July 12, 2020
Southwest Folklife Alliance Receives $150,000 from Community Foundation for Southern Arizona and The David and Lura Lovell Foundation for Documenting Occupational Folklife in End-of-Life Care
The Southwest Folklife Alliance (SFA) is one of 12 nonprofits awarded funding by The Community Foundation for Southern Arizona (CFSA) and The David and Lura Lovell Foundation to cooperatively address issues related to the awareness, understanding, and availability of end-of-life care, particularly for underserved and vulnerable communities.
The foundations are offering strategic, multi-year grants to help change the narrative of how we plan for and experience death and dying in Southern Arizona. The current funds total $3,656,534, of which $150,000 will go to SFA, a partner in the Arizona End of Life Care Partnership. SFA will work with UA Public Folklorist, Dr. Maribel Alvarez, to train a cohort of ethnographers to conduct an occupational folklife study of informal wellness workers along the end-of-life continuum of care. The research will educate the public about the methods, opportunities, and barriers associated with advance care directives in historically marginalized diverse communities. Research and stories gathered will be shared with the public via ethnographic reports, stories and interviews in SFA’s online journal, BorderLore, and an exhibit (Spring 2022) at the Arizona State Museum.
The project aims to understand and honor cultural competencies and traditional knowledge as applied to end-of-life caregiving practices and planning and to amplify stories and methods of end-of-life care workers in order to demystifying their work, share best cultural practices, reduce stigma, and connect audiences to end-of-life care planning options.
SFA’s Continuum: Multicultural Expressions in End of Life program has provided education through cultural literacy and community engagement with diverse populations throughout Tucson and Pima County since 2014.
The funding partnership between the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona and The Lovell Foundation began in 2017 when the two foundations came together to award more than $3 million to support end-of-life care programs.
Additional funds for the 2020-2023 grant cycle went to Banner Health Foundation, Catholic Community Services of Southern Arizona, Dunbar Coalition, El Rio Health, Interfaith Community Services, Pima Council on Aging, Southern Arizona Senior Pride, Step Up to Justice, Tu Nidito Children and Family Services, Tucson Medical Center Foundation, United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona (support for Arizona End-of-Life Care Partnership).
The Community Foundation for Southern Arizona began supporting end-of-life care in 2010 as an original funder of the community-wide Elder Initiative (now the ELDER Alliance). After the tragic and sudden death of Shaaron Kent, a portion of her estate came to CFSA to support three areas she felt passionate about, one of which was hospice programs in Southern Arizona.
“The Community Foundation for Southern Arizona is honored to steward Shaaron Kent’s legacy to the community through our End-of-Life Care funding partnership with the Lovell Foundation,” shared Kelly Huber, Director of Community Investments at CFSA. “Her endowment fund allows us to award multi-year grants to organizations addressing end-of-life care issues and the universal experiences of death, dying, and grieving. The increase in awareness of end-of-life care and in the services available to underserved members of our community compared to three years ago is a testament to the power of nonprofit and funding organizations working together to address complex issues.”
The David and Lura Lovell Foundation envisions a community where all people have access to integrative approaches to health care and wellness throughout the spectrum of life.
“The Lovell Foundation is proud to continue our joint support for The Partnership with the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona,” said John Amoroso, Executive Director of the Lovell Foundation. “Together, we are helping to create a culture-shift in the way we talk about, prepare for, and care for ourselves and our loved ones at end of life in Southern Arizona and beyond. A global pandemic and the exposure of racial inequities in health care, especially end-of-life care, has only heightened the need for this work.”
Learn more about the Arizona End of Life Care Partnership and the collective work being done in Southern Arizona to encourage compassionate, honest conversations about mortality at azendoflifecare.org.
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About the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona: Since 1980, the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona (CFSA) has been a trusted philanthropic partner helping individuals, families, businesses, and nonprofits work together to create a stronger community. These funding partnerships allow CFSA to improve the quality of life throughout Southern Arizona by stewarding donor and community resources to measurably affect change. To date, CFSA has awarded over $200 million in grants and scholarships to nonprofits and educational institutions. For more information, visit www.cfsaz.org or call (520) 770-0800.
About The David and Lura Lovell Foundation: Over the past 25 years, the Lovell Foundation has awarded more than $ $33.6 million in grants to more than 100 nonprofits in the areas of Integrative Health and Wellness, Mental Health, Youth Access to the Arts and Gender Parity. The end of life care and planning initiative falls under Integrative Health and Wellness, working to make available integrative modalities and support individual and family choice across the life continuum. For more information, visit www.lovellfoundation.org or call (520) 325-3656.