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Grantmakers for Girls of Color Announces $1 Million Fund
First published: May 7, 2020

->FAQ on the Love Is Healing COVID-19 Response Fund<-

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, May 4, 2020

 

Grantmakers for Girls of Color Announces $1 Million to Address Immediate Impacts of COVID-19 on Girls and Gender Expansive Youth of Color

 

Love Is Healing Response Fund marks Grantmakers for Girls of Color’s first grantmaking effort as an independent entity

 

 

NEW YORK, NY — Grantmakers for Girls of Color (G4CC) announced today that it will give $1 million in grants to resource organizations and efforts addressing the immediate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on girls, fem(mes), and nonbinary/gender expansive youth of color.

“In this moment and beyond, philanthropy must address the lack of diversity, quality, and responsiveness of capital directed to support girls of color at the intersection of their complex identities and experiences,” said Dr. Monique W. Morris, newly appointed executive director of Grantmakers for Girls of Color. “Even before this pandemic, girls and gender expansive youth of color have faced interlocking forms of oppression that prevent their full participation in our country’s future. The Love is Healing fund seeks to support coalitions and organizations that have been fighting historical inequities and the marginalization of girls of color well before COVID-19—and who are responding now with creativity, care, and urgency.”

As COVID-19 hit the country, the magnitude of the pandemic further exacerbated race- and gender- based disparities. Data shows that women of color are more likely to be employed in essential public and service sectors, disproportionately exposing them to the pandemic. First quarter unemployment statistics show that Black and Latina teen girls are disproportionately unemployed and experiencing educational disparities during this pandemic. Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Middle Eastern and Asian Pacific American girls across the nation describe their mental health as on the decline, facing an inability to balance mental and emotional wellness, education, and personal safety. In response, funding continues to be sparse as only 23 percent of philanthropic investments support structural barriers that girls of color identify as important.

Through the Love is Healing COVID-19 Response Fund, Grantmakers for Girls of Color is investing $1 million to address the following priorities focused on the needs of girls and gender expansive youth of color: COVID-19-related advocacy and immediate mapping needs; economic and educational response strategies; interventions to support systems impacted youth or survivors of gender-based violence; preventative or responsive mental, physical and emotional health strategies.

Additional Details on the Love Is Healing Response Fund:

  • The fund will provide one-time grants of up to $25,000 to 501(c)3 organizations (including those with fiscal sponsorship) and coalitions led by womxn or girls of color and/or with primary (demonstrable) mission to reach girls of color, fem(mes), and gender-expansive youth of color based in the United States or U.S. Territories.
  • Applications are by invitation-only and proposals will be accepted on a rolling basis online with funds distributed between May-November.
  • Applicants will receive a decision within two weeks.

As part of its response to the pandemic and its impact on communities, Grantmakers for Girls of Color has also launched a webinar series to connect funders with frontline organizers and advocates and increase philanthropy’s capacity for culturally- and gender-response COVID-19 relief efforts.

Initially launched as a shared resource across philanthropy in 2015, Grantmakers for Girls of Color now is an independent entity and a funding community informed by the lived experiences of girls, activists and advocates under the leadership of its first executive director, Dr. Monique W. Morris. Dr. Morris, an award-winning author, educator and activist, holds three decades of experience in education, civil rights, and juvenile and social justice and has been a lifelong advocate for improving the educational and socioeconomic conditions for girls and women of color. She also holds credits as executive producer and co-writer of the recently released documentary, PUSHOUT: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools. Grantmakers for Girls of Color works to amplify and resource the transformative organizing work girls of color and girls activists and advocates are leading to dismantle systems of oppression in the United States.

About Grantmakers for Girls of Color

Grantmakers for Girls of Color began as a shared resource across philanthropy. As a newly-formed independent entity, fiscally-sponsored by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Grantmakers for Girls of Color will continue to advance its vision for all girls and women to achieve equity and justice in this critical moment in history — and in our future. Grantmakers for Girls of Color openly invites partners and stakeholders to co-create an inclusive space in support of girls and young women of color across programmatic issues and geographic areas. Learn more by visiting GrantmakersforGirlsofColor.org. On Twitter and Instagram: @G4GC_Org.