Northern Arizona nonprofits continue to provide important social services

“We are serving immediate needs today,” Pats Shriver, director of the northern Arizona branch of the Arizona Community Foundation, said. “Like food and shelter and things that are needed now. We’re also helping in terms of long-term recovery [efforts] and we’re seeing a lot of that need in the arts sector, for events being canceled. And we’ll address those when the immediate needs are taken care of.”

The Arizona Community Foundation, which operates across the state (its northern Arizona branch covers Tuba City, Page, Flagstaff and Williams) to fund nonprofits across a broad range of services, launched its Arizona COVID-19 Community Response Fund on March 27 and has dispersed almost $400,000 worth of grants to nonprofits facing increased need. The fund makes grant money available to all nonprofits that apply. Statewide, ACF has dispersed $2,803,815 since March 27 and received $7 million from donors.

“We’re just thankful that we can help our communities,” Shriver said.

There is no cap and no minimum amount that organizations can apply for under the COVID-19 Community Response Fund, but Shriver said most of the grants awarded have amounted to between $15,000 and $25,000.

Among recent applicants who have received grant money from ACF’s COVID-19 Community Response Fund are the Flagstaff Family Food Center, Northland Hospice & Palliative Care, Quality Connections, Red Feather Development, Tohdenasshai Committee Against Family Abuse, Catholic Charities and Flagstaff EcoRanch.

When it comes to the Third Mesa-based Hopi Foundation, which runs several programs across 12 Hopi and Tewa Villages in northern Arizona, the coronavirus pandemic is being felt with increased severity and has brought to light several already-existing health and social disparities. Hopi Foundation had just seen the tail-end of a drastic heating crisis over the winter, which saw several households without ways to warm their home during freezing temperatures, when the pandemic hit.

“Nothing has really ever reached the level of this crisis,” Monica Nuvamsa, executive director of the Hopi Foundation, said.

The organization has been in operation since 1987 and hosts several community-based projects including the KUYI 88.1 FM Hopi Radio Station, HOPI Substance Abuse Prevention Center, Hopi Leadership Program and the Hopi Youth Initiative, among many others.

Around 23 employees are now running programs like youth mentoring and counseling, and substance abuse prevention meetings from home. Maintaining all that the foundation does has become even more challenging. Grant money, including that from ACF, has helped these important operations continue.

“None of us have really dealt with something like this before and it deals with a lot of complexity in how we manage resources that come into the community,” Nuvamsa said.

The grant from ACF has helped in the transition of working from home, Nuvamsa said, as well as to stabilize operations at KUYI Hopi Radio, making sure there is replacement staff ready to step in if need be, as the station is integral as a partner in emergency response efforts, Nuvamsa said.

“I think one of the things about this crisis is that it has amplified a lot of the challenges we knew were already there, and it’s really focusing us as a community on what those key and core operations are in building capacity for our community,” she said.

Among those are the challenges placed by lack of running water and internet in many homes as well as sheer distance to get groceries at the nearest stores in Winslow or Flagstaff.

“We have other complexities within our community other than having a high unemployment rate,” Nuvamsa said. “There are homes that do not have running water nor electricity and that creates a huge challenge with a public health crisis, and so those are some of the things that our nonprofit community is looking at, finding solutions for these households.”

For Housing Solutions of Northern Arizona, the coronavirus pandemic has caused an increase in need for rental assistance, negotiating mortgage payments and more as hundreds have been laid off from work.

“We recognize that when you serve lower-income households, even if their rent is reduced, folks have been laid off or furloughed and that might make them struggle to pay rent to us,” Devonna McGlaughlin, president and CEO of Housing Solutions, said.

Housing Solutions operates 23 affordable housing units it rents out to eligible renters. The organization also provides rental and down payment assistance as well as financial counseling and runs Sharon Manor, a living community for victims of domestic violence.

Housing Solutions has also shut down its thrift store temporarily, which, like rent from the affordable housing units, helps pay staff members and other operational costs.

“Those are pretty significant sources of income for us that help people stay employed and keep the lights on so operating support [such as that from ACF] can help offset those costs,” McGlaughlin said. “The other thing we’ve seen is a really significant increase in folks calling us in for help to avoid foreclosure on mortgages.”

In January, Housing Solutions saw two or three people using the service. As of Friday, April 17, it had 18 clients who have applied in the last 10 days, with about 30 other clients in the process of completing their application for assistance.  

“You don’t really plan for everything going wrong at the same time. It’s not like we haven’t contingency planned,” McGlaughlin said. “I think the sheer scale of this is overwhelming to to nonprofits.”

In addition to the Arizona Community Foundation, Housing Solution has been approved for funds from OneAZ Credit Union and Wells Fargo.

“People have been very generous and very helpful and if that wasn’t the case, it’d be harder to do work each day,” McGlaughlin said.