Leeway Foundation is taking a pause in early 2022
We want to share with you---Leeway's supporters and constituents----our decision to temporarily change our funding calendar in 2022 to make space for listening and reflection on how we can best serve our communities in this dramatically altered, and still changing, environment.
In March 2020, Leeway began to make adjustments to our process and systems required by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic; we started the WOO Relief Fund in April 2020 and continued with our existing grant programs through 2020. This year, in addition to the existing grant programs, we continued support for the essential needs of Leeway’s grantee community through the Community Care Fund and implemented a new residency program.
Like many of our peer organizations, the pandemic caused Leeway staff to re-think, in real-time, how we do our work in very fundamental ways, programmatically and administratively. With this in mind, the Foundation will pause most of its external programming during the first quarter of 2022.
Taking this pause will provide Leeway’s staff with time to think with each other and members of our community without the pressure of the next deadline as we reflect on questions like:
- how do we honor the core intentions that ground Leeway’s grantmaking process in this changed environment?
- how do we continue to meet people where they are and provide different entry points for folks – virtual and analog? and
- what does shared space/radical hospitality look like now as we balance the need to follow pandemic protocols for staff and community members’ safety and well-being?
The timing of the Leeway pause means there will be no March 1st Art and Change Grant (ACG) deadline in 2022. However, beginning February 1, 2022, we will continue our Window of Opportunity (WOO) funding streams, open to Leeway grantees. These streams can support time-sensitive opportunities through the traditional WOO Grant or immediate and essential need support through the Community Care Fund. The budget traditionally allocated to the March ACG cycle will be used to support the Care Fund.
We appreciate your understanding and continuing support for Leeway at this pivotal time, and we look forward to engaging with you in the Spring!
In gratitude,
Brittnie, Denise, Melissa and Rachael
