Community Care Fund

The Community Care Fund (CCF), administered by the Leeway Foundation, is a targeted emergency relief initiative supporting artists who are former Leeway grantees residing in southeastern Pennsylvania and adjacent New Jersey counties. Initially created as a COVID-19 Relief Fund in April 2020, the program was designed to help past Leeway grant recipients experiencing urgent financial difficulties due to the pandemic. Since its inception, the fund has evolved into a broader emergency resource. By January 2025, the Community Care Fund had redistributed $681,600 through 454 grants, responding to critical needs for individuals who lack access to traditional safety nets. The fund specifically supports marginalized artists, including people of color, immigrants, LGBTQIA+ individuals, low-income individuals, and people with disabilities. In 2025, the Community Care Fund continues to provide grants of up to $1,250 to eligible artists facing emergency and essential needs. The fund prioritizes housing, utilities, medical expenses, food, caregiving, and other urgent essentials. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis and evaluated in the order received. Due to limited funds and high demand, Leeway emphasizes that not all applicants will be funded and encourages thoughtful self-assessment of need. Applicants must be Leeway Foundation grantees currently living in Bucks, Camden, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, or Philadelphia County. Additionally, they must demonstrate pressing financial hardship. Artists who received a Transformation Award in 2024 or who have already received $1,250 in Community Care Fund grants during the 2025 calendar year are not eligible. Applications are submitted exclusively online and must be complete to be considered. Incomplete applications are rejected, with notice provided via email if one was included. Applicants unable to access or use the online form can request phone support by contacting Melissa Hamilton via email (mhamilton@leeway.org) or by phone (215-728-9274). Applications are reviewed twice per month by a rotating panel of community-based artists and cultural producers. Notification is issued within 2–3 weeks of submission, with grant payments made within 5–7 business days of notification, either by direct deposit or check. The application process is intentionally designed to be simple and accessible, relying on trust in applicants’ good intent. The review panel assesses whether the stated need qualifies as urgent and essential rather than asking artists to make a competitive case for funding. CCF differs from other Leeway programs in that it is not project-based and has no post-award reporting requirement. The funds are unrestricted, considered taxable income, and require a W-9 for applicants receiving over $600 in a calendar year. A 1099 form will be issued as applicable. The Community Care Fund follows a quarterly cycle in 2025. Applications are accepted continuously, but funding is capped per cycle. Cycles are: Cycle 1 (Feb 5–Mar 31), Cycle 2 (Apr 1–Jun 30), Cycle 3 (Jul 1–Sep 30), and Cycle 4 (Oct 1–Nov 30). Within each cycle, applications are reviewed and processed in semi-monthly intervals with published notification dates ranging from February through December. If the cycle's fund cap is reached, the fund closes until the start of the next cycle. No public list of prior recipients is available, and all application details are kept confidential. Aggregate data may be anonymized and shared for advocacy purposes. Past support for the fund has come from philanthropic partners such as the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Independence Public Media Foundation, and William Penn Foundation, among others. Leeway continues to operate the Community Care Fund to provide crucial safety net resources for artists with immediate emergency needs in its service region.

The application is noncompetitive and should be kept simple and direct. The panel only verifies if the request meets emergency criteria.