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Marigold Montessori School in Haverhill was among those receiving financial aid from Essex County Community Foundation during the charitable organization’s third and final round of open application grants from the Essex County COVID-19 Response Fund.
Marigold Montessori School, 26 White St., plans to use the money for design, landscaping and construction services to better support underserved youth in Haverhill. Altogether grants totaling $810,000, focused on education and youth, have been awarded to individual nonprofit organizations and nonprofit collaborations serving vulnerable young people facing unprecedented challenges as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. These include learning loss, opportunity gaps, the social-emotional effects of isolation and, for some, abuse in the home. Grant amounts ranged from $5,000 to $50,000.
Many local school districts are reporting a sharp increase in failure rates due to remote learning, and educators are witnessing the severe impact that isolation is having on students’ mental health.
“It is really difficult to be a young person in general right now,” said Carol Lavoie Schuster, ECCF’s vice president for grants, nonprofit and donor services. “You can’t see your friends. You’re learning from home and are limited in what you can do outside of the home. But if you’re a young person living in poverty or an abusive household, or are a student with diverse learning needs, your worries, fears and challenges are being multiplied exponentially.”
Open application funding, which began last July, now tops $1.4 million. From March through June, more than $5 million was awarded in unrestricted rapid response grants, which addressed immediate basic needs such as hunger, emergency shelter and healthcare.
Foundation President and CEO Beth Francis said, “There is still so much work to be done to address the devastating effects of this nearly year-long pandemic, but we know there are so many people all over Essex County with a continued willingness to help. Essex County is resilient, and together, we’ll persist in finding solutions to ensure all residents have the opportunity to thrive.”