Two local nonprofits, both the spurred by major global crises, are joining forces to help put people to work and feed those in need.
City of Good, which sprung up during the COVID-19 pandemic , and Create Common Good, founded by Tara Russell in 2008 as the Great Recession began, signed an agreement to combine under the City of Good brand. Both nonprofits are based in Boise.
Britt Udesen, the executive director for City of Good, will oversee the combined nonprofit. The boards of both voted unanimously to merge after Russell proposed the idea.
“She was the one who thought we could be better together,” Udesen told the Idaho Statesman by phone.
Udesen said there will no staff reductions or layoffs. Together, the nonprofits employ 15 people and plan to hire more, she said.
City of Good was started in 2020 to pay out-of-work restaurant employees to make meals for those in need. The nonprofit then broadened its work to create and deliver kits that provided a weekend’s worth of fresh food to elementary school kids who might have otherwise gone without.