We hope your spring was recharging and that you entered the summer season with renewed energy. While we progress through this year, we are in continued solidarity and support of our communities as they navigate many immeasurable challenges—in our country and in the world. And in these difficult times of turmoil and injustice, we are reminded that young people continue to lead the way towards positive change.
Across the nation, young people have been rising up across campuses and communities, using their voices and actions to demand a more just society for all. Their passion, resilience, and unwavering commitment to social justice moves us. Though the road ahead is long, these courageous young people cultivate hope, and their powerful movement fuels our vision of a better future built on the foundation of equity, compassion, and human rights. At G4GC we are committed to supporting and uplifting our young people.
We welcome your contributions and suggestions for future newsletters.
In community,
Josefina Casati
G4GC Senior Director of Communications
✴ G4GC NEWS ✴
Our New Songs Rising Fellows, a group of ten Native and Indigenous young people from across the U.S., met in person for the first time this past month in the Pueblo of Isleta where they embarked on our New Songs Rising Initiative’s first participatory grantmaking process. The fellows also worked together to strategize on the future of the Initiative and connect with one another and the local community. We’re thrilled to share more about their participatory grantmaking process in the months to come!
(Photo credit: Lisann Ramos, G4GC staff, New Songs Rising fellows, and guest speakers at the retreat.)
G4GC’s Pass the Mic Project update 🎞️
Exciting news! Our long-awaited Pass the Mic Project documentary film will be released online via the G4GC website and Vimeo this summer. The documentary shares compelling research and interviews with girls and gender-expansive youth of Color from five G4GC grantee partners based in NYC, D.C., and beyond. We’re deeply grateful to our participating grantee partner and youth, (discover more about the project and the organizations here), and all that we’ve learned together through the creation process.
(Photo Credit: Zahrah Farmer for G4GC; Pictured: Khayla Deans from The Beautiful Project in NC)
Charisma’s Turn, The Musical 🎶
Named one of the Young Adult Library Services Association’s 2024 Great Graphic Novels for Teens, our President & CEO Dr. Couvson’s book Charisma’s Turn was adapted into a musical! For two nights in June, Charisma’s Turn the Musical was performed at the Brooklyn Children’s Theatre Spring 2024 Teen Ensemble Production. ✨
Charisma’s Turn is a graphic novel by Dr. Monique Couvson that follows the dynamic story of Charisma, a Black high school student grappling with mounting pressures from home and school.
(Photo Credit: Brooklyn Children’s Theatre; Pictured: Youth performing Charisma’s Turn)
BGFW 2024 & save the date! 📅
The #1Billion4BlackGirls campaign and G4GC’s Black Girl Freedom Fund hosted our 4th annual Black Girl Freedom Week in February. This year’s theme “A Future of Justice and Democracy” highlighted urgent issues facing young people today, including affirmative action, reproductive justice, and voting. We are deeply grateful for the youth participation and inspiration that helped make BGFW 2024 memorable! Watch this year’s events on our YouTube. Save the date: We’re already planning our next Black Girl Freedom Week, February 2025!
✴ TEAM ACCOLADES ✴
Our Communications Manager, Lisann Ramos, is joining Hispanics In Philanthropy’s Líderes fellowship program for their ninth cohort. “I’m thrilled to get the opportunity to connect with other Latin folks in philanthropy and help incorporate the ancestral giving methods passed down to us by our abuelas into the sector.”
~Lisann
Monique receives an award from Brooklyn Children’s Theatre for ‘Charisma’s Turn’ 🎭
In April, Dr. Monique Couvson, G4GC President and CEO, was honored at the Brooklyn Children’s Theatre’s 20th Anniversary Gala. It was an evening of celebrating and supporting the transformative power of the arts in young lives!
Josefina joins Ethical Storytelling series ✍️
How can one teach their team to use ethical storytelling when interacting with the people they serve? G4GC’s Senior Director of Communications Josefina Casati shared her insights at MemoryFox’s “Narratives With Integrity” series on June 11th. You can watch the event video here and hear the insights about strategies to build a culture of ethical storytelling.
Presenting research in New Orleans! 📊
In June G4GC staff attended Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy’s conference in New Orleans, where Dr. Whitney Richards-Calathes (G4GC Senior Director of Research, Advocacy and Policy) and Vanessa Patiño-Lydia (G4GC Research Consultant) presented and uplifted ethical and intersectional research methodologies in their workshop titled “RealSearch: Gathering Ethical + Intersectional Data in Philanthropy.”
SisterMentors: Grantee Partner Update ✨
This March, G4GC grantee partner SisterMentors returned to annual multi-day and overnight college visits during spring break, with visits to Bryn Mawr College and Haverford College right outside of Philadelphia, PA. At Bryn Mawr College visit, sixteen middle school-aged girls and young women had the chance to meet with BIPOC students, join a session on support for low-income and first-generation students, learn the value of attending a liberal arts and women’s college, and much more. “It was such a unique and wonderful experience it went way above my expectations,” said one of the young people.
A New Era of Justice Annual Conference 📣
Black Women for Wellness is hosting its 25th Reproductive Justice Conference, “A New Era of Justice: Our Bodies, Our Voices, Our Freedom,” on August 15, 2024 in Los Angeles. The conference is a celebration and a gathering to discuss key issues impacting the wellness of Black girls and women. For more details, visit their website here.
Apply to be an ‘Ignite the Vote’ Ambassador ☑️
IGNITE National is seeking civically-minded young people interested in mobilizing their peers/communities to vote in November. If you want to help mobilize your friends, family, and neighbors to be a part of the change and vote this election year, join the movement to #IGNITEtheVote and become an ambassador. Complete the IGNITE the Vote Ambassador application here.
- Documentary Film Funding for Filmmakers of Color: Seed funding and support to develop single nonfiction programs for public media. Apply here (no deadline).
- NDN Collective’s Community Action Fund: Short-term grants to frontline Indigenous organizations, groups, and individuals most impacted by local challenges for direct action and organizing efforts that are often urgent and time-sensitive. Grants up to $40K; applications accepted through July 17.
- Microsoft Tech For Social Impact: Microsoft is offering grants and discounts of their products and services to eligible nonprofits around the world, including cloud solutions like Azure, Dynamics 365, and Microsoft 365. Learn more and apply here.
- CAAAV Youth Organizer: Organizing Asian Communities is seeking a Youth Organizer for their Astoria Tenants Union (ATU), which builds neighborhood power in Astoria with working-class Bengali immigrants. Learn more and apply here by July 15.
- Ms. Foundation: Program Officer, Grantmaking and Capacity Building. Ms. Foundation builds women’s collective power in the U.S. by investing in, and strengthening, the capacity of women-led movements to advance meaningful social, cultural, and economic change. Learn more about the position and apply here.
- New Voices: New Voices is unapologetically Black and queer and dedicated to the work of Reproductive Justice, a framework founded and built specifically for Black women, girls, and gender-expansive folks. Check out all of the current part-time and full-time job opportunities in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland here.
- The Lighthouse (Black Girl Summer): Black Girl Summer creates space for Black girls and women to study and grow personally and professionally. Applications are open for students interested in research & journalism through Black Girl Research Institute and Black Girl Times University. Learn more and apply here.
Share a youth story, event, or opportunity with us! 📣
If your org has a youth story, funding opportunity, event, or celebration centering girls and gender-expansive youth of Color, we invite you to share it with the G4GC community! We would love to amplify your efforts that center youth wisdom and leadership. Complete this Google form at least 2-3 weeks in advance for events and any deadlines. Email [email protected] with any questions.
The Native Youth Sexual Health Network (NYSHN) is led by Indigenous youth working across issues of sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice! The Indigenous Youth Affirmation Deck was designed by and for Indigenous youth to celebrate, support, affirm, and encourage self-reflection and peer support.
Check out the deck here and share them with an Indigenous young person in your life.
G4GC is a funding intermediary working diligently to address the urgent needs of organizations across the U.S. that support and center girls and gender-expansive youth of Color. We welcome your support!
