Episcopal Impact Fund Announces 2024 Poverty Relief Grants
"From our earliest days, we have sought to create pathways out of poverty for our vulnerable neighbors. Our Poverty Relief Grants continue to fund essential programs that make a meaningful impact on the lives of individuals and families across the Bay Area." —Christina Alvarez, Executive Director, Episcopal Impact Fund
Episcopal Impact Fund has a rich history of supporting communities in need. For almost 50 years, the Impact Fund has been committed to funding programs that alleviate poverty for Bay Area residents. In the current affordable housing crisis, low-income households are in economic distress as high housing costs leave them less money to spend on necessities such as food, healthcare, or education. Our Poverty Relief Grants provide a safety net to families seeking stability and a path to self-sufficiency.
Most recently, working with long-term partners, we have focused our Poverty Relief Grants on organizations supporting our neighbors by providing food security, mental health, and safety net services. We fund food banks and perinatal mental health services. We support wraparound services for family-centered shelters, and we support addiction recovery services. We help at-risk seniors, and we fund case management services for new immigrants. Our Poverty Relief Grants have a broad and deep impact.
These organizations are at work throughout the Bay Area, serving local communities that are especially at risk — neighbors who are food insecure or experiencing homelessness, people exiting the justice system, women escaping domestic violence, asylum seekers, as well as organizations providing vital services to children and youth that help break the cycle of intergenerational poverty in the Bay Area.
We are grateful and humbled to support their heart-centered hard work.
Our 2024 Poverty Relief Grant recipients are:
Make It Home Make It Home helps Bay Area families and individuals transitioning out of crisis by using donated furniture to transform empty spaces into homes. [Focus area: Housing security]
All Saints Episcopal Church, San Leandro All Saints Food Pantry, established in 2008, distributed almost 250,000 pounds of food to food insecure residents of Alameda County last year. [Focus area: Food insecurity]
All Souls Episcopal Church, Berkeley For over 30 years, All Souls has hosted a monthly Open Door Dinner for unhoused neighbors in Berkeley. They are also expanding outreach to unsheltered neighbors, providing safety and shelter supplies. [Focus area: Food insecurity, safety net]
Bayview Mission Bayview Mission is a neighborhood hub in San Francisco, providing safety net items and summer camp resources to members of the Bayview community. [Focus area: Safety net]
Christ Episcopal Church, Alameda Christ Church Alameda provides shelter, showers, toiletries, meals, and a network of support to individuals experiencing homelessness in Alameda. [Focus area: Housing security]
Christ Episcopal Church, Sausalito Christ Church Sausalito provides substantial homemade meals to 25-30 food insecure and isolated seniors weekly in the Sausalito/Marin City area. [Focus area: Food insecurity]
Ec House (San Francisco Campus Christian Centers) Ecumenical House provides a "make your own sandwich" bar, as well as a food pantry, for food insecure students at San Francisco State University. [Focus area: Food insecurity]
Episcopal Church of the Nativity, San Rafael Church of the Nativity will create the “Nativity Community Center” to intentionally connect the nonprofit organizations that use their space, including The Street Chaplaincy. [Focus area: Safety net]
Grace Cathedral, San Francisco The Community Preschool at Grace Cathedral provides high-quality early childhood education, with a focus on building an intentionally socio-economically diverse student population. [Focus area: Education]
Grace Episcopal Church, Martinez Grace Episcopal Church is piloting a program to create temporary housing solutions for homeless individuals using portable accommodation containers. [Focus area: Housing security]
Holy Child and St. Martin Episcopal Church, Daly City Holy Child supports approximately 80 households experiencing food insecurity by providing healthy, fresh delicious groceries. [Focus area: Food insecurity]
Holy Family Episcopal Church, Half Moon Bay With the support of numerous civic and faith groups, Holy Family leads a community school backpack drive along the coast. Annually, the program serves over 450 low-income children, particularly the children of local migrant farm worker families, who receive a new backpack, and a tote filled with grade-appropriate school supplies. [Focus area: Safety net]
St. James Episcopal Church - Iglesia Episcopal de Santiago, Oakland Santiago assembles and distributes resource bags to neighbors experiencing homelessness. The kits contain shelf-stable food, hygiene products, and first aid items. [Focus area: Safety net]
St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church, Bolinas St. Aidan's hosts "Soup Saturdays" monthly, serving a communal meal to 25 food insecure neighbors. [Focus area: Food insecurity]
St. Alban's Episcopal Church, Albany St. Alban's works closely with Albany Thrives Together to provide community outreach programs, such as showers, laundry, and brown bag lunches, to low-income and unhoused neighbors in the East Bay. [Focus area: Safety net]
St. Francis of Assisi Episcopal Church, Novato The St. Francis Community Pantry provides food, hygiene products, and seasonal clothing to people in need in northern Marin County. [Focus area: Food insecurity]
St. Francis Episcopal Church, San Francisco St. Francis volunteers with the residents of Safe Harbor Shelter in South San Francisco. [Focus area: Safety net]
St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church, San Francisco Founded in 2000, The Food Pantry at St. Gregory provides free, healthy groceries for up to 600 hungry families every Saturday. St. Gregory's is proud to host the Pantry right around the altar in their church building. [Focus area: Food insecurity]
St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church, San Francisco St. John the Evangelist intends to grow into its identity as a multicultural community by expanding its offering of bilingual programs and services. [Focus area: Safety net]
St. John’s Episcopal Church, Oakland St. John’s VISION (Volunteers in Support of Oakland’s Needs) provides basic needs (food, clothing, shoes, blankets) to people experiencing homelessness in Alameda County. [Focus area: Safety net]
St. John’s Episcopal Church, Ross St. John’s Church makes and delivers meals for low-income and unhoused people in Marin County through its partnership with St. Vincent DePaul Society of Marin. [Focus area: Food insecurity]
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Palo Alto St. Mark’s collaborates with Correctional Institutions Chaplaincy to support trauma-informed chaplaincy services to incarcerated people in Santa Clara County. The program supports incarcerated individuals, the vast majority of whom are from poverty, in using writing to explore their memories, lives and dreams, offers spiritual support and volunteer interaction to promote healing and restoration. [Focus area: Justice and Safety]
St. Mary the Virgin Episcopal Church, San Francisco The Nueva Esperanza Accompaniment Team of St. Mary’s helps newly-arrived asylum-seekers secure the housing, financial, legal, and support resources they need to live independent lives of dignity while securing legal protection and eventually asylum in the United States. [Focus area: Justice and Safety]
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Belvedere St. Stephen’s Church makes and delivers over 100 nutritious meals a week for low-income and unhoused people in Marin County though its relationship with St. Vincent DePaul Society of Marin. [Focus area: Food insecurity]
St. Luke's Episcopal Church, San Francisco St. Luke's participates in the Interfaith Food Pantry, a cooperative effort between the San Francisco Food Bank and local churches. [Focus area: Food insecurity]
St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Oakland St. Paul's operates bimonthly food pantries, feeding up to 200 households in Oakland per pantry. [Focus area: Food insecurity]
Trinity + St Peter's Episcopal Church, San Francisco Trinity + St. Peter's assembles hygiene kits for distribution by Simply the Basics. [Focus area: Safety net]
