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COVID-19 Response

Grants Awarded

In 2020 and 2021, the COVID-19 Community Response Fund awarded urgent funding to West Marin nonprofits providing essential services during the pandemic.

September 2021

  • Bolinas Community Land Trust – Bolinas
  • $3,000 · Coordinate and plan community forums in English and Spanish to help assess social work services needed to address the impacts of the pandemic in Bolinas and Stinson and to inform Health & Human Services as provider.
  • Community Land Trust Association of West Marin – Point Reyes Station
  • $15,000 · Create new systems and materials for outreach to and communication with the Latinx community, which has been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic in West Marin. Engage Latinx leadership in CLAM to increase affordable homes on an equitable basis in the Point Reyes area.

June 2021

  • KWMR – Point Reyes Station
  • $8,000 · Provide salary support for KWMR staff to coordinate the West Marin Equitable Communications project, which started in response to the urgent need for reliable information about COVID-19 in West Marin. With funding from the County of Marin, the project aims to expose and develop solutions to the many weaknesses and gaps in West Marin’s community media infrastructure as well as inequities in access to information among isolated seniors and the Latinx community. Coordination is critical to bringing relevant people together for creative collaboration.
  • Shoreline Unified School District – Tomales
  • $129,400 · Enhance the School District’s efforts to provide expanded summer programs and ongoing academic support to students of color and from low-income households who are suffering from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, school closures, and disparity. The grant includes funding for stipends for student counselors, family incentives to support the ongoing participation of students, incentive pay for family advocates, and supplementary salary for teaching support. This is the first time the District has offered a six-week summer program and ongoing after-school academic tutoring for students facing multiple challenges to their educational achievements and who attend West Marin School, Tomales Elementary School, and Tomales High School.

May 2021

  • West Marin Community Services – Point Reyes Station
  • $5,000 · Support the hire of an organizational development consultant to assess and recommend structural changes to improve the board /executive director relationship, increase effective service delivery, and build capacity to respond to large-scale emergencies and disasters.

April 2021

  • San Geronimo Valley Community Center – San Geronimo
  • $15,000 · Strengthen an emerging cohort of four West Marin nonprofits that currently provide rental and financial assistance to households struggling with poverty. This grant enables the cohort to hire a consultant and develop an innovative, upstream strategy to support the financial recovery and long-term stability of community members whose circumstances have been worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

March 2021

  • Bolinas Community Center – Bolinas
  • $10,000 · Provide ongoing support for the COVID-19 Spontaneous No-Cost Meal Program for people facing food scarcity as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This program sources local food whenever possible and provides employment for local residents.
  • Kids Cooking For Life – Larkspur
  • $5,232 · Support 60 students (“Junior Chefs”) to learn about nutritional concepts, read receipts, prepare healthy meals for their families, and receive 480 meal kits.

October 2020

  • Bolinas Community Center – Bolinas
  • $15,000 · Support for the Learning Hub at the Bolinas Community Center in partnership with Tamalpais High School. The grant contributes to a dedicated learning space with adult supervision for students living in Bolinas and Stinson during school closure, with internet connectivity and free lunches. Many of the participating students are English language learners.
  • New Media Learning – San Rafael
  • $32,300 · Support for the Learning Hub at West Marin School serving students from low income and under-served households who face barriers to distance-learning during school closure. The Hub provides a safe space with adult supervision, high-speed internet, and free lunches. This grant covers the cost of staffing.
  • Shoreline Unified School District – Tomales
  • $23,650 · Address the barriers and inequities facing rural students during school closure with year-long wi-fi for 77 low-income households to strengthen distance learning.

September 2020

  • Bolinas Community Center – Bolinas
  • $10,000 · To continue support for the COVID-19 Spontaneous No-Cost Meal Program which provides 300+ hot meals weekly to people facing food scarcity as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and fires, as well as community members who face food crisis as a daily reality, incuding families with small children and older adults. The program sources local food whenever possible and provides employment for local residents.
  • KWMR – Point Reyes Station
  • $8,000 · To support a staff member of the radio station coordinate a regional assessment of communication pathways in West Marin and determine how they can be connected and improved to ensure critical information in English and Spanish reaches people who are excluded in West Marin.
  • Shoreline Acres Preschool – Tomales
  • $5,100 · For the purchase of professional cordless electrostatic backpack sanitizer to disinfect three early childhood schools on a daily basis in the most efficient, eco-friendly manner possible, serving children in Bolinas-Stinson, Point Reyes-Inverness, and Tomales.

June 2020

  • Community Action Marin – San Rafael
  • $7,500 · Strengthen family and community learning to support young children in Bolinas during a time of rapid change and loss of services
  • Shoreline Acres Preschool – Tomales
  • $6,000 · Emergency relief funds for 14 families with young children.

May 2020

  • Bolinas Stinson Beach School Foundation – Bolinas
  • $3,500 · Enable new leadership to raise money during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide the Bolinas-Stinson School with scholarships and specialist teachers during the 2020–21 school year. More than 50% of students at the school qualify for free lunches.
  • ExtraFood – Kentfield
  • $10,000 · Food assistance for West Marin.
  • Legal Aid of Marin – San Rafael
  • $3,600 · With nonprofit partners in West Marin, Legal Aid of Marin is offering a series of phone calls and webinars in Spanish and English to provide information on recent changes in rental law in Marin County, address individual tenant concerns, and help advocate for people who are afraid and unable to secure their rights during this uncertain time.
  • Shakespeare at Stinson – Stinson Beach
  • $7,500 · Switching from an in-person festival, this virtual concert delivers music and art in May to West Marin communities in a family-friendly, substance-free environment. The event features local musicians and artists and pays fees for their involvement.
  • Tomales Bay Youth Center – Point Reyes Station
  • $7,500 · Strengthen and expand social media and online connection among youth and young adults in West Marin during the shelter in place and next phases of the COVID-19 response, so they can share information and opportunities, provide mutual support, and develop their knowledge and skills.
  • West Marin Community Services – Point Reyes Station
  • $12,500 · To expand staffing of the food pantry and improve online information for rental assistance applications.

April 2020

  • Bolinas Community Center – Bolinas
  • $10,000 · General operating support to ensure ongoing food preparation and distribution for people facing hardship, and maintaining clean and sanitary rest rooms
  • Bolinas Community Land Trust – Bolinas
  • $6,000 · General operating support to ensure rent and emergency assistance for those in greatest need.
  • Community Land Trust Association of West Marin – Point Reyes Station
  • $10,000 · Rental assistance and emergency support for CLAM’s 18 low-income households in Point Reyes, Inverness, Inverness Park and Stinson Beach during extended shelter-in-place.
  • Gallery Route One – Point Reyes Station
  • $5,000 · To create online videos of art lessons so that GRO’s Artists in the Schools program can reach and enrich West Marin students at home.
  • Papermill Creek Children’s Corner – Point Reyes Station
  • $10,000 · Cash assistance and educational supplies and materials for 21 families with young children facing hardship.
  • Shoreline Unified School District – Tomales
  • $10,000 · Spanish and English books for 450 students and their families in Shoreline Unified School District during school and library closure.
  • West Marin Community Services – Point Reyes Station
  • $10,000 · To provide emergency support to the homeless, near homeless, and others facing hardship who are not eligible for other subsidized programs.

March 2020

  • Bolinas Community Land Trust – Bolinas
  • $6,750 · Distribution of food and basic necessities for 80 undocumented workers in Bolinas and Stinson.
  • Shoreline Acres Preschool – Tomales
  • $6,000 · Cash assistance for families with young children in need.
  • Tomales Town Hall – Tomales
  • $3,500 · Keeping the food pantry open in the coming weeks for the distribution of free food.
Rows of freshly prepared meals in takeout containers on a kitchen counter