Ford Family Foundation Partners To Help Communities Affected By Wildfires

The Ford Family Foundation has partnered with the Meyer Memorial Trust and the Oregon Community Foundation to help collaboratively manage the 2020 Community Rebuilding Fund. The three foundations provided $3 million in seed funding but since have gotten corporate support from the Nike Foundation, Weyerhaeuser, Apple, Facebook, Wells Fargo, Starbucks Foundation and donations from thousands of individuals. The fund is now at $5 million and will be dedicated to helping Oregon communities recover from the state’s worst fire season on record. On September 14 Governor Kate Brown asked the three foundations to manage the fund which aims to support communities and Oregonians struck by the wildfires over the long term. “This fund says a lot about the strength of our collective commitment to the future of Oregon," said Anne Kubisch, president of The Ford Family Foundation. "For years The Ford Family Foundation has built long term relationships with partners in communities severely affected by the wildfires. We'll keep listening to rural residents, leaders and organizations to learn how we can best support them through local efforts. We're here for the long haul." Having the three foundations involved will help bring in each organizations expertise to this rebuilding effort. • The Ford Family Foundation, with roots in Southern Oregon, has a deep understanding of rural Oregonians and has worked closely with many of the towns and communities hardest hit by the wildfires for more than six decades. • Meyer Memorial Trust focuses on ensuring the most vulnerable Oregonians flourish, and is committed to ensure that particularly hard hit Latinx, Tribal and timber communities are centered in rebuilding efforts. • Oregon Community Foundation will provide infrastructure for the fund and utilize its experience mobilizing and deploying statewide resources to communities where they are needed most, and activate experience bringing together rural and urban communities, diverse community leaders and donors. The fund will address the state’s mid- to long-term needs to rebuild systems of support for communities, including housing, health care, education and employment. The state’s vulnerable residents — Latinx, Tribal and rural communities — have been disproportionately impacted by the wildfire and will be a core focus of 2020 Community Rebuilding Fund grants.