As we continue to celebrate Black History Month, this week’s focus is on our commitment to the communities we serve. Through Republic Services Charitable Foundation and our National Neighborhood Promise program, we’ve supported neighborhood revitalization efforts across the country.
Spotlight: Ventilation improvements for small business in Atlanta through NeighborWorks America and the Republic Services Charitable Foundation’s Committed to Serve grants.
The COVID-19 pandemic posed unprecedented challenges and resulting crisis for small businesses across the country. Republic Services Charitable Foundation’s $1 million Committed to Serve grant to NeighborWorks America helped small businesses, including Marddy’s Kitchen in Atlanta, overcome these challenges.
Marddy’s Kitchen is a shared kitchen and retail space with a mission to preserve and promote culinary culture. Marddy’s customers, who are local home cooks in ethnic communities, help provide meals and enrichment to the neighborhood.
Through our grant, NeighborWorks America’s Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership supported Marddy’s to improve configuration, ventilation and obtain equipment related to new public health regulations implemented due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the renovations, Marddy’s was able to complete a food distribution project in the low-income community of Thomasville Heights. They were able to supply food at a lower cost and donated labor to help ensure that the community’s most vulnerable children and families had access to food during the pandemic. This project served an area of about 2,090 residents, about 90% of which are black. Read more about how Maddy’s Kitchen is making a difference in the community here.
