The Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities, a congregation of over 300 vowed women religious, has awarded $310,000 dollars in grants from its Nazareth Community Impact Fund, administered by The Community Foundation of Herkimer & Oneida Counties. The Nazareth Community Impact Fund awards grants to ideas and projects that nonprofit organizations consider a top priority. With the impacts of COVID-19 weighing heavily on these organizations, supporting the most immediate needs became the main focus of the fund during this time.
“The Sisters of St. Francis have supported those most in need for over 160 years,” said Robert Myers III, president & CEO at Partners in Franciscan Ministries. “These grants build on the Sisters’ historical good works, a fitting legacy of St. Marianne and all the Sisters.”
The Sisters minister in general education and religious education, health care, eldercare, pastoral care, social services, justice education, and other areas of need. The congregation serves in 12 states, the District of Columbia, Kenya and Peru. They established Partners in Franciscan Ministries (PFM) in 2011 to ensure that their Franciscan values continued into the future. To support these values, the Sisters established charitable funds at The Community Foundation in 2019 with proceeds from the sale of property that housed a former ministry, money that was restricted for charitable outreach.
The recipients of the latest round of grants are:
Central New York Community Foundation
A $75,000 grant to the CNY COVID-19 Community Support Fund, established to rapidly assist nonprofit organizations working with communities who are disproportionately impacted by the economic consequences of the pandemic.
Elmcrest Children’s Center
A $160,000 grant to support the Center’s new early childhood education program, providing quality affordable childcare and education opportunities to low-income and underserved neighborhoods in the northside of Syracuse.
The Community Foundation of Herkimer & Oneida Counties
A $75,000 grant to support the Mohawk Valley COVID-19 Response Fund, a single community-wide fund established to provide immediate and flexible assistance to organizations responding to human services needs in Herkimer and Oneida counties resulting from the impact of the global pandemic.
For more information about this fund, contact Lindsey Costello, donor relations manager, lcostello@foundationhoc.org.
