Nine local affiliates of Rebuilding Together will receive a total of $1 million in grants from the Republic Services Charitable Foundation to help revitalize locally owned small businesses that have been disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The funding is part of Republic Services’ Committed to Serve initiative, which was launched this spring to help support the Company’s employees, customers and communities through the pandemic.
“Republic Services is proud to partner with Rebuilding Together, which is doing critical revitalization work in neighborhoods across the country,” said Jon Vander Ark, president. “Through our Committed to Serve initiative, we have been supporting our employees and customers through targeted economic stimulus. Today’s announcement of these revitalization projects brings that targeted support to local small businesses, which are the cornerstone our communities.”
The selected Rebuilding Together projects are designed to address very specific needs in local communities. Examples include repairs to an immigrant-owned Ethiopian restaurant in need of safely distanced seating in Roxbury, Mass.; structural renovations and improvements to a fruit stand, bakery and market in San Diego’s Barrio Logan neighborhood; and critical repairs to six minority and women-owned shops along a block in Washington, D.C.
“Small businesses are an integral part of a thriving community. Many of these small businesses have experienced hardships and have had to close due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Caroline Blakely, president and CEO of Rebuilding Together. “We are proud to partner with Republic Services to support the critical needs of small businesses across the country as they return to normal business operations.”
Individual grants ranging from $50,000 to $125,000 will support affiliates in the following markets:
- Rebuilding Together City of Angels
- Rebuilding Together San Diego
- Rebuilding Together D.C. Alexandria
- Rebuilding Together Boston
- Rebuilding Together St. Louis
- Rebuilding Together Northeast Ohio
- Rebuilding Together Houston
- Rebuilding Together San Antonio
- Rebuilding Together Richmond (Virginia)
Rebuilding Together, Habitat for Humanity International and NeighborWorks each received $1 million in funding through Republic’s Committed to Serve initiative. Committed to Serve is a $20 million initiative that also included a $6 million investment in local restaurants for meals for the Company’s frontline essential workers and $11 million in gift cards for employees to spend in their local economies.
The Committed to Serve grants will strengthen Republic’s partnership with the three organizations, whose work the Republic Services Charitable Foundation already supports through its National Neighborhood Promise program. These charitable efforts support Republic Services’ long-term sustainability goal to positively impact 20 million people by 2030.