Emergency Relief for Yoga Professionals
In response to the onset of COVID-19, the Yoga Alliance Foundation (YAF) worked in partnership with the global non-profit Ivy Child International to establish the Emergency Relief Fund—an effort designed to offer swift financial support to yoga professionals worldwide experiencing financial hardship due to COVID-19. Here, just a few of the 430+ fund recipients hailing from 31 countries describe how the pandemic has affected their teaching and lives, and how their gift of sharing yoga brings a critical service to their students and communities during this difficult time.
Featuring: Annu Gaidhu, M.A., RAP., E-RYT 200; Ava Taylor; Carey Sims, E-RYT 500 and NASM CPT; Diane Butera; g Mechelle Davis, C-IAYT, E-RYT 200, RCYT, YACEP, Yoga Nidra II, Awak{end} Sleep™; Kevin Omollo; Tiare Kahana Bourget, RYT 500; Tori Wolfe-Sisson, RYT 500
A Community-Centered Approach
To ensure a thoughtful and community-centered process, the Foundation assembled an Emergency Relief Fund Advisory Committee representing a cross-section of perspectives and lived experiences. This Committee’s responsibilities included informing the selection criteria of partners, helping to ensure the criteria for the selection of beneficiaries, and helping to ensure an equitable approach to the distribution of funding.
Emergency Relief Partners
In order to assess applications and economic need, award recipients, and administer funds objectively, responsively, and swiftly, the Yoga Alliance Foundation teamed up with strategic partner Ivy Child International. YAF also contributed to the Reclamation Ventures Wellness Relief Fund—a separate program also providing financial assistance to U.S.-based yoga professionals experiencing pandemic-induced financial hardship.
In selecting partners, the Yoga Alliance Foundation prioritized organizations whose work is anchored in yogic values; aligns with the Foundation’s mission of leveraging yoga for social impact; and fosters an expansive, accessible, and equitable yoga community. Foundation partners demonstrate a proven track record of providing financial support to communities and individuals facing monetary hardships, the capacity to execute an equitable and transparent application and disbursement of funding process, and a strong history of financial health.
Our Partners
Ivy Child International is a global nonprofit that partners with systems of education and care to enhance well-being through innovative and culturally responsive programs. In our shared vision to create more ways to support the community, Ivy Child joins forces to broaden and build access, equity, and inclusion with its worldwide network of diverse teachers.
Reclamation Ventures is an impact investing fund that invests in the development and growth of underestimated entrepreneurs in wellness. It believes that in elevating the capacity of diverse wellness leaders to thrive, we can start to close the wellness gap and increase health equities in communities that need it most. It also supports yoga professionals from historically underserved communities in the U.S.
Contribute to YAF
By donating to the Yoga Alliance Foundation, you will help:
• Broaden access to yoga’s healing potential
• Foster greater equity and more diverse representation within the yoga community
• Expand educational, service, and economic opportunities for yoga teachers
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