Texas Disaster Relief Fund – Final Grant Funding Round
VOTING INSTRUCTIONS
THIS LINK IS FOR DONORS WHO GAVE TO THE TEXAS DISASTER RELIEF FUND ONLY.
PLEASE DO NOT SHARE EXTERNALLY.
Voting Criteria
Please read the below criteria, the initiative descriptions and then choose your top 3 choices on the voting link at the bottom of this page. We have done extensive vetting based on how well they line up with Legacy Collective’s mission and goals. (The below criteria is what we use for a normal quarterly grant round. It varies slightly for needs during disaster relief for those indicated with a *.)
1. Sustainability*: Is the grant going towards something that is sustainable or moving towards sustainability?
2. Prevention: Is this grant addressing a systemic/root issue(s) and prevention of issue?
3. Innovation*: Is this grant going towards something innovative, new, or pioneering?
4. Collaboration: Does this grant come with an ongoing partnership opportunity for Legacy Collective and/or partnership with other organizations?
5. Diversity & Inclusion: Does the organization have diverse & inclusive hiring, employment, and client service practices?
Voting Instructions & Policies
Please select the top three (3) initiatives that you believe should receive funding.
Voting is restricted to those who donated to the Texas Disaster Relief Fund.
Each donor can submit one vote per household.
Please vote using the email address related to your donor account (if you are unsure, please reference the email address on your voting email invitation or send an email to help@legacycollective.org and we can confirm).
INITIATIVE SUMMARIES
Initiative Description:
Following Winter Storm Uri, we lost power at our Safe Campus where 52 women and 71 children were staying. These families layered up, huddled together under blankets, and made the best of the situation while we looked for a solution. We had a gas stove, and staff made meals by flashlight. Our men’s shelter also lost power, so we moved those six men and two children to our Ann Moody Place facility and set them up in a multipurpose room. We decided to move the families at the Safe Campus temporarily to a church. As they packed their things, the ceilings caved in on them. Pipes had broken, and freezing water and soaked insulation fell into the rooms drenching everyone and everything, traumatizing these families who were already traumatized by the violence in their homes that had sent them running to us for shelter. We did our best to calm frazzled nerves and get them to the church safe and sound. Many residents lost everything, including important legal documents. What we worked hardest to do was keep these women from giving up and returning to homes where their lives were in danger. We had five family violence murders in North Texas in February 2021 alone. At the church, clients were on cots in shared spaces, wearing masks and attempting distancing. Then a pipe broke waking families with a continuing nightmare and leaving the bathrooms unusable. Our staff found extended-stay hotel rooms by noon that day. Now these women and children are safe in extended-stay hotel rooms with kitchenettes. We have relocated Safe Campus staff to our Ann Moody Place facility, and are repurposing rooms there to provide counseling, case management services, and our children’s educational services—early childhood education, K-2 Learning Center, and after-school services. The unforeseen costs continue to mount:
• Housing—65 hotel rooms for an estimated 16 weeks.
• Transportation—getting children to school and back via rideshare services, women to work, and our staff back and forth between facilities.
• Meals—providing food for clients to cook in their rooms and bringing in dinner to the hotel that our staff prepares at Ann Moody Place.
• Staffing—adding additional staffing patterns to cover reconfigured services and operations.
• Safe Campus repairs. We don’t yet know what insurance will cover, but we know insurance never covers all needs.
Location: Dallas, TX, USA
Total Funding Requested: $25,000
Funding Date Requirement: 12/31/2021
Prior Funding Through Legacy Collective: None
Nonprofit Name: Family Place
Nonprofit Website: https://www.familyplace.org/
Initiative Description:
Support on the part of the Legacy Collective would offset costs related to repairing and reconstructing parts of our building in Austin that were damaged during the February ice storm. On or about February 14, a water main burst in several locations; it was above ground and above a ceiling associated with our primary computer lab. When first arriving on the scene, Girlstart staff were able to shut off the water at the road, such that further damage was mitigated. However, after shutting off the water and following several days of intensive ice, we needed significant intervention by a phalanx of electricians, plumbers, water remediators, and demolition/renovation crews. Because Girlstart’s staff were quick to respond to the scene and to make arrangements for crews to be onsite as early as the following week, we were able to remediate and rebuild. We recognize that many buildings still need help and we are grateful for the trades that helped our building come back together. Flooring replacements were made during the week of May 10. Now, Girlstart’s building is nearly ready to welcome girls for in person Summer Camp, and we are excited to host training for our STEM CREW as well as our volunteers beginning May 24, and welcoming girls on June 7. Girlstart is grateful to have had a responsive insurance agency that has covered some of the expenses related to remediation. However, some items are not able to be covered. Support on the part of the Legacy Collective would defray uncovered expenses that Girlstart has had to pay out-of-pocket.
Location: Austin, TX, USA
Total Funding Requested: $6.069
Funding Date Requirement: 6/7/2021
Prior Funding Through Legacy Collective: None
Nonprofit Name: Girlstart
Nonprofit Website: https://girlstart.org/
Initiative Description:
- Since the recent winter storm we received an increase in demand for our free home repair services. We initially received funding from the City of Austin to help with these requests. We were notified last week that the City funds are almost depleted. We are still receiving calls from homeowners to repair damage from the winter storm. We are also still noticing damage from the storm on our home inspections. Some examples of repair requests include broken or damaged pipes in and under the home, broken water heaters, damaged heating and cooling systems, and water damage and mildew growth on the interior and exterior of the home. Depending on the severity of the repair, we spend $1,500 to $15,000 per home correcting these issues. If we receive more funding we would use the money to respond to the requests we continue to receive for repairs even 3 months after the storm. The homeowners that request these funds have to complete our normal intake process and be eligible based on income guidelines as well as proof of homeownership. All of the clients we serve are low-income and don’t have the funds to afford the needed repairs. When we provide these repairs they can use their limited funding on other necessities such as food and medicine.
We are requesting $25,000 to help with repairs related to the storm damage. Any amount of funding will help us reach our goal. This request is based on the number of homes we have in place requesting repairs.
Location: Austin, TX, USA
Total Funding Requested: $25,000
Funding Date Requirement: 7/1/2021
Prior Funding Through Legacy Collective: $50,000 March 2021 Texas Disaster Relief Fund
Nonprofit Name: Rebuilding Together Austin
Nonprofit Website: www.rebuildingtogetheraustin.org
Initiative Description:
- Throughout the winter storm, The Settlement Home for Children experienced a series of challenges including loss of water for four days and displacement of residents due to flooding. From professional plumbing, drywall, insulation and carpet repair to replacing technology equipment, the damage across their 10-acre campus is multilayered. The Settlement Home is requesting $100,000 from the Legacy Collective’s Texas Disaster Relief Fund for the following:
- The Clothes Closet, a space where residents go to pick out clothes, shoes and other items experienced a collapsed ceiling and flooding due to water pipes bursting. The repairs include new carpet, drywall and insulation.
- The Warehouse, a structure that includes staff offices and stores donations from the community to be repurposed and sold at The Settlement Home’s Annual Garage & Estate Sale fundraiser, flooded and repairs include fixing the kitchen’s broken water line and replacing the damaged ceiling and cabinets.
- A residential cottage housing eight adolescent girls and one staff member remains uninhabitable and requires a total demolition and repair of the walls and floors to ensure mold doesn’t continue to grow due to flooding.
- Technology equipment – some staff members faced costly computer repair and various campus technology equipment was lost due to water damage.
Support from the Texas Disaster Relief fund would help The Settlement Home for Children with these unexpected repairs and replacement of technology equipment.
Location: Austin, TX, USA
Total Funding Requested: $25,000
Funding Date Requirement: 7/1/2021
Prior Funding Through Legacy Collective: $25,000 March 2021 Grant
Nonprofit Name: The Settlement Home for Children
Nonprofit Website: https://www.settlementhome.org/
Initiative Description:
Sustainable Food Center requests funding from the Legacy Collective to advance our farmer disaster relief, which includes the following efforts:
• Immediate, direct relief payments to farmers who have experienced a devastating impact on their farms and ranches, with a focus on farmers of color, beginning farmers, and farmers whose livelihoods depend primarily on their farm income.
• No-cost direct-to-consumer sales outlets to support farmers in recouping freeze-related losses while ensuring long-term financial success and viability.
• Investments in relief projects for Black and Brown farmers to support recovery from the long-term effects of Winter Storm Uri, with an emphasis on infrastructure upgrades, sustainability improvements, and food access efforts in low-income communities.
In the aftermath of Winter Storm Uri, SFC has administered $10,000 in direct relief payments and contributed $40,000 in no-cost direct-to-consumer sales outlets for farmers. In late April, SFC posted a call for proposals for its Farmers of Color Relief and Resiliency Fund to support farmers of color recovering from the long-term impact of the winter storm while building community impact through food access initiatives. At least $50,000 of funding will be dispersed in June so farmers can advance their work through the summer months when food access needs arise for low-income families who cannot rely solely on free and reduced lunch programs offered during the school year.
Once the Farmers of Color Relief and Resiliency Fund monies are dispersed, SFC plans to monitor and support the use of these funds through on-site farm site visits, technical assistance, marketing, and resource sharing. SFC also plans to support recipients of farmer relief to continue monitoring their recovery and ongoing needs.
In addition, SFC is responding to the storm crisis by creating a disaster planning and prevention process at our farmers’ markets where farmers sell their goods.
Funding Request: SFC requests $33,000 from Legacy Collective to dedicate a staff member to provide ongoing and direct support to farmers engaged in our Farmers of Color Relief and Resiliency Fund and disaster relief efforts, and to fund materials necessary to rebuild and protect the viability of the SFC Farmers’ Markets.
• $27,500 – dedicated staff to support farmer relief efforts
• $5,500 – safety supplies for farmers’ markets (e.g., back-up generators, traffic barricades, sandbags, tents, etc.)
Location: Austin, TX, USA
Total Funding Requested: $33,000
Funding Date Requirement: 7/1/2021
Prior Funding Through Legacy Collective: $100,000 March 2021 Texas Disaster Relief Grant
Nonprofit Name: Sustainable Food Center
Nonprofit Website: https://sustainablefoodcenter.org/
Initiative Description:
- The Wichita Falls Area Food Bank was forced to close for a week, due to heavy snow, ice and below freezing temperatures. As we started to see a rise in temperatures and melting snow, we knew we had to find a way to set up a Mobile Pantry and feed so me hungry families. Luckily, we had some pre-made boxes that we distribute from our Mobile Pantries, but we had no idea that we would be serving as many people as we did. The line of cars just kept growing and we ran out of boxes of food. We do have some boxes that are sponsored and paid for by our local hospital to distribute from certain Mobile Pantries. In desperation, we ended up going through all those boxes as well. Turning families away without food was not an option.We need to purchase food to replace what was in those boxes. We would like to request $25,000 to purchase food to replace what was distributed February 22. We distributed 31,000 pounds of food that day. Our Mobile Pantries are still going strong, and this money would allow us to fill up our boxes that we were forced to use that day.
Location: Wichita Falls, TX, USA
Total Funding Requested: $25,000
Funding Date Requirement: 7/1/2021
Prior Funding Through Legacy Collective: None
Nonprofit Name: Wichita Falls Area Food Bank
Nonprofit Website: www.wfafb.org
INITIATIVE VOTING
NOW IT IS YOUR TURN!
After reviewing the Initiative Summaries above, please follow the link below to Vote on your Top 3 Choices.
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