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Rihanna, Jack Dorsey Donate $4.2 Million to Help Domestic Violence Victims Affected by COVID-19 Quarantine

Todd Spangler
·3-min read

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Rihanna and Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter and Square, are teaming up to help victims of domestic violence in Los Angeles affected by the stay-at-home order during the coronavirus pandemic.

Rihanna’s Clara Lionel Foundation (CLF) and Dorsey on Thursday announced a joint grant to the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles to address the current crisis among domestic violence victims in the city. CLF and Dorsey are each committing $2.1 million for a total of $4.2 million.

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According to the announcement, while CLF and Dorsey have launched the effort first in L.A., “victims of domestic violence exist all across the world, so this is just the beginning.”

Earlier this week, Dorsey announced that he was allocating $1 billion of his equity in Square to help fund COVID-19 relief efforts. Once the coronavirus crisis has passed, Dorsey said, he intends to dedicate the fund to supporting girls’ health and education initiatives and universal basic income (UBI) pilot programs.

Last week, CLF and Jay-Z’s Shawn Carter Foundation (SCF) announced $2 million in grants to COVID-19 response efforts to support undocumented workers, the children of front-line health workers and first responders, and incarcerated, elderly and homeless populations in New York City and Los Angeles. And in March, CLF announced $5 million in grants to on-the-ground partners working on the front lines of the coronavirus response to protect and prepare vulnerable and marginalized communities in the U.S., Caribbean and in Africa.

The $4.2 million in funding from Rihanna’s CLF and Dorsey will provide 10 weeks of support including shelter, meals and counseling for individuals and their children in Los Angeles suffering from domestic violence at a time when shelters are full and incidents are on the rise.

According to the Los Angeles Housing Authority, about 90 people per week (not including their children) have been turned away from domestic violence shelters in L.A. since the city’s Safer at Home Order was issued March 19. At a cost of approximately $125 per day, the grant will cover housing and food for 90 domestic violence victims per week, with an additional 90 victims every week thereafter for 10 weeks.

CLF, founded in 2012 by Robyn “Rihanna” Fenty, with community-based leaders and organizations around the world developing approaches to education and emergency response and preparedness. CLF will continue to be engaged in COVID-19 response efforts and is accepting donations via its website: claralionelfoundation.org.

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