By Kevin Barwin, Chair

Grants and Evaluation Committee

Jewish Federation of Ottawa

The Jewish Federation of Ottawa’s Grants and Evaluation Committee will soon have the privilege of reviewing grant applications for a new Federation initiative: the Fund to Ensure Care for the Vulnerable. From seniors, isolated community members, people with special needs, or those living in poverty this fund is designed to make Jewish life in Ottawa more caring, accessible, and inclusive for everyone.

The initiative is part of the new strategic funding made possible by generous donations to the 2019 Annual Campaign Challenge Fund. This matching grant initiative provided our community with the opportunity to add strategic funding to our complement of community supports. Strategic funding brings fresh, flexible funding to our community and allows Federation to support new programs, and shorter-term projects.

This new fund will provide grants of up to $50,000 to Ottawa Jewish community organizations or partnerships with these organizations. We expect that the proposals will bring new ideas to the table. We hope this investment will help our partner agencies meet gaps in our current vulnerable care programs and encourage initiatives that make Jewish life more accessible and inclusive.

We are excited with the potential this new investment has to help those in need in our community.

To help our community measure the results of these grants, it is a requirement that both qualitative and quantitative results will be measured. For example, we want to know the number of individuals served, how access to services increased and whether programs supported efforts to make Jewish life more inclusive.

Stay tuned to learn more about this grant and the projects we will be funding. In the meantime, contact Federation Director of Community Collaboration Kara Goodwin at kgoodwin@jewishottawa.com or 613-798-4696, ext. 200, or visit www.jewishottawa.com/giving/vulnerable for more information on how your organization can apply.