6 Every day, Seble Argaw comes to work as executive director of the Adbar Ethiopian Women’s Alliance in Cambridge knowing there will be a fresh crisis. One woman came to her after losing her job; she couldn’t cover her rent. “I told her not to give up on herself. If there is a problem, there has to be a solution,” says Seble. Cambridge-based nonprofits like Adbar are presented with all kinds of problems every day. Their task is to find solutions, and our task is to help them enrich and support the daily lives of city residents, especially the community’s most vulnerable. For Y2Y, the problem is a safe place to sleep for young adults ages 18 to 24 who are experiencing homelessness. For under-funded childcare providers, it is the lack of staff capacity to address administrative and opera- tional tasks. For our community, the Community Fund is part of the solution. We distribute grants of all sizes through the fund. Some grants are given to help great ideas grow in Cambridge, such as the United Way’s Shared Services Initiative, supporting childcare providers with adminis- GRANTMAKING The Community Fund: Where there’s a problem, there’s a solution ADBAR ETHIOPIAN WOMEN’S ALLIANCE Adbar helps hundreds of low-income women and their families transition from poverty to self-sufficiency every year. Adbar promotes women’s literacy, builds community, and connects people to services like Get Connected Clinic, which trains people in computer repair, offering a lifetime warranty. It received a $6,500 CCF grant in 2018. Photo by Jeffrey Blackwell Y2Y WAS FOUNDED BY HARVARD GRADUATES Sam Greenberg and Sarah Rosenkrantz, Y2Y is the nation’s first student-run shelter and every night houses up to 27 young people between the ages of 18 to 24. Many are experiencing homelessness because they’re fleeing abusive home situations, grew up in foster care, or are members of the LGBTQ+ community who left home due to lack of support from their family. It received a $7,500 CCF grant in 2018. Source: Based on Cambridge Homeless Point-in-Time Count: 2012–2018. Photo by Y2Y There were approximately 55 homeless youth sheltered in Cambridge on a given night in 2018