MEMBER FOCUS: Ravi Respeto
In early March, all hands were on deck at United Way of Greater Charlottesville. The nonprofit’s President, Ravi Respeto, was devising a plan to help folks economically impacted by COVID-19 when the Community Foundation called.
The Foundation had just created an Emergency Response Fund and asked if United Way wanted to partner with them to assist with the dispersal of funding to clients. Quickly, the two nonprofits united, pulling in the city, the county, and the Cville Community Cares team. Before they knew it, a five-way partnership was born.
“I don’t think there was a partnership in the history of Cville that took municipalities, governments, and nonprofits coming together in such a quick way to come up with a program that ended up serving 18,000 individuals in over eight weeks.”
By June, the Emergency Response Fund phased into a Community Recovery Fund to help those most vulnerable to economic crises stabilize and rebuild in a new environment. Under Ravi’s leadership, United Way launched numerous programs that provide loans to businesses, mortgage and rental assistance to individuals, and other pathways toward financial stability through education and community collaboration.
The more Ravi worked with folks in our community, the more it became clear that many people are fighting two pandemics: COVID-19 and systemic racism. “It has been surreal to work with families to make sure they can get through this tough time while realizing that many of them are fighting generational poverty because of systemic racism. COVID has blown the top off the fact that this is an issue that didn’t just start because of COVID. It’s an issue that’s always been here.”
Ravi is committed to creating new programs at United Way that promote equity by interrogating structural systems that have led to economic and racial disparities. She is committed to providing interventions that allow people to economically stabilize and thrive. Join Ravi and United Way in their efforts in creating sustainable change → Donate here