February 10, 2022

The author and activist will be a panelist for  Black Girl Freedom Week 2022. “Black Girl Freedom Week is really about making sure we spread the gratitude and curiosity about social justice,” she said to Girls United. Dias began #1000BlackGirlBooks, an ongoing donation drive of books. Since she launched the now-viral campaign, she has been adamant about pouring into her community through various means. Her involvement with Black Girl Freedom Week is an extension of that work.

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The post Marley Dias Talks About What Freedom For Black Girls Means To Her appeared first on Grantmakers for Girls of Color.

The Black Girl Freedom Fund is an initiative under the Grantmakers for Girls of Color, an organization that puts minority women and disadvantaged youth in grantmaking and philanthropic spaces.

A former youth community organizer in Philadelphia, Kyndall Osibodu, co-facilitator of the Black Girl Freedom Fund Youth Advisory Board, said the fund disrupts the existing power dynamic.  “It really is about us sharing power and shifting power to them,” said Osibodu, 30, from her home in Brooklyn.

Along with six other girls and gender-expansive youth, Lattimer—a 16-year-old from the Bronx, New York—was a part of The Black Girl Freedom Fund’s youth advisory board that helped to allocate funds and grants for organizations led by and in service of Black women and youth in communities nationwide.

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The post Ms Magazine: Black Girl Freedom Fund Puts Teens in the Driver Seat appeared first on Grantmakers for Girls of Color.

When the Black Girl Freedom Fund made its very first round of grants, the fund relied on the experts: Black girls and Black gender-expansive youth. An advisory committee of seven young people ages 13 to 17 worked with fund staff to select an array of grantee organizations from across the country. 

It’s the most recent high-profile example of participatory grantmaking, a funding practice that hands over some level of decision-making power to the community members it aims to serve. The approach has been around for a long time, but has become increasingly popular over the past year as funders have faced increased pressure to yield some of their power and be more responsive to communities in need. As IP has reported, a new book makes the case for participatory grantmaking, and some influential funders are taking the plunge.

But G4GC and the Black Girl Freedom Fund staff never considered doing grantmaking any other way, according to Cidra Sebastien, who manages the fund. “Young people are talked about and studied and researched, but they are not asked to say what they know, and not asked to participate in decisions that affect them. At G4GC, engaging young people is part of the work, so not engaging them in this process would be not doing the work. We knew from the top that they would be part of the process, and that we would work alongside them.”

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The post Inside Philanthropy: How the Black Girl Freedom Fund Is Allowing Young People to Call the Shots appeared first on Grantmakers for Girls of Color.

For its first round of funding, grants ranging between $50,000-$100,000 will be distributed to The F.I.N.D. Design (Nashville), Pretty Brown Girl (National), Healing the Black Body (National), Get Smart B4U Get Sexy (California), The Hive Community Circle (South Carolina), 3D Girls (Atlanta).

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The post Philanthropy Women: Announcing the Black Girl Freedom Fund’s First Six Grantees appeared first on Grantmakers for Girls of Color.

The Black Girl Freedom Fund, an initiative of Grantmakers for Girls of Color, has announced its first grant recipients. Guided by an advisory committee of seven Black girls and Black gender-expansive youth between the ages of 13-17 years old, the first round of grants will be allocated to organizations that address the safety and wellbeing of Black girls.

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The post Essence: Black Girl Freedom Fund Focuses First Round Grants to Organizations Serving Black Girls Across the U.S. appeared first on Grantmakers for Girls of Color.

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The post MSNBC American Voices: Celebrating the First Ever Black Girl Freedom Week appeared first on Grantmakers for Girls of Color.

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The post The Root: Rashida Jones, Naomi Wadler and. Rep. Ayanna Pressley Kick Off Inaugural Black Girl Freedom Week appeared first on Grantmakers for Girls of Color.