Here’s how Lexington nonprofits will spend $6.4 million in federal COVID money

Beth Musgrave
Charles Bertram/cbertram@herald-leader.com

For many it’s just a number — 1,600 square feet.

But for the two women who will soon move into a new duplex, that 1,600 square feet will be a new beginning, said Deb Nickel, director of grant services for Natalie’s Sisters, a nonprofit that helps more than 400 sexually exploited and trafficked women each year.

“For two women who are most vulnerable in our community, it will be everything,” Nickel said. “It’s tough to find a job if you don’t have an address.”

Thanks to a more than $366,000 in grant money from the city of Lexington, Natalie’s Sisters is able to purchase and renovate a duplex.

“On behalf of the two women who will be the first tenants of the duplex this grant will purchase, but also on behalf of the 400-plus women we reach every year, we want to say thank you to this community for its generosity and for its compassion,” Nickel said during a Wednesday press conference.

Natalie’s Sisters was one of 23 agencies to be awarded one-time capital grants from a pool of $6.4 million from the city’s $121 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding. The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council gave final approval of the $6.4 million at Tuesday night’s meeting.

The city sets aside a little more than $3 million each year for nonprofits to pay for homeless services, after school programs and other safety net programs.

However, this is the first time the city has been able to give one-time money for much-needed and often long-delayed capital projects, said Mayor Linda Gorton.

“Nonprofits often find that grants they qualify for cannot be used for capital expenses,” Gorton said.

The $6.4 million will be spread over 45 different projects, Gorton said.

“These nonprofit capital grants will make it possible for agencies to have bigger spaces, functioning vans and updated technology, for example,” said Kacy Allen-Bryant, the city’s commissioner for social services.

Allen-Bryant spearheaded the scoring of the competitive grant proposals. The city received 138 project proposals totaling $21.1 million.

The criteria for scoring the proposals included serving low-income, under-served or marginalized Fayette County residents, feasibility and ability to meet American Rescue Plan requirements, which includes having all funds spent before April 20, 2024.

Terry Mullins, executive director of Moveable Feast, said the group will use its allocation of $297,341 to do much-needed improvements in the nonprofit’s kitchen, like replacing decrepit equipment, and purchase a new van. Moveable Feast delivers meals to AIDS patients and those in hospice care.

The nonprofit, which has delivered just shy of 700,000 hot meals over the past 24 years, has long needed updates to the former restaurant it uses as its base.

“We will get new electricity so we are not blowing the circuit breakers when we run the microwave and the mixer at the same time,” Mullins said.

Many nonprofit groups will use their capital grants for new vans, including the Children’s Advocacy Center, The Refuge Clinic and God’s Pantry Food Bank.

Legal Aide of the Bluegrass, which serves poor clients in civil cases, including evictions, will use its $693,134 for new office space. New Beginnings Bluegrass, which serves people with mental illness, will use its $500,000 to help purchase property for 24 one-bedroom units.

Other groups will use the money to fix leaky roofs, replace HVAC units, purchase new computers and upgrade security systems.

Here’s the list of nonprofit agencies that received money through the American Rescue Plan Act grants:

  • Arbor Youth Services, Inc. $324,104

  • Hospice of the Bluegrass, Inc., Bluegrass Care Navigators $681,470

  • Bluegrass Council of the Blind, Inc. $70,29

  • BIA Education Foundation, Inc. $343,101

  • Central Christian Church (DOC), Inc. $248,254

  • Children’s Advocacy Center of the Bluegrass $37,295

  • Chrysalis House, Inc. $53,502

  • Community Action Council $440,022

  • Easter Seals Cardinal Hill $250,000

  • God’s Pantry Food Bank, Inc. $479,833

  • Greenhouse17, Inc. $275,648

  • Hope Center, Inc. $162,318

  • Legal Aid of the Bluegrass $693,134

  • Lexington Leadership Foundation, Inc. $412,128

  • Moveable Feast Lexington, Inc. $297,341

  • Natalie’s Sisters, Inc. $336,655

  • New Beginnings, Bluegrass, Inc. $500,000

  • Open Door Church, Inc. $215,088

  • Sayre Christian Village $60,617

  • The Nest - Center for Women, Children and Families $54,603

  • the Refuge Clinic $78,000

  • United Way of the Bluegrass, Inc. $248,106

  • Urban League of Lexington $156,724

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