Letter from our president and CEO
Dear friends,
We envision a world where girls and gender-expansive youth of color have the safety, freedom, wellness, and resources to thrive, to dream, and to lead.
At Grantmakers for Girls of Color, we are striving to create a philanthropic home that follows the leadership of girls and gender-expansive youth of color, and invests in their liberation.
Even before this crisis, there was indisputable evidence that our girls and gender-expansive youth of color were experiencing harm. One example is the surge in the number of girls, and particularly Black and Latina girls, in contact with the U.S. criminal legal and juvenile court systems. Another example is the failure to design a robust response to the disproportionate number of Indigenous girls and women who are missing and murdered. As Tanisha “Wakumi” Douglas, founder of the S.O.U.L. Sisters Leadership Collective, framed it in a webinar I moderated, “these young people are always the first punching bags in moments of stress like this.” In that same webinar, Sara Haskie-Mendoza, Xinachtli Girls, reminded us that racism is the nation’s most pervasive pre-existing condition. Despite these systemic challenges, the spirit and resilience of girls and gender-expansive youth of color remains undimmed. They continue to lead local, national, and global efforts to achieve economic, social, racial, and gender justice.
We at G4GC are driven by the absolute love and reverence we have for girls and gender-expansive youth of color, their leadership, their tenacity, and their vision. To that end, as we continue to build a philanthropic practice that elevates the stories, strategies, and solutions of girls and gender-expansive youth of color toward liberatory, feminist futures, we are excited to welcome and embrace the wisdom of our G4GC Youth Advisory Committee and Design Team.
From the launch of the Love Is Healing COVID-19 Response Fund and the Black Girl Freedom Fund, to growing our internal capacity in communications and research, we are also driven by the urgency of needing to meet the moment. To date, through Love is Healing, our first grantmaking program, we have awarded nearly $3 million in the last year to more than 150 organizations around the country and in U.S. territories, the majority of which has been directed toward mitigating the impact of COVID-19. More than 90 percent of grantee partners report women and girls of color are key decision makers in their organizations.
As the nation emerges from the shutdown brought on by COVID-19, and as we continue to grapple with the vestiges of structural racism and institutionalized bias, we are committed to the work ahead. We need larger investments—not smaller— to support girls and gender-expansive youth of color. We need more leaders—not fewer—to roll up their sleeves and take action. We need an increase of allies in philanthropy—not a decline—who will walk in deep partnership with young people of color.
In 2021 and beyond, we will continue to mobilize the philanthropic sector until girls and gender-expansive youth of color have all they need to heal, to dream, and to thrive. Thank you for partnering with us in 2020, and we look forward to doing even more together in 2021.
In community,
Monique W. Morris, Ed.D. President and CEO Grantmakers for Girls of Color
About Grantmakers for Girls of Color
(I feel most valued, safe and powerful) When I see people that look like me being represented."
Youth from Seattle, WA (BGFF survey)
Our Shared approach
Grantmakers for Girls of Color works to amplify and mobilize resources to support transformative organizing work to dismantle systems of oppression in the U.S. led by girls and gender-expansive youth of color. The large and growing Grantmakers for Girls of Color community is united by a shared approach to the work, including the following shared set of values (click on each icon to read more):
Authentic
We are bold, unapologetic, clear and explicit in our messaging and action.
Accountable
Everything we do, how we do it, and who we do it for is grounded in the aspirations, dreams, and demands of girls and gender-expansive youth of color, as directly articulated by our constituency.
Transformational
We seek to break molds and redefine or completely transform structures, systems, and mindsets.
Urgent and Results
Oriented
We are goal-oriented, disciplined, and focused on achieving measurable change with, and on behalf of, girls and gender-expansive youth of color. We do our work and advance our agenda with a sense of urgency and expedience.
Inclusive
We are a place of belonging, collaboration, and collective learning.
Embraces Freedom & Creativity
We are nontraditional in our approach, unafraid of being different, and excited by the possibilities of what hasn’t existed before.
Motivated by Love
We transform through the exercised power of love and healing. We center the well-being of ourselves, our colleagues, and our partners in the work, and create safe spaces for healing, growth, and evolution.
Our Team
We are building a growing team that embodies our values of accountability, urgency, transformation, inclusivity, authenticity, and love (click on names to learn more about our team).
Dr. Monique W. Norris
President & CEO
Dr. Monique W. Morris
President and CEO
Monique W. Morris, Ed.D. (she/her) is an award-winning author and social justice scholar with three decades of experience in the areas of education, civil rights, and juvenile and criminal justice. She envisions a world in which all girls and gender-expansive youth of color are healthy, safe, thriving, and fully empowered to dream and shape their desired reality on their terms, while dismantling structural barriers created by racism, sexism and ageism, and other forms of oppression that prevent their healthy development. Her research intersects race, gender, education, and justice to explore the ways in which Black communities, and other communities of color, are uniquely affected by social policies.
Dr. Morris is an Executive Producer and Co-Writer of the documentary film, PUSHOUT: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools, which is based upon two of her books, Sing A Rhythm, Dance A Blues: Education for the Liberation of Black and Brown Girls (The New Press, 2019) and Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools (The New Press, 2016). She has authored books, dozens of articles, book chapters, and other publications on social justice issues, and lectured widely on research, policies, and practices associated with improving juvenile/criminal justice, educational, and socioeconomic conditions for girls and women of color. Her 2018 TED talk (nearly 2 million views) on ending the criminalization of Black girls in schools has been translated into 18 languages.
A former educator, researcher, and scholar-advocate, Dr. Morris has worked in partnership with and served as a consultant for federal, state, and county agencies, national academic and research institutions, and communities throughout the nation to develop research, comprehensive approaches, and training curricula to eliminate racial/ethnic and gender disparities in justice and educational systems. Her work in this area has informed legislation, and the development and implementation of improved culturally competent and gender-responsive continua of services for youth.
Dr. Morris’ work has been profiled across a spectrum of national and local print, radio, and television media, including by MSNBC, CSPAN2, The Washington Post, The New York Times, NPR, and PBS., among other national and local print, radio, and television media. She also frequently lectures on the life and legacy of the artist Prince. She is currently based in Brooklyn, land of the Carnasie and Munsee Lenape people.
Maheen Kaleem, Esq.
Deputy Director
Maheen Kaleem, Esq.
Deputy Director
Maheen (she/her) has dedicated her life to creating a world where girls of color are safe and free. She has almost 20 years of experience supporting youth and families impacted by interpersonal and state violence, and making way for those traditionally marginalized from formal sites of power to lead efforts to advance racial and gender justice. In the various roles she has held, she has always grounded her work in the wisdom of women and girls of color who have survived the carceral system, sexual exploitation, and abuse.
Previously, Maheen served as Program Officer at the NoVo Foundation, where she managed the foundation’s work to end commercial sexual exploitation and led the development of The Life Story Grants, a $10 million commitment to support projects that close sex trade on-ramps, and open exit-ramps for survivors. Prior to NoVo, she was a staff attorney at Rights4Girls, a human rights organization dedicated to ending gender-based violence impacting marginalized girls and young women, where she advocated for the successful passage of numerous laws and policies at the federal, state, and local levels that protect the rights of girls in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.
Maheen has co-authored several reports, including The Sexual Abuse to Prison Pipeline: A Girls’ Story, and Beyond the Walls: A Look at Girls in D.C.’s Juvenile Justice System. She is an alum of the Equal Justice Works Fellowship, the Stoneleigh Emerging Leader Fellowship, and the National Juvenile Justice Network Youth Justice Leadership Institute, and holds both a bachelor’s degree in International Politics and a law degree from Georgetown University. Maheen is a first generation Pakistani-American who was raised mostly in the Bay Area of California, on the traditional territory of the Ohlone people.
Dr. Whitney Richards-Calathes
Senior Directory fo Research, Advocacy and Policy
Dr. Whitney Richards-Calathes
Senior Directory fo Research, Advocacy and Policy
Whitney (she/her) is a community-based researcher, transformative justice practitioner, organizer, and writer. Born into a family of labor organizers and youth workers, Whitney holds movement work at her center. For over 10 years she has worked on issues that she believes deeply in and that inspire her: young women’s leadership development, educational access, prison abolition, racial justice, and gender equity. She has worked with organizations such as the Sadie Nash Leadership Project, and Community Connections for Youth in NYC, as well as the Youth Justice Coalition in Los Angeles. She holds a Ph.D. from The Graduate Center at the City University of New York, and writes about the impact of incarceration on generations of Black women in Los Angeles.
She is experienced in participatory research and Black feminist methodologies, while also centering collaborative and accountable research that’s in service to change. Whitney believes that social justice is beyond the jobs we have—that it is an ethic in how we live life, build relationships, respect and interact with the Earth, and how we value ourselves. Whitney is from the Bronx and is currently based in Harlem, lands originally kept and protected by the Lenape people.
Josefina Casati
Senior Director of Communications
Josefina Casati
Senior Director of Communications
Josefina Casati (she/her/ella) is a storyteller, an award-winning journalist, and social justice advocate committed to building bridges that uplift marginalized communities. Her interest in authentic storytelling was sparked when, as a teen, she saw how limiting narratives resulted in harmful treatment of Black and Latino students.
That led to a career in journalism, where she influenced whose stories were told, and how those stories reflected the rich, nuanced contributions of individuals and communities. Josefina is a fierce advocate of equity, diversity, and inclusion. Her work serving on boards and volunteering with nonprofits has influenced strategy, programming, and engagement, and includes the Texas Book Festival Board, UTES School Board, Austin PBS Community Advisory Board, Settlement Home for Children, Communities in Schools, and Latinitas.
As Creative and Editorial Director for Pulso, a national media start-up that empowers Latinos, she collaborated with diverse media ventures to develop citizen engagement models. Her focus as Executive Editor of the nationally-lauded ¡Ahora Sí! was to validate and inspire the Spanish-speaking community in Central Texas. Josefina is committed to elevating girls of color, and helping them embrace their beautiful potential. She lives in Austin, Texas (traditional territory of the Coahuiltecan, Jumanos, Nʉmʉnʉʉ/Comanche, Sana, and Tonkawa people), with her husband, son, and daugher.
Kyndall Clark Osibodu
Manager of Organizational Health and Learning
Kyndall Clark Osibodu
Manager of Organizational Health and Learning
Kyndall Clark Osibodu (she/her) is a Black feminist/Womanist educator and facilitator who works to transform the culture of philanthropy by shifting power and resources to girls and women of color and by creating opportunities for healing. She has over 10 years of experience building intersectional and inclusive cultures by developing participatory action models in schools and nonprofits and by leading advocacy campaigns for and alongside girls of color. Her work is grounded in her faith, justice, and womanism and the belief that the collective well-being, power, and leadership of girls and women of color is critical to transformative change.
Prior to G4GC, she worked at NoVo Foundation, where she designed and managed the first participatory grantmaking process through the Initiative to End Violence Against Girls and Women. Prior to NoVo, she worked at African American Policy Forum, where she was the lead trainer for the Breaking the Silence town hall series and supported the #SayHerName Mothers Network. She also served as a high school teacher, community organizer with Girls Justice League, and researcher with the School District of Philadelphia and youth worker in Nashville, TN.
Kyndall studied human and organizational development and Africana studies at Vanderbilt University and earned her masters from the University of Pennsylvania in education and gender studies. She is a meditation teacher trainee with MNDFL. She serves on the Advisory Board of Evoluer House and is a 2019-2020 ABFE Connecting Leaders Fellow. Outside of work and being a life-long learner, she enjoys spending time with her family, church, and larger community, traveling, and art. While she lives in Brooklyn, NY, on traditional Canarsie land, she considers the South and the Westside of Chicago home.
Cidra M. Sebastien
Black Girl Freedom Fund Manager
Cidra M. Sebastien
Black Girl Freedom Fund Manager
Cidra M. Sebastien (she/her) is an educator, youth advocate and organizer. She has developed culturally-relevant, gender-affirming and arts and activism curricula; published op-eds about youth leadership development and DACA; appeared on radio and television outlets; and contributed to local and national policy-making regarding public education, youth leadership development and advancing adolescent girls.
A graduate of Hampton University and New York University, Cidra was a staff member of The Brotherhood Sister Sol for nearly 20 years. She served as the Associate Executive Director, expanded youth and community programs, developed curricula, trained educators, coordinated study abroad programs, and advanced policy that directly impacted young people. She shaped the organization’s policy work in the area of gender equity and was the co-chair of the Education Committee of the New York City Council’s Young Women’s Initiative.
She co-planned the 2016 Black Girl Movement National Conference in NYC, which hosted 500 girls, educators, advocates, artists, and academics for a three-day convening centering Black girls. Cidra co-authored “Taking Back the Work: A Cooperative Inquiry into the Work of Leaders of Color in Movement-Building Organizations,” traveling to Atlanta, the United Kingdom and Brazil to share the work and discuss issues of leadership and race. She is an auntie, runner, and creator whose imagination is fueled by the arts, travel, and learning from others. Cidra was born on land traditionally kept and protected by Taíno people (Puerto Rico) and currently lives on land traditionally kept and protected by Canarsee and Munsee Lenape people (Brooklyn, NY).
Dominique Fulling
Executive Assistant to the President/CEO and
Deputy Director
Dominique Fulling
Executive Assistant to the President/CEO and
Deputy Director
Dominique brings over 20 years of administrative experience to the position with expertise in scheduling, information technology, and correspondence in legal, healthcare, and business sectors. Prior to joining Grantmakers for Girls of Color, Dominique worked in Healthcare Technology and Informatics for over 15 years. There, she was responsible for working with and training physicians, clinicians, and other staff members on system practices, procedures, and implementation.
She also was responsible for supporting and maintaining health information management across computerized systems, and the secure exchange of health information between consumers, providers, legal systems, payers and quality monitors. Dominique is studying Social Work at Brandman University, and is committed to ultimately sharing her passion for making a positive and lasting impact on the safety and overall well-being of traumatized individuals. With a special interest in mental health and human sex trafficking, she intends to use her passion to aid in the awareness and recovery processes of such traumatic incidents. Dominique is of African-American descent and was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, on the traditional territory of the Muwekma, Ohlone, and Ramaytush people. She now resides in Los Angeles, where she raises her children on the traditional land of the Chumash, Fernandeno Tataviam, Kizh, and Tongva people.
Our Advisory Board
Grantmakers for Girls of Color is grateful to have the partnership and guidance of these phenomenal philanthropy leaders as we continue to strengthen our programmatic agenda and support our communities (click on their names to learn more about our advisory board).
Tynesha McHarris
Founder and Principal, Black Harvest
Co-founder, Black Feminist Fund
Tynesha McHarris
Founder and Principal, Black Harvest
Co-founder, Black Feminist Fund
Tynesha is a Black Feminist that engages her work fueled by the desire to see the ideals of truth and justice actualized in the lives and conditions of every person she encounters. She brings over fifteen years of experience advocating for racial, gender and youth justice in movements, organizations, and private foundations.
She most recently designed NoVo Foundation’s portfolio for girls of color in the United States, a $90 million investment, and the first of its kind in the sector. Before joining NoVo, Tynesha served as Director of Programs at the Brooklyn Community Foundation, where she led community engagement efforts and helped the foundation design and implement its new core program strategy. She also served as director of programs at the Newark Trust for Education, a pooled fund focused on education justice and school innovation.
Tynesha’s roots are in her early work leading programs for young people. As a practitioner, she has worked closely with young people who’ve experienced criminalization & incarceration and has also led work for survivors of gender-based violence. Tynesha is now the founder and principal of Black Harvest, a consulting firm working with movement leaders and philanthropy to bolster work living at the intersections of state and gender based violence. She is also a co-founder of the Black Feminist Feminist Fund, a vehicle to move resources to Black Feminist movements around the world.
Prachi Patankar
Program Officer
Foundation for Just Society
Prachi Patankar
Program Officer, Foundation for a Just Society
Prachi Patankar currently leads the South and Southeast Asia portfolio at the Foundation for a Just Society. Born and raised in rural India, Prachi was raised by a freedom-fighter grandmother and parents deeply involved in anti-caste, feminist, and peasant movements.
Over two decades in New York City, she has been an activist, educator, grantmaker, and writer involved in social movements which link the local and the global, police brutality and war, migration and militarization, race and caste, women of color feminism, and global gender justice. She most recently served as the program director for social justice at the J.M. Kaplan Fund, leading grantmaking for criminal justice reform, immigrant rights, and locally-led work in Brownsville, Brooklyn. Prior to that, she was the senior program officer at Brooklyn Community Foundation, where she helped create and implement grant programs through a racial justice lens.
She currently serves on the board of CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities and co-leads the Pooled Fund Advisory Group at Philanthropy Advancing Women's Human Rights (PAWHR). Through work with the South Asia Solidarity Initiative and the Afghan Women’s Mission, she has been involved in creative projects to link social justice movements between the United States and Asia. She has been featured in media including the Guardian, Al Jazeera, Democracy Now and Women’s Studies Quarterly.
Prachi believes in the vital power of intersectional and international visions and strategies, which resonate across Dalit rights and Black lives, migrant justice and gender justice, to build bottom-up change from the local to the global.
Leticia Peguero
Vice President of Programs
Nathan Cummings Foundation
Leticia Peguero
Vice President of Programs, Nathan Cummings Foundation
As Vice President of Programs at the Nathan Cummings Foundation, Leticia Peguero develops strategies grounded in principles of social and racial justice that are nimble, responsive, and reflective of the integrated and complex nature of social change. She is a partner to the CEO and the board in achieving NCF’s vision of a best-in-class social justice philanthropy that is integrated and intersectional in its approaches and fully aligned in its culture, operations, and systems. Most recently Leticia led the organization through a refining of their values, vision and helped NCF adopt long term outcomes that are aligned with achieving racial, economic and environmental justice.
In her previous role as Executive Director of the Andrus Family Fund (AFF), she was at the forefront of the national conversation around youth justice reform and narrative change surrounding young people of color. Under her leadership, the AFF and the Surdna Foundation developed innovative tools and curricula to effectively engage next generation family philanthropists in meaningful conversations and experiences related to race, class, and privilege.
Before joining AFF, Leticia was the Regional Vice President at the Posse Foundation, where she managed Posse sites in Los Angeles, Boston, and New Orleans, in addition to establishing its newest location at the time in Houston, Texas. Prior to Posse, Leticia spent five years as Deputy Director of the Local Funding Partnerships program, one of the hallmark programs of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, where she developed strategy and worked to identify and support innovative community based models that were in service of creating historically marginalized communities.
Outside of her professional role, Leticia works closely with a Latinx-run arts organization, Areytos Performance Works, which fuses Afro-Caribbean dance forms with contemporary dance and exemplifies the power of the arts as a tool for advancing social justice, particularly for those whose voices have been dampened by oppression and structural racism. Leticia is a 2008 National Urban Fellow, one of the country’s top leadership development programs. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Fordham University and graduated with honors from the Marxe School of Public Affairs with a Master of Public Administration. She is also a Professional Certified Coach and runs a life and executive coaching practice.
Tia Oros Peters (Zuni)
Chief Executive Officer
Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous People
Tia Oros Peters (Zuni)
Chief Executive Officer, Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples
Tia Oros Peters (Zuni) is the Chief Executive Officer of Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples, which is an identity-based Native philanthropic, advocacy, and leadership organization that supports community generated strategies for Native Peoples’ cultural revitalization, movement building, self-determination, and Re-Indigenization.
She is a Co-founder of the Global Indigenous Women’s Caucus, a board member of the Proteus Fund, and of Tools & Tiaras; President of Red Deer Center, and an advisor to Grantmakers for Girls of Color.
Tia has also served on the board of directors of Native Americans in Philanthropy; the Paul Robeson Fund for Independent Media; Resist Fund, and on the advisory boards of the A:shiwi A:wan Museum & Heritage Center, Pueblo of Zuni; the Women’s Building of New York; and Youth United for Community Action. Tia is mother and grandmother, writer, organizer, and cultural artist who has earned a BA in Law & Society from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University, Los Angeles.
Ada Williams Prince
Senior Advisor, Program and Strategy
Pivotal Ventures
Ada Williams Prince
Senior Advisor, Program and Strategy, Pivotal Ventures
Ada Williams Prince is an established thought leader at the intersection of philanthropy, equity and global economic development. As a senior advisor for program strategy and investment at Pivotal Ventures, founded by Melinda Gates, she directs high level engagement and strategies to advance adolescent mental health (globally and domestically), and accelerate the power and influence women and girls of color.
Ada brings over 20 years of experience working on social impact globally and domestically. She has served as a Program Officer for the Marguerite Casey Foundation, Director of Special Projects for OneAmerica, and Senior Advocacy Officer at the Women’s Refugee Commission and a number of other senior program positions. She’s held international posts with the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Survivors in Brussels, Save the Children in London, and on field missions with Refugees International, and the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance at USAID.
Ada has served as a board member for several organizations including, Crisis Text Line, Neighborhood House and the Refugee Women’s Alliance in Seattle, and chair of the board of directors of Wandsworth Women’s Aid UK, a domestic violence shelter. Currently she serves on the board of PAI (a global reproductive health organization) and the Women’s Funding Network.
She has spent her career fighting for the rights of global women, girls and families everywhere. Ada holds a BA and MA degrees from the School for International Training in Brattleboro, VT and the University of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. She and her family live in Seattle.
Bré Anne Rivera
Program Fellow
The Black Trans Fund
Bré Anne Rivera
Program Fellow, The Black Trans Fund
Bré Rivera lives her life boldly and unapologetically advocates for issues most impacting the lives of Black trans people. She is the Founder and Program Fellow of the Black Trans Fund, an incubated fund of the Groundswell Fund that is rooted in her experience as a former executive director of an under-resourced grassroots organization, and her commitment to supporting abundance within Black trans movements.
Before joining the Groundswell Fund team, Bré worked as a research assistant at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, and as an HIV intervention specialist at Wayne State University School of Medicine and Detroit Medical Center.
Bré lives in New Mexico with her partner and spends her free time hiking in the Sandia mountains. She is an active board member of Positive Women’s Network-USA, the Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico, Third Wave Fund, and Grantmakers for Girls of Color.
Lateefah Simon
President
Akonadi Foundation
Lateefah Simon
President, Akonadi Foundation
Lateefah Simon is a nationally recognized advocate for civil rights and racial justice. She has been the President of Akonadi Foundation since 2016. That same year—driven by Oscar Grant's death—she was elected to the Bay Area Rapid Transit Board of Directors and served as President. Since 2015, Lateefah also has served as a member of the Board of Trustees for the California State University, the nation's largest public university system, and state officials often turn to her for strategic advice on policy matters related to racial justice.
Lateefah previously served as Program Director at the Rosenberg Foundation, where she launched the Leading Edge Fund to seed, incubate, and accelerate bold ideas from the next generation of progressive movement leaders in California. She also held the position of Executive Director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, successfully launching community-based initiatives, such as the Second Chance Legal Services Clinic. Lateefah spearheaded San Francisco's first reentry anti-recidivism youth services division under the then-District Attorney Kamala Harris leadership. Before serving in this role, Lateefah became—at the age of 19—the Executive Director of the Center for Young Women's Development (now named the Young Women's Freedom Center), a position she held for 11 years.
Lateefah received the MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Award in 2003, making her the youngest woman to receive the award —in recognition of her work as Executive Director of the Young Women's Freedom Center. Lateefah's other numerous awards include the California State Assembly's "Woman of the Year,"; the Jefferson Award for Extraordinary Public Service, and Inside Philanthropy's "Most Promising New Foundation President'' (2018). Lateefah's additional awards include those from the Ford Foundation, the National Organization for Women, Lifetime Television, and O Magazine.
She has been featured in SF Chronicle, SF Business Times, KQED, Chronicle of Philanthropy, Philanthropy News Digest, Inside Philanthropy, Associated Press, CNN, ABC News, and many more media outlets.
Teresa C. Younger
President and CEO
Ms. Foundation for Women
Teresa C. Younger
President and CEO, Ms. Foundation for Women
Teresa C. Younger is an activist, advocate, renowned public-speaker, organizational strategist, and a proven leader in the philanthropic and policy sectors. Having spent over 20 years on the frontlines of some of the most critical battles for comprehensive equity and the elimination of institutionalized oppression, she now serves as the President and CEO of the Ms. Foundation for Women.
Prior to joining the Ms. Foundation for Women, Younger served as the executive director of the Connecticut General Assembly’s Permanent Commission on the Status of Women and as executive director of the ACLU of Connecticut — the first African American and the first woman to hold that position.
Younger is a thought leader at the critical intersections of gender and race. Within the philanthropic sector she serves on initiatives to shape and change the narrative of women and girls, including Grantmakers for Girls of Color, Funders for Reproductive Equity, Philanthropy New York and Black Funders for Social Justice. Additionally, Younger serves on a number of boards including the Ethel Walker School and Essie Justice Group.
She has appeared on MSNBC’s UP with David Gura, NBC News, NPR Radio, Elle Magazine, Cosmopolitan, SiriusXM, and in USA Today, AP, Rewire, BadassWomenLeaders.com podcast and the New York Times.
Younger is a graduate of the University of North Dakota and in 2018 was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters in Humanities from the University of New Haven. She is also a proud lifetime Girl Scout and Gold Award recipient.
A Year of Growth and Impact
What's safe for me is (to) walk down the street and not be worried about being shot. Now that’s safe."
Youth from Birmingham (Start From The Ground Up report)
Key 2020 Moments
Despite all the challenges, 2020 was a year of tremendous growth and impact for Grantmakers for Girls of Color as we worked to meet the urgency of the moment en route to our long-term goals and vision. Below, please see a brief snapshot of key moments that shaped Grantmakers for Girls of Color in 2020 (click the month to read more).
Dr. Monique W. Morris becomes Grantmakers for Girls of Color’s first Executive Director*. Dr. Morris is a lifelong advocate for improving the educational and socioeconomic conditions for girls and women of color, and an award-winning author, educator and activist. She holds three decades of experience in education, civil rights, juvenile and social justice. (*Note: Title changed to President and CEO effective April, 2021.)
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
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April
Dr. Monique W. Morris becomes Grantmakers for Girls of Color’s first Executive Director*. Dr. Morris is a lifelong advocate for improving the educational and socioeconomic conditions for girls and women of color, and an award-winning author, educator and activist. She holds three decades of experience in education, civil rights, juvenile and social justice. (*Note: Title changed to President and CEO effective April, 2021.)
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May
Grantmakers for Girls of Color launches the Love Is Healing COVID-19 Response Fund as our first grantmaking effort to resource organizations and efforts addressing the immediate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on girls and gender-expansive youth of color.
Grantmakers for Girls of Color creates first advisory committeeas an organization, a group of powerhouse women of color philanthropy leaders. - June
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July
G4GC is among the 116 organizations MacKenzie Scott pledges to support, honoring the pledge she made to give the majority of her wealth back to the society that helped generate it. The organizations were selected for their transformative work on racial and gender equity and other critical issues. This support is followed by multiple other foundations, businesses, and individuals stepping up to invest in the leadership of Black, Indigenous, Latina, Asian, Arab, Pacific Islander, and other girls and gender-expansive youth of color.
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Aug
Maheen Kaleem, Esq., joins as G4GC deputy director, overseeing development and management of programs, grants, and operations. Maheen has dedicated her life to creating a world where girls of color are safe and free. She brings 20+ years of experience supporting youth and families impacted by interpersonal and state violence, and making way for those traditionally marginalized from formal sites of power to lead efforts to advance racial and gender justice.
Our community of co-investors expands, and a new partnership with GRAMMY Award-winning artist, Ciara. Through her Why Not You Foundation, Ciara donates a portion of the proceeds from her new song “Rooted” to G4GC, helping to mobilize more philanthropic resources to support Black girls and other girls of color to pursue their wellbeing, equity, and justice. -
Sept
Grantmakers for Girls of Color launches the Black Girl Freedom Fund, an unprecedented campaign with a community of powerful co-founders, calling for a $1 billion investment in Black girls in the U.S. over the next 10 years.
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Oct
Grantmakers for Girls of Color continues to build our internal capacity to ensure we have the infrastructure to support work with girls and movement leaders, bringing on Cidra M. Sebastien as the Manager of the Black Girl Freedom Fund, Kyndall Clark Osibodu as the Manager of Organizational Health and Learning, and Dominique Fulling as Executive Assistant.
- Nov
- Dec
To date, Grantmakers for Girls of Color has granted over $3 million to 150 organizations in 29 states, Washington D.C., Guam, and Puerto Rico
Love is healing COVID-19 Response Fund
Our first grantmaking initiative responded with urgency, and moved grants to support girls and gender-expansive youth of color facing conditions that have been deeply exacerbated by the pandemic.
Love Is Healing COVID-19 Response Fund
In May 2020, G4GC launched the Love is Healing COVID-19 fund as our first grantmaking initiative, with the aim to move grants between $5,000 and $25,000 to organizations across the country responding to girls and gender-expansive youth of color in the context of the global pandemic.
“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,” President and CEO Dr. Monique W. Morris said. “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-based 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. Our initial set of grants awarded $620,000 to 34 organizations for a range of services and programs, including preventative or responsive health strategies, educational and economic support, interventions to support institutionalized youth and survivors, and COVID-19 research and mapping needs. As of April 2021, Grantmakers for Girls of Color has granted over $3 million to more than 150 organizations in 29 states, Washington D.C., Guam, and Puerto Rico.
This fund also provided support for organizations facing particular security threats in the context of political violence and organizing, and organizations meeting the needs of girls in particularly under-resourced geographies and communities. Learn more in the impact snapshot section of this annual report.
Black Girl Freedom Fund and the #1Billion4BlackGirls Campaign
Black women leaders unite, and call for the philanthropic investment of $1 billion in Black girls over the next decade.
Black Girl Freedom Fund and the #1Billion4BlackGirls Campaign
Black girls and Black gender-expansive youth have been on the frontlines of fighting for racial and gender equity, but their stories and lives are often overlooked or erased. Investing in Black girls, young women, and Black gender-expansive youth is necessary, urgent, and just—for our collective freedom and to ensure that all Black lives are viewed as valuable today and tomorrow.
In September 2020, our President and CEO, Dr. Monique W. Morris joined with a group of Black women leaders to launch the Black Girl Freedom Fund (BGFF) and the #1Billion4BlackGirls campaign, a call for the philanthropic investment of $1 billion in Black girls over the next decade.
In addition to Dr. Morris, the co-founders are:
- LaTosha Brown, Southern Black Girls and Women’s Consortium
- Tarana Burke, Founder, ‘me too.’ Movement
- Fatima Goss Graves, President and CEO, National Women’s Law Center
- Joanne Smith, Founding President and CEO, Girls for Gender Equity (GGE)
- Dr. Salamishah Tillet, Co-Founder, A Long Walk Home
- Scheherazade Tillet, Co-Founder, A Long Walk Home
- Teresa Younger, President and CEO, Ms. Foundation for Women
According to the Ms. Foundation for Women landmark study on philanthropy, women and girls of color account for 0.5% of $66.9 billion given by foundations, totaling just $5.48 per woman and girls of color in the United States. In 2017, one of the latest years for which comprehensive data is available, less than $15 million was specified as benefiting Black women and girls.
The fund aims to support work that advances the well-being of Black girls and their families, including work that centers and advances the power of Black girls and gender-expansive youth through organizing, asset mapping, capacity-building, legal advocacy, and narrative work that seeks to eradicate structural violence enacted against Black girls and gender-expansive youth. Grants will be strategically made to organizations led by Black women and girls, as well as non-Black led organizations that seek to build their capacity to better respond to the needs of Black girls. Grantmakers for Girls of Color is engaging Black girls and gender-expansive Black youth to inform and co-create our grantmaking process.
The launch date of the #1Billion4BlackGirls Campaign, September 15, was an intentional choice. On that day, 57 years earlier, four Black girls — Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley — were murdered by a Ku Klux Klan member who bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Their tragic deaths further galvanized the Civil Rights Movement, ultimately leading to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. BGFF honors these girls as we work towards building a world that protects, nurtures and empowers Black girls.
We invite you to join us in investing in the brain trust, innovation, health, safety, education, artistic visions, research, and joy of Black girls and their families through the Black Girl Freedom Fund.
G4GC in Community
One of our core strategies is creating spaces and opportunities to advance racial and gender justice, and issues that impact girls and gender-expansive youth of color. Click the links to watch these webinars.
Webinar
A webinar with Dr. Kimberlé Crenshaw on why philanthropy must use an intersectional approach to meet this moment of national reckoning around anti-Black racism and other forms of injustice.
Watch the video
Webinar
A webinar on how COVID-19 is impacting girls and gender-expansive youth of color led by our grantee partners, The National Crittenton Foundation, S.O.U.L. Sisters Leadership Collective, and National Compadres Network.
Watch the video
Webinar
A webinar on how we can best respond to girls and gender-expansive youth of color in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic, with Dr. Lane Rolling.
Watch the videoG4GC in the media
As part of our work, we aim to change the narrative about girls and gender-expansive youth of color, and ensure that the issues and solutions that impact them are part of the public discourse. Here are a few media publications where Grantmakers for Girls of Color and Black Girl Freedom Fund (with an *) were featured in 2020.
Our Impact by the numbers
Grant partners and funding overview
In 2020, Grantmakers for Girls of Color launched our first-ever grantmaking program, the Love is Healing Covid-19 Response Fund. See below for more detail on who, what and where we funded. This data is based on information reported by grantee partners in response to surveys from Grantmakers for Girls of Color on their work.
Who we funded
In 2020 we funded 141 organizations
We gave a total of $2,916,000
Through the Love is Healing Fund, COVID-19 responses across particular priority areas accounted for 92% of our grants. The remaining 8% of the organizations received funds in response to security crises in the face of political violence or because they were situated in and supporting girls and gender-expansive youth in especially marginalized communities.
The majority, or 92% of grantee partners (130 out of 141) responded to questions about who the key decision-makers in their organization were. We learned important information about how organizations resourcing girls and gender-expansive youth of color understand and articulate leadership.
We gave them options to select any of the following categories: femmes of color, womxn of color, girls of color, and nonbinary/gender-expansive youth of color. We also gave them an option to check them all
93%
The majority 93%, self-identified their leadership as womxn* of color.
15%
Notably, grantees described their key-decision makers to be a mosaic: 15% checked off all four of these categories, 19% checked off three, and 28% checked off two categories
2
2 organizations named that their key decision makers were exclusively girls of color
A fifth of our grantee responders, 21% of organizations, chose “other” as a category for their key decision makers. They wrote in nuanced, layered responses that remind us that our grantee community is complex, intersectional, and deeply rooted in their specific and diverse communities. Their responses boldly say that “one size does not fit all.” Among the descriptors they used are:
- Black immigrant women and girls
- Two-spirit individuals
- Undocumented women
- Trans women
- At-risk women of color (teen parents & low-income families)
- Immigrants
- BIPOC survivors
- Formerly incarcerated
* Term used in intersectional feminism, as an alternative spelling to avoid the suggestion of sexism perceived in the sequences m-a-n and m-e-n, and to be inclusive of trans and nonbinary women.
Where we funded
Our grantmaking spans across 32 states, with three organizations specifically naming that they do national work. Our grantmaking is distributed across the following geographic regions:
Love is healing grantee partners
In the Words of Our Grantees
As the global health pandemic took hold, it laid bare our communities’ structural vulnerabilities. And yet, through these conditions, our grantee community not only sought to sustain their programming, intergenerational relationships, organizing work and service provision—they grew them, shifting, and tailoring their work to respond to the needs of their people—our people. Their work emboldens us to continue growing our Love is Healing Fund. As we revisit our work from the past year, let’s hold close both the immense loss and the powerful community that defined 2020. Read our grant partners’ own words how they describe living in the midst of the pandemic as well as the mutual aid and responsive work that our grant community did and continues to do.
Click on each quotation mark
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COVID-19 has dramatically changed everyone's life, causing a profound blow to our physical, mental, and emotional health, and threatening to sever the connections that hold us together. This is a challenge for everyone, but BIPOC/immigrant communities—especially first/second-generation girls growing up interculturally—are particularly vulnerable."
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Our immigrant women members and young women know that our community suffers from comorbidities that can result in more severe illness and possibly death if infected with COVID-19. Living in overcrowded and multigenerational households puts everyone at even greater risk. As a community made of essential workers, we are always at heightened risk, a risk that needs to be taken in order to pay overdue rent and provide sustenance for our households."
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Family members often pressure youth to drop out of school in favor of becoming employed so as to contribute to household income and send earnings back to their country of origin. COVID-19 has exacerbated these struggles as social distancing regulations have disproportionately impacted service-based jobs, primarily employing Latina, Black and Indigenous womxn at minimum wage, without paid sick time or other benefits."
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Interpersonal violence among the BIPOC community is a pandemic within the COVID-19 pandemic. As a nation, we have witnessed and for many directly experienced the harmful impact of COVID-19 among individuals, families, and communities extending beyond health."
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Our response COVID-19 activities have proven to at least offer members in our communities, room, and a space to feel seen, validated, and cared for. This grant will allow us to continue and double our interventions."
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Thousands of girls and gender-expansive youth of color are falling behind academically and suffering from anxiety and mental health challenges. Many middle and upper income families have formed educational pods, with private tutors and teachers. While that is beneficial for those students, the situation exacerbates the learning inequities that low-income students too often face. Our Learning Pod program will offer Black girls and gender-expansive youth the opportunity to join small learning pods of their own, where they can keep up with their school work, receive tutoring and other support, participate in movement, arts, and culture programs, and develop their leadership skills."
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By teaching young girls about their history, tradition and culture this will give them a sense of belonging and help them to become connected to their ancestors and a support system and teachings for generations to come."
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Nonetheless, knowing that there are higher potentials for decreased mental health for the girls we serve due to the pandemic has ignited us to pivot our program approach and delivery methods quickly. To help improve conditions for girls of color in our community, our COVID-19 response activities will allow us to urgently deliver services in more creative ways, with a heightened focus on social emotional learning through a trauma-informed lens to mitigate potential decreases in mental health."
Love is healing grantee list
Our grantmaking during the year spans across 32 states and all geographic regions. Use the “drop down” navigation below to identify which of our grant partners (through April 2021) are in a particular city:
organizations
G4GC Financials
(If I had one billion I would offer) free, accessible, good quality healthcare for all Black girls, cisgender as well as transgender."
Youth from Brooklyn NY (BFFF survey)
In our first year, we experienced incredibly significant growth. We started the year with a little over $1 million and with one institutional partner, and ended the year with $18 million in revenue, exceeding our anticipated financial growth by $2 million. Most importantly, we were able to partner with more than 10 institutional co-investors and a number of individual donors who believe deeply in the rights of girls and gender-expansive youth to access safety, dignity, and power, and in their ability to lead us towards more just futures.
First and foremost, we would like to thank MacKenzie Scott for including G4GC in her first round of grants in 2020, and for being among the first individuals to trust our vision.
We would also like to thank our G4GC institutional partners, which include:
- Aditi Foundation
- The Andrus Family Fund
- Blue Shield of California Foundation
- The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
- Kolibri Foundation
- Nathan Cummings Foundation
- NoVo Foundation
- Nellie Mae Foundation
- Wellspring Philanthropic Fund
- Pivotal Ventures
- The Skoll Foundation
- Anonymous Foundation
We want to thank Gilead Sciences Racial Equity Community Impact Fund for being our first corporate partner to support the Black Girl Freedom Fund, as well as our initial individual supporters, including: Shari Bhenke, Susan M. Sherrerd, and Ciara Wilson.
We are also indebted to Rashida Jones, Kelly McCreary, and Karen Richardson for their tireless support of the #1Billion4BlackGirls Campaign and the Black Girl Freedom Fund. And a special thank you to Felicia Pride, Shondaland, and the Grey's Anatomy and Station 19 teams at ABC for uplifting the #1Billion4BlackGirls campaign through their platforms.
Finally, we continue to be incredibly grateful to the more than 1,000 co-investors who gifted us with their individual support ranging anywhere from $5 to $5,000. Their generosity is a testament to what we know to be true—that we have a strong community of people surrounding us who are willing to invest their personal resources toward a more inclusive world for girls and gender-expansive color. These individuals include high school and college students, women of color-led giving circles, influencers, artists who have used performance and art, and so many others who have given so generously of themselves and their time to support our girls and youth.
The Work Continues...
Growing Momentum in 2021
What a year of growth, resiliency and impact in the midst of tremendous challenges. We are deeply grateful to our funding and grantee partners, and to girls and gender expansive youth of color themselves, for your vision and collaboration. None of this would have been possible without your partnership.
So far in 2021, the intentionality of our work continues to focus on girls and gender-expansive youth of color, and their families, with the urgency and love that this moment requires. Some highlights from 2021 include:
- Expanding our leadership team, bringing on Josefina Casati to serve as our Senior Director of Communications, and Dr. Whitney Richards-Calathes as our Senior Director of Research, Advocacy, and Policy.
- As part of the #1Billion4BlackGirls Campaign, organizing Black Girl Freedom Week in February, a digital celebration that included panels, conversations, health gatherings and music featuring artists, influencers, our #1Billion4BlackGirls co-founders, and of course—Black girls!
- Launching our inaugural Youth Advisory Committee and Design Team to design a robust and comprehensive youth engagement strategy.
Throughout the year, we will share more updates and news with you as we continue to deepen and expand our work. Join us as we continue to shape Grantmakers for Girls of Color into a dynamic home where funders, movement leaders, and young people can collectively organize for a more loving, just, and joyful future.
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