Dear G4GC Community,
Welcome to our first quarterly Grantmakers for Girls of Color newsletter! As we enter the spring equinox next week, we are feeling energized to deepen the intentional, collective effort it takes to provide pathways for healing, resources, and movement building for youth in our communities. We hope you find our quarterly newsletters informative, useful, and inspirational.
As our team continues to be deeply engaged in the wellbeing of girls, femmes, and gender-expansive youth of Color, our intention is to keep you informed on our projects and initiatives, share information about resources to strengthen and deepen investment in young people, create a space where you find and share inspiration, and always center and support the brilliance, wisdom, leadership, and joy of girls, femmes and gender-expansive youth of Color. And we invite you to contribute upcoming conferences or opportunities that you want to share with this community (using this form) and share details.
We kicked off 2023 with high energy and momentum – we hosted the third annual Black Girl Freedom Week, shared a report highlighting summary of findings from the Future Economy Lab, wrapped filming for our Pass The Mic Project, continued to nurture partnerships, and our team gathered to retreat in Austin, Texas. We’ll have many other G4GC gems to share as the months unfold. Catch up on all we’ve been up to below!
Quick links:
Black Girl Freedom Week 2023 recap | BGFF open call for grants | MSNBC / press| The Future Economy Lab | Pass the Mic Project | An invitation to share your events and news | We are hiring!
In Community,
Josefina Casati
Senior Director of Communications
Grantmakers For Girls of Color
Catch up on all the latest G4GC has been up to!
Black Girl Freedom Week 2023
This year’s Black Girl Freedom Week (BGFW) was energizing and inspiring! With sessions featuring award-winning writer, director and producer Gina Prince-Bythewood, a film screening by The Beautiful Project, and a special keynote address from 21-year-old Nightcrawling author Leila Mottley, attendees had the unique opportunity to learn about the power of storytelling, investing in the creative power of Black girls and gender-expansive youth, and much more. You can re-watch and share our Black Girl Freedom Week 2023 videos here!
Open call for Black Girl Freedom Fund Applications! 📢
During BGFW 2023, we launched a new funding cycle that will focus on organizations and projects that center the artistic vision, activism and innovationof Black girls, femmes and gender-expansive youth. This funding is available to organizations and projects that are not currently funded by G4GC, and the deadline to apply is March 31st.
Black Girl Freedom Week in the Media
Elevating #1Billion4BlackGirls on MSNBC
President & CEO of Grantmakers for Girls of Color Dr. Monique Couvson, and founding President and CEO for Girls for Gender Equity Joanne N. Smith MSW, co-founders of the #1Billion4BlackGirls campaign, joined American Voices guest host Michael Steele to discuss Black Girl Freedom Week 2023 and the #1Billion4BlackGirls campaign. Tune in here!
Cidra’s op-ed on The Grio
“I still remember the day I met Tina Turner at Tower Records as a 5-year-old Black girl…It was exhilarating to see her, a Black woman artist owning the entire store. I was in awe of the presence of this powerful example of a Black woman artist…” Read the full article written by Cidra M. Sebastien, BGFF Fund Manager, at The Grio here.
Abundantly Investing in Girls, Femmes, and Gender Expansive Youth of Color
The Future Economy Lab, an initiative powered by SecondMuse and G4GC focused on designing economies and financial instruments that center the wellbeing and justice for girls, femmes, and gender-expansive youth of Color, launched a compelling Summary of Findings. This report encapsulates the brilliant insights of 39 youth who have been participating in a year-long paid opportunity as advisors and fellows, and the hundreds of peers they surveyed. Learn about the ‘north star’ they envision for the future, and the strategies they deem most important as we build new mechanisms to invest in them. Explore the full report HERE.
Pass the Mic Project 🎥🎤
G4GC’s Pass the Mic Project is a creative filmmaking project to amplify and share participatory research and stories by girls and young femmes of Color from around the U.S. about the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on their peers and communities. To-date, G4GC has hosted eight filmmaking workshops, conducted in-person filming across five major cities with participation from six amazing grantee partners! Stay tuned for more exciting updates on this powerful narrative project!
[Pictured above: Youth and staff from the African American Policy Forum (AAPF). Photo credit: Zahrah Farmer and Doward Hicks III]
Our youth elevate ‘freedom’ in kahani magazine
G4GC is partnering with youth-led magazine kahani on a special edition for 2023 focused on the experiences of girls, femmes, and gender-expansive youth of Color in the U.S. and territories. The theme for this issue is “Our Freedom,” and many youth from our community of grantee partners are contributing creative writing and art centered around this theme. Stay tuned for publication this coming summer. Read more about kahani here. Interested youth can submit a story for the 2023 issue via this online form.
Capacity building for changemakers
G4GC is partnering with Resilia to support effectiveness, creativity, and workflow in grassroots changemakers and community builders within our community of grantee partners. With 24/7 on-demand technical assistance, the partnership aims to build organizational capacity, while granting opportunities to capture and communicate program outcomes and narratives in real-time. Learn more here.
Coming soon: Charisma’s Turn, a graphic novel by our Dr. Monique Couvson!
We are so excited about the upcoming graphic novel Charisma’s Turn by our very own G4GC President and CEO, Dr. Monique Couvson! It’s a necessary narrative that we need right now, in the midst of book bans and legislative attacks. The narrative follows a Black high school student who is grappling with pressures from home and school. Published by The New Press, Charisma’s Turn is Illustrated by Amanda Jones and has a foreword by poet, artist, and arts educator Susan Arauz Barnes. “Charisma’s Turn exemplifies how Black girls can be truly empowered to reach their full potential when they have supportive educators and community members in their corner,” says New Press publisher Ellen Adler. “It couldn’t come at a more necessary time.” It’s a perfect opportunity to launch a youth reading club! Do you know a young person who would love to host it? If so, please reach out to [email protected]!
Have you seen our new G4GC site?
Our website recently got a fun, vibrant revamp for 2023! Visit us and explore everything you need to know about G4GC’s funds, initiatives, impact, opportunities and more here.
G4GC embraces a model of engagement that reflects our commitment to supporting and uplifting our grantee partners, colleagues and organizations in philanthropy, and others working at the forefront of social impact spaces, focused on building a just and equitable world. Below are some of the conferences and spaces where our G4GC team is presenting or joining:
“Funding the Gender Rights Movement”
Josefina Casati, G4GC Senior Director of Communications, joined a Hispanics in Philanthropy (HIP) panel on March 8th to support women’s and girls’ rights across the Americas. You can watch the full video here.
Resourcing Resistance
Our friends at Purposeful, an Africa-rooted global hub for girls organizing and activism, hosted a series of panels as a side event of the 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York City, hosted by UN Women. Our VP of Operations and Programs, Maheen Kaleem, spoke on one of their panels on March 10 about funding girl and young feminist activism.
In Solidarity We Rise
Photo of grantees, including Young Women’s Freedom Center, The Lighthouse Black Girl Projects, Alliance for Girls, & The National Crittenton Foundation, with young people in our community are helping plan the “In Solidarity We Rise” convening in October. We’re excited to be partnering with these incredible organizations and individuals to help plan the events that will bring so many members of our community together this fall.
We’re hiring: join our team!
Join our dynamic team of passionate individuals and support the brilliance of girls, femmes and gender-expansive youth of Color. You can view all current open positions and apply here.
Current open opportunities:
Opportunity for Black girls interested in research & traveling abroad
You can now apply for The Black Girl Research Institute’s 2023 residency – an exciting six-week summer research-intensive program hosted by The Lighthouse | Black Girl Project’s Policy & Research Team. The institute equips aspiring and current researchers with the tools needed to conduct ethical research regarding Black and Brown girls and women. This year’s BGRI residency will be 10 days long in San Basilio de Palenque, best known as Palenque, a village located in Bolivar – Colombia. Learn more and apply here!
S.O.U.L. Sisters toolkits
The amazing team at S.O.U.L. Sisters Leadership Collective has created a beautiful collection of organizational toolkits and resources as a gift to the field. These are invaluable resources, especially for organizations that center and are led by girls, femmes, and gender-expansive youth of Color.
The toolkits include:
Go Mujeres!
G4GC is excited to be participate in #GOMujeres 2023, Hispanics in Philanthropy (HIP)’s campaign to mobilize giving and support for Latine women and girls serving organizations. HIP will be distributing over $60,000 in matching funds and incentives, including $30,000 from G4GC for fundraising projects that involve/ benefit Latine girls or young women under 25 years old. Learn more here.
Elevate your organization's visibility
Candid is offering a free 1-hour course where participants will learn how earning Seals of Transparency raises their nonprofit’s visibility and enables their organization to get noticed by millions of potential donors. Register here.
MasterClass
Thanks to the generosity of Melinda French Gates, we have 35 year-long subscriptions to MasterClass to share with our grantee partners. If you or someone in your organizations is interested in getting one of these, please reach out to [email protected]. Please note that these will be distributed on a first-come basis to G4GC grantee partners.
Native Youth Grantmakers
Natives In Philanthropy is accepting applications to their youth program designed for Indigenous youth aged 18-24 who are connected to their community (urban, rural, or reservation) and want to grow their leadership skills, advocate for Native youth and youth programs, and learn more about the philanthropic sector. This year-long course is both in-person and virtual and embraces Indigenous values that can help create conditions for all communities to thrive. The application period closes on April 30, 2023. Apply here.
Grant opportunities
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Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Building Local Alignment Grant: The foundation is looking to support community-led organizations and networks focused on health and racial equity to participate in these collaborations as full partners in their design, implementation, and oversight. Applications due April 24th. Apply here.
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Third Wave/Mobile Power Fund: Rapid response grants for youth-led groups, nonprofits, and coalitions – supports time-sensitive projects, including community organizing and mobilization, healing justice work, transformative and restorative justice work and more. Deadlines in March, June, and September 2023. Apply here.
- Saxena Family Foundation: STEM education grants for girls, femmes and gender-expansive youth – applications are accepted throughout the year. Apply here.
- Learning Disabilities Foundation of America: Funds for charitable, scientific, literary, or educational purposes or for the identification, ongoing evaluation, education of, and services for children and adults with learning disabilities. Deadline is April 15, 2023. Apply here.
Supporting trans-led social change
“The work of defending, affirming, and meaningfully funding trans communities has never been more critical. As funders, we have a unique opportunity to help bring about transformational change, starting with investing in trans- and BIPOC-led organizing.” ~ Aldita Gallardo, Fund for Trans Generations at Borealis Philanthropy.
Read more from Aldita, G4GC philanthropic colleague and friend, in the Stanford Social Innovation Review here.
Until Someone Listens
Until Someone Listens is a true story about a young girl finding her voice and using it to make change. In this autobiographical narrative told from a girl’s perspective, Estela Juarez’s letters take her from the local news all the way to the national stage, where she discovers the power in her words and pledges to keep using her voice until her family—and others like hers— are together again. To purchase and support, visit the book’s website.
Oh Sweet Fire
Oh Sweet Fire by J.P. Mitchell is a picture book anthem singing permission to let our inner “fire” light up the world.This vibrantly illustrated message speaks to Black girls especially, and every girl expansively, that we both see and free them to walk out the fullness of who they are meant to be. To purchase and support, visit the book’s website, Facebook, and Instagram.
Share your org’s work with G4GC
Are you interested in having your organization’s latest work featured on the G4GC blog and our socials? Does your organization have a funding opportunity, upcoming conference, or other celebration centering girls of Color you want to share with the G4GC community? We invite you to share it with us! We would love to amplify your mission and efforts that center the wisdom and leadership of girls, femmes and youth of Color. You can fill out this simple Google form to share directly with us. Please share information at least 3-4 weeks in advance for events and any deadlines.
*When G4GC refers to “girls of Color” we include any cis, trans, gender-expansive, non-binary and/or any girl- or femme-identified person age 25 and younger who identifies as Black, Indigenous, Latin, Asian, Arab, Pacific Islander, and/or other People of Color.