Fruits of MacKenzie Scott grants flow to equity farm projects in Buffalo, Syracuse regions (2024)

Three organizations received surprise, unrestricted grants from the Health Foundation for Western & Central New York to help improve health in rural communities and promote health equity.

Refugee and Immigrant Self-Empowerment, based in Syracuse and Buffalo, as well as Providence Farm Collective in Orchard Park, each received $50,000, while Finger Lakes Community Health in Sodus got $100,000.

The grants are part of the unrestricted $9 million gift made by American novelist and billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott – the woman who helped Jeff Bezos create Amazon – to the Health Foundation in October 2022 to aid the organization in its pursuit of achieving racial and socioeconomic health equity in Western and Central New York.

Scott, who was married to Bezos for 25 years, has made hundreds of donations from her $33 billion fortune via the Giving Pledge since the couple’s divorce in July 2019.

The latest grantees also will have the opportunity to partner with the foundation to produce a short video to convey their story and impact.

Nora OBrien-Suric, president of Health Foundation, commended the three organizations for their dedicated, “personalized and compassionate” approach toward improving rural health care.

Providence Farm Collective, established in 2019, aims to create farmer-led, community-rooted agriculture and food systems for people from underserved communities, including refugees and people of color. The farm collective began as a Somali Bantu community project in 2017 at the Providence Farm, a 9-acre horse farm in East Aurora, owned by Dr. Christopher Kerr. The nonprofit moved to Orchard Park in 2021 and continues its mission to address inequities in farmland and fresh food access.

“To be surprised by a no-strings-attached grant that allows our team to decide where that money gets spent is one dreamed about by all who work in nonprofit organization,” said Kristin Herman-Weiss, collective president and executive director.

The collective exists, she said in a news release, “because there are not systems in place that equitably provide affordable fresh food access or access to affordable farmland for new-entry farmers.”

Refugee and Immigrant Self-Empowerment, or RISE, has for two decades promoted self-sufficiency and increased food access for refugees and immigrants through agricultural programs that teach farming, marketing and access to culturally relevant food for consumption and sale. Their Syracuse Refugee Agricultural Program operates three farms: Community Gardens in Syracuse, a mixed vegetable farm in Oswego County and a goat farm in Onondaga County.

Finger Lakes Community Health is a federally qualified health center with 11 locations across the Finger Lakes region. It provides primary health care, regardless of a patient’s income status and ability to pay.

“In most cases, surprises concerning funding rarely result in good news,” said Haji Adan, executive director at RISE. “The unrestricted nature of these funds will ensure RISE has the resources required to fill gaps to service delivery and continue to empower New American community members during their path to self-sufficiency.”