Nevada City, CA May 29, 2020 – The Nevada County Relief Fund has announced the first round of grant awards, totaling $210,000 boosting eight “safety-net” nonprofits in western Nevada County as well as the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation in eastern Nevada County, who are all providing a life line to our neighbors most in need, and twenty-eight small businesses from throughout the county heavily impacted by COVID-19.
The Relief Fund received 175 applications from small businesses for its micro-grants up to $5,000 each, and nearly two dozen applications for the “safety-net” grants ranging from $5,000 to $20,000 each. The combined requests totaled over $1,175,000, nearly six times more than what the Relief Fund’s Community Advisory Council had available to award. Additional grant cycles will occur every time the Relief Fund raises another $100,000.
“The extreme need for these funds reinforces our commitment to helping our neighbors. This first round of grants is just the beginning–we plan to award more grants as additional funds are raised in order to bolster our nonprofits and businesses; but to do that, we need your help,” stated the Relief Fund’s Community Advisory Council co-chairs, Leo Granucci and Sherry Bartolucci.
Small businesses that are here to stay
“This is a great day. It feels like I won the lottery!” exclaimed Drew Taylor, owner/proprietor of Dark Horse Coffee Roasters in Truckee. “The community of Truckee is quite special and it’s why my wife and I went into business. We wanted to create community, not just sell coffee.”
Drew and his wife have been serving up freshly roasted coffee beans and piping hot beverages fueling the caffeine needs of locals and visitors alike for over six years. “When the pandemic hit in mid-March, we abruptly closed our bustling cafe and continued meager operations for only wholesale orders and bagged coffee delivery and shipment. Income nearly halted overnight and we had to lay off all our employees,” Drew reported.
Now that they have been awarded a Nevada County Relief Fund micro-grant, Dark Horse Coffee Roasters can safely reopen, hire back their employees and get their small business back on track.
Leea Davis, owner and curator for over 20 years of downtown Nevada City’s Earth Store, which sells practical gifts for nature enthusiasts, had similar feelings to share when she learned about her grant award. “I am so grateful to the community for contributing to this fund. My business relies on foot traffic and I was really down to the bare bones with rent coming due again soon. Having this grant feels fantastic – I am on cloud nine right now.” Leea will be able to open her doors to her customers safely, restock inventory, and bring back her employees thanks to the Nevada County Relief Fund.
Keeping vital youth scholarships and cultural heritage alive
Since the onset of COVID-19, numerous community events have evaporated and one that has been around for 63 years now has the potential to keep giving back to the community. The Penn Valley Rodeo Community Association, unsure if they will be able to host the rodeo at all this year, was still reeling from last year’s rodeo getting rained out leaving them without the seed money needed to sustain the organization and put on the next rodeo. With grant funding awarded by the Nevada County Relief Fund, the Penn Valley Rodeo will be able to continue their support for the local community.
Teresa Dietrich, sponsorship chair and board member, shared, “Our organization supports keeping our great western heritage alive in our area and we provide for a number of scholarships for youth and also seed the scholarship fund for the Penn Valley Fire Protection District’s EMT scholarship. We have been making some really hard decisions and this grant has a huge impact on how we can pay for our obligations to the community. It feels like a 1200 lb. horse just got off my foot – it feels fantastic!”
“Safety-net” nonprofits stay focused on critical needs for County’s most vulnerable residents
Feeding hungry families, older adults and other vulnerable residents was the key theme in applications from the Food Bank of Nevada County, the Interfaith Food Ministry of Nevada County, and FREED Center for Independent Living, who all received the maximum grant award of $20,000 each from the Relief Fund.
The Food Bank reported that demand for its services has soared from 300-400 individuals each month to between 1,700 and 2,400 each week since the beginning of the pandemic. Similarly, calls to FREED from people with disabilities and secondary health conditions requesting groceries have more than doubled since the onset of COVID-19.
Quoted recently in The Union, Naomi Cabral, Executive Director of the Interfaith Food Ministry said, “We’re fortunate to live in such a great and generous place. We’re not going to let anyone go hungry here — we’re not that kind of community.”
The Relief Fund received twenty-one applications totaling over $300,000 from nonprofits focused on the rapid deployment of safety-net services to vulnerable populations including seniors, people who are homeless, people with disabilities, youth who are at-risk, families or individuals struggling to find access to food, shelter, childcare, and other critical needs.
About the Nevada County Relief Fund
The Nevada County Relief Fund was created through a partnership between the County of Nevada, Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital Foundation (SNMH Foundation, the Fund’s fiscal sponsor), Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation (TTCF), the Sierra Business Council (SBC), Center for Nonprofit Leadership (CNL), and the Economic Resource Council (ERC). In conjunction with TTCF’s Emergency Response Fund, the purpose of this effort is to mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis by directing vital resources to our most vulnerable neighbors, and support our small, rural businesses.
The Fund was established in April with a $100,000 “challenge grant” from the Nevada County Board of Supervisors. Since then, it has gained traction as a reliable way to give back to our unique small businesses and nonprofits that have been stretched to meet extreme community needs.
Please consider making a tax-deductible gift today that goes directly to assist Nevada County’s invaluable nonprofits and small businesses. For more information and to make a gift, please visit, www.nevcorelief.org
COMPLETE LIST OF AWARDEES
$110,000 to “Safety-net” nonprofits:
- Interfaith Food Ministry of Nevada County, $20,000
- FREED Center for Independent Living, $20,000
- Food Bank of Nevada County, $20,000
- Gold Country Community Services, $10,200
- Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation, $10,000
- The Booth Family Center, $8,150
- Sierra Roots, $6,650
- Community Beyond Violence, $7,500
- Child Advocates, $7,500
$100,000 to Small Businesses:
- Ironworks Gym, Grass Valley, $2,500
- Juliette Morris Williams – Jewelry, Mixed-media, Nevada City, $2,400
- The Washington Hotel, Washington, $5,000
- The Nest Family Resource, Grass Valley, $2,500
- The Nevada Theater, Nevada City, $5,000
- Coupe Sixty-One Hair Studio, Truckee, $2,500
- Dark Horse Coffee Roasters, Truckee, $5,000
- Grass Valley Crossfit, Grass Valley, $2,500
- Simply You Salon and Spa, Penn Valley, $2,500
- InnerRhythms, Inc., Truckee, $2,500
- Brad Henry Pottery, Truckee, $2,500
- Jack + Emmy, Truckee, $2,500
- Outside Inn, Nevada City, $5,000
- Word After Word Books, Truckee, $2,500
- Anew Day, Nevada City, $2,500
- North Columbia Schoolhouse Cultural Center, San Juan Ridge, $5,000
- Art Works Gallery, Grass Valley, $5,000
- Calla Lily Crepes, Nevada City, $3,600
- Alpenflow Studios, Truckee, $2,500
- Truckee Roundhouse Community Makerspace, Truckee, $2,500
- Penn Valley Community Rodeo Association, Penn Valley, $5,000
- The Earth Store, Nevada City, $5,000
- Off Broadway, Nevada City, $5,000
- Crumbunny Coffee Roasters, Nevada City, $4,000
- Painted Pink, Grass Valley, $2,500
- The Station – A Truckee Eatery, Truckee, $5,000
- Lola and Jack, Grass Valley, $5000
- Aikido’Ka, Grass Valley, $2500