As the COVID-19 health crisis affects nearly all aspects of our lives, we are most focused on the health and safety of our Kennedy Wilson family, including our employees, their loved ones and our extended family made up of the thousands of people who live and work at Kennedy Wilson properties. Our existing IT infrastructure and business continuity planning enabled us to pivot quickly during an uncertain time and maintain connection across all levels of the company. Our communications have also enabled us to nimbly step up efforts to support our tenants and residents across our global portfolio with enhanced cleaning procedures at our properties, new virtual leasing platforms and individualized guidance in securing government financial assistance for our small business commercial tenants.
We are proud of our employees and our partners who have spent recent weeks identifying and executing on the ways we can best help our community members most affected by this pandemic. Our Charitable Foundation, with the participation of our Senior Management Team, has pledged significant financial contributions to global and local relief efforts working to address the pandemic.
This Spring, we accelerated over $120,000 in grants to our nonprofit partners who needed immediate relief as they provide critical support to provide food and shelter for the most vulnerable populations, enhance access to education for underserved youth and provide health services to our communities.
Our recent donations include support for:
- The Ireland Funds, which promotes and supports peace, culture, education and community development across the island of Ireland and among Irish communities around the world. The donations will be used to provide immediate aid in response to COVID-19 through food and food distribution, disability support, fighting domestic and child abuse, providing elderly services, promoting access to education, mental health and community support.
- Providing 600 meals per week through the COVID-19 crisis to the Downtown Women’s Center to help feed women experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles. This assistance gives the facility’s kitchen staff the opportunity to focus on cleanliness and prepare for their next day of in-house cooking. Residents are provided individual, boxed meals, that they can enjoy in a “socially distanced” setting.
- Donating computers to the Senior Class of the USC’s Neighborhood Academic Initiative, a rigorous and comprehensive seven-year pre-college program designed to prepare students from South and East Los Angeles for admission to a college or university. The computers will enable the Seniors to complete their studies through the end of the school year.
- Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, which provides pediatric health care and helps patients more than half a million times each year in a setting designed just for their needs.
- Shelter Partnership, which addresses the causes of homelessness by building the capacity of community-based agencies, developing resources for affordable housing, and providing decades of housing policy and expertise to state and local government.
- Union Rescue Mission, one of the largest missions of its kind in the United States, providing support to men, women and children experiencing homelessness in Downtown Los Angeles.
- Inner City Law Center, a non-profit law firm that provides free legal services to the poorest and most vulnerable residents of Los Angeles. ICLC promotes access to decent, safe and fully habitable housing for the enormous number of homeless and working-poor families and individuals living in Los Angeles’ inner city neighborhoods.
