Rockefeller Foundation is committing $20 million to help vulnerable families and communities

By Drone Media Staff

The President of The Rockefeller Foundation, Dr. Rajiv J. Shah  approved $ 20 million to help vulnerable families and communities during this troublesome period  of Covid-19.

According to a press release sent out this week, Dr. Rajiv states: “a foundation dedicated to promoting the well being of humanity throughout the world, we are deeply concerned about how COVID-19 has threatened so many of us, including the communities we have served here at home and around the world for more than a century.

Since Friday, March 13, all Foundation employees in all our locations worldwide have been working remotely and will do so until April 20. We may extend this if circumstances warrant. We will continue to carry out our important work to every extent possible and stand ready to address concerns, especially for those whose work may be affected by illness or closings.

As we see the COVID-19 pandemic unfold, we are concerned about the potential repercussions on workers, families, and communities, and are evaluating areas we might be able to help. This week we announced that The Rockefeller Foundation is committing $20 million to:

• address the needs of America’s workers, families, and vulnerable communities around the world
• create a better tracking and management system for COVID-19
• provide assistance in cities where we operate.

Supporting vulnerable families

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed a spotlight on the failure of the American dream. Forty percent of Americans lack $400 in savings to address emergencies and they are extremely impacted in this crisis. Nearly 40 million Americans struggle with food insecurity, with 30 million schoolchildren across the country relying on school meals for sustenance twice a day. The Foundation will be providing immediate assistance designed to help workers, families, and the most vulnerable communities dealing with a new reality that includes lost wages and increasing food and housing insecurity.

Strengthening public health

In keeping with its tradition of founding and supporting the practice of public health, the Foundation will support innovations that enable countries to respond better to the current outbreak and build capacity to identify and mitigate the spread of disease in future public health emergencies. In particular, its work will:

• align with and leverage the Foundation’s work to develop or enhance data-science tools geared towards rapid tracking and predicting the direction of a pandemic
• explore developing a pandemic-response tool to help civil society and governments track how they are responding and managing their response.

A challenge this large requires partners and the alignment of resources to reach the scale and scope needed to bend the COVID-19 curve. The Rockefeller Foundation will continue to work with other foundations, organizations, and investors to deepen its impact around these two critical focus areas. We will share additional information and resources in the coming days to help tide over the effect of the pandemic on many of our communities. More info is on their  social media channels for the latest. In the meantime, show your solidarity with the world and the World Health Organization by joining the #COVID19Fund today.

For over 100 years, we have leveraged our resources at critical moments to help the worlds’ most vulnerable communities. We are equally determined to meet this moment and to focus on those left behind by finding creative solutions using data, innovation, and partnerships.