Coalition (Lowell, Westford, Acton, and Dracut) Youth Mental Health First Aid trainings – $15,000.

Learn More

GLCF in the Community

GLCF Board Nonprofit Tour:

Housing Insecurity Focus

As part of #CommunityFNDWeek, GLCF and board members Sue Beaton, Stephanie Cronin, Cherrice Lattimore, and Brian Stafford visited three nonprofits addressing housing insecurity in Lowell.

Thank you: Life Connections (Jaime, Zack and Corey), Lowell Transitional Living Center, Inc. (Isaiah and Deb), and Youth Services At Community Teamwork (Amanda, Nick, Siobhan and Anna.)

We are grateful to our board who participated in this learning opportunity.

GLCF Site Visit: Wish Project

In December, GLCF stopped by The Wish Project in Chelmsford to see their holiday preparations for many clients in the Greater Lowell area.

Alyce Moore, Executive Director, The Wish Project showed us around their busy space and we were amazed by all they do to meet urgent needs in the community.

GLCF is grateful to The Wish Project for helping people in need with basic furniture, home goods and baby goods, while helping the planet by recycling used goods. We were happy to provide them some additional support.

GLCF Site Visit: Alternative House

This month, GLCF made a quick stop at Alternative House to visit with Director of Programs & Operations, Sarah Anderson and help them reach their goal to support their clients over the holidays.

We appreciate Alternative House's work in the community and for providing access to shelter, support, children’s programming, legal, housing, and community advocacy for all victims of domestic violence.

Mosaic Lowell News

Winterfest Arts Market

As part of the City of Lowell’s Winterfest 2023, Mosaic Lowell is pleased to again sponsor a Winterfest Arts Market, to be held on Friday and Saturday, February 17 and 18, in the Lowell Memorial Auditorium. More than 60 artists, artisans, and crafters will be offering a broad variety of creative goods. 

During the Arts Market, Mosaic Lowell will also be sponsoring the 2^nd annual Youth Mural Competition. This year’s theme is “Coming Soon. What would you add to Lowell?” All murals will be displayed in Lowell City Hall for a month following the competition.

Visit the Mosaic Lowell Website for more information on this and many other events and happenings.

GLCF Grant News

Women Working Wonders Fund to Award $10,000 in Mini-Grants to Nonprofits Impacting Women and Girl

The Women Working Wonders Fund, a permanently endowed fund of the Greater Lowell Community Foundation, is offering mini grants of up to $2,000 each to nonprofits impacting the lives of women and girls in Greater Lowell

The deadline for application is January 13, 2023, with grant announcements in February. To apply, visit www.womenworkingwondersfund.com/grants. The one-page online application is brief, and there is no reporting requirement.

“As we have worked hard to continue to grow our endowment, we have the privilege to increase grant support to our community beyond our annual grant cycle each summer,” said Marci Barnes, Women Working Wonders board president. “An economic downturn and an ongoing pandemic have increased the needs of the community, and we are responding by offering up to $10,000 in mini-grants to support area nonprofits during this challenging time.”

Women Working Wonders provides annual grants in three key areas: assist women in transition, provide leadership development as well as contribute to the beautification of the environment. Established in 2004, the fund has granted over $300,000 to nonprofits supporting women and girls in the Greater Lowell area.

Apply Now

GRANT HIGHLIGHT- Community Teamwork, Inc.

Community Teamwork, Inc. received a GLCF DOHCD grant in April of 2022 to address food insecurity, housing, homelessness, and other basic needs that impact family stability. The grant specifically supported the Fuel Assistance program, the Housing Consumer Education Center (HCEC), Youth Services, YouthBuild of Lowell, Individual Homelessness programming, and CTI’s Resource Center.

YouthBuild Lowell (YBL) used the GLCF DOHCD funds to address food insecurity, focused on the first Lowell Youth Leadership Program in the summer, the program was instrumental in feeding low-income and at-risk youth healthy and accessible meals. Meals were provided to youth attending camp, Youth Services and YBL participants. The YBL also planned, implemented, and served meals to homeless and those at-risk of homelessness to St. Paul's Kitchen at Eliot Day Center. The HCEC offered rental assistance, rental arrear payment, for those families unable to obtain housing due to the overwhelming upfront costs, or those behind in their payments and at risk of eviction. The funds allowed the Individual Homelessness Program to support the costs of individuals moving into a permanent living situation, providing them with mattresses and other basic. The Resource Center used their funds allocation for grocery gift cards, to stem the increased need seen in Greater Lowell, based on not just the rising costs of food, but also the impact of the rising costs of all consumer needs, including housing, fuel, gasoline, medicine, etc. These funds supported short-term stabilization of families while longer term solutions could be found, including other supports and financial/budgeting literacy support.

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.