Thirty $10,000 general operating grants will be distributed to grassroots, community-based organizations, addressing quality of life needs in Kensington, Harrowgate, and Fairhill

PHILADELPHIA — The City of Philadelphia today announced the launch of the 2023 grant cycle for the Kensington Community Resilience Fund (KCR Fund), a public-private-community partnership between community members, City government, regional funders, and the Scattergood Foundation, focused on building resilience and improving the quality of life in the greater Kensington community. 

The KCR Fund anticipates $300,000 in new funding will be distributed during the 2023 grant cycle, building upon $400,000 in grants that were previously distributed to 40 organizations during the first and second grant cycles. New for this cycle is an operating and facilitation partnership with the Scattergood Foundation, an original partner in launching and investing in the KCR Fund. 

“We could not be more thrilled to see the Kensington Community Resilience Fund move into a third granting cycle,” said Mayor Jim Kenney. “This important community initiative is a direct result of the relationships the City has forged with residents and partners in Kensington, Harrowgate, and Fairhill since the Philadelphia Resilience Project was initiated back in 2018. To know that residents will have directed the distribution of at least $700,000 in grants by this summer is a source of great pride and shows what we can accomplish when community, philanthropy, and the public sector come together.”

The KCR Fund uses a participatory grantmaking process that places the power to make funding decisions in the hands of those who know best – community members. Residents and community leaders have been integral to the process, from setting funding priorities and eligibility criteria to reviewing applications to decide which programs and organizations will receive funding. 

“Over the last five years, we have seen how community-driven grantmaking alters traditional power dynamics,” said Joe Pyle, President of the Scattergood Foundation. “The Kensington Community Resilience Fund will continue to galvanize the community and support bold and impactful organizations.”

Through its participatory model and by incorporating capacity building and a peer learning community for grantees, the model ensures that funded organizations speak directly to the needs and priorities of community residents while deepening their connections to other organizations and residents working and volunteering in the community. 

Summer Harran, Chief Development Strategist at KCR Fund grantee Ed Snider Youth Hockey and Education said, “The KCR Fund’s participatory grantmaking model was unique and unlike funding models our team has seen before. Being selected to receive funding by members of our community was a tremendous honor. Snider is continuing to build deeper roots in the Kensington community and our grant from the KCR Fund helped to advance this goal.”

“KCRF has made space to build and empower community through this learning-funding model. They aren’t giving us fish. They are teaching us how to fish!,” said Harrowgate resident Sonja Bingham who participated in the KCR Fund Community Granting Group and was a funding recipient through the Kensington Meals Group project that was fiscally sponsored by Impact Services. The group has been working to bring community message boards that can address a core focus area of the KCR Fund – connecting residents to resources. “The ability to inform the community of the many ways they can be involved and heard has had a tremendous impact on empowering those who are often left out of the necessary conversations that shape our community. Making space to inform and provide resources will have even that much more impact.”

Grants can support a wide range of uses and are intended to give organizations and projects as much flexibility as possible to carry out their work supporting the Kensington community. Organizations must focus on at least one of the following focus areas identified by community residents along with nonprofit, civic, and faith-based leaders:

• Public Safety 
• Youth Development 
• Workforce Development and Training
• Beautification and Blight Removal
• Connecting Residents to Resources
• Building Resilience and Addressing Community Trauma

Recognizing that many neighborhood groups do not yet have 501c3 designation, applicants without the designation may apply through fiscal sponsors. The KCR Fund and some of its applicants partnered with local nonprofit agencies such as Impact Services, HACE, and New Kensington Community Development Corporation (NKCDC) to serve as fiscal sponsors.

How to apply:

Beginning Tuesday, March 14, 2023, eligible organizations may apply for a grant from the Kensington Community Resilience Fund using the online application on the Scattergood Foundation’s website.  The application window closes on Friday, April 14, 2023 at 5:00 p.m.

All materials and the funding application will be available in Spanish. A printable copy of the March 2023 Request for Proposals can be downloaded here:

• English
• Spanish

Interested organizations should attend one of two upcoming information sessions to learn more about the application process and funding opportunity: 

• Thursday, March 23 from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
• Friday, March 24 from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.

More About the Fund

The Kensington Community Resilience Fund was created to address the critical quality of life wide impacts of the opioid crisis in Kensington, Harrowgate, and Fairhill. The KCR Fund works to advance the following core goals:

• To promote wellness, build resilience, and improve the quality of life in the greater Kensington community
• To increase agency and support equity and racial/social justice by having community partners and residents direct funding decisions
• To build cohesion and connectivity among community providers, residents, and city agencies to support collaboration, information sharing, and alignment of services 
• To expand capacity of participants – both organizations and individuals to pursue sustainable, quality-of life focused programming to support the community
• To serve as a catalyst and build the infrastructure to support long-term, sustained investment and partnership with Funders in the Kensington community

How to Support the Fund:

The KCR Fund is currently funded by the City of Philadelphia along with generous support from the Scattergood Foundation, Patricia Kind Family Foundation, the Nelson Foundation and the Douty Foundation. The Fund welcomes additional contributions from foundation, corporate and individual donors. 

Please contact Ashley Feuer-Edwards (ashley@afestrategies.com) with any questions or to discuss a gift to the KCR Fund.