More than two dozen philanthropic organizations and corporations on Thursday launched the California Black Freedom Fund, a $100 million, five-year initiative that they say will provide resources to Black-led organizations in the state that are seeking to eradicate systemic racism.<\/p>\n
The 25 funders include the philanthropic groups of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs as well as JPMorgan Chase.<\/p>\n
The bank\u2019s involvement in the initiative follows its prior commitment to provide $30 billion to combat what it called systemic racism against Black and Latino people. That announcement had followed a wave of donations to racial equity groups after global protests against racism and police brutality in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd.<\/p>\n
This group said the new fund is intended to address a \u201chistory of underinvestment\u201d by philanthropists in Black-led and power-building organizations. It currently holds $32.4 million, with the rest of the money to be raised and distributed within the next five years to groups engaged in advocacy and other types of mobilization.<\/p>\n
The fund says it plans to support Black-led organizations that are \u201cfocused on stopping police violence, promoting education equity, improving health outcomes, championing voter registration and civic engagement and crafting policies around increasing access to housing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The head of the Oakland-based Akonadi Foundation, which is part of the effort, said she hopes the fund can continue well beyond five years, with a focus on supporting \u201cBlack leaders who are visionary and courageous.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea is not simply a reaction to the George Floyd killing,\u201d Lateefah Simon, the foundation\u2019s president, told The Associated Press. \u201cThese foundations have always had an explicit mission and focus of advancing equity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although racial equity funds have been introduced in cities like Boston, the California fund\u2019s focus on \u201cBlack-led organizations is unique,\u201d said Una O. Osili, a professor at Indiana University\u2019s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.<\/p>\n
Doing it at the state level with many funders also creates \u201can infrastructure and community around this work,\u201d she added. \u201cI think that\u2019s very important.\u201d<\/p>\n
The money will be donated in rounds of giving. More than $6 million was given to three networks of more than 50 organizations in the first round. They include groups focused on maximizing the participation of hard-to-count Black communities in California\u2019s redistricting process and others pushing police reform.<\/p>\n
Three more rounds are expected this year. The next round, Simon said, will be informed by an advisory committee made up of activists and organizers.<\/p>\n
In addition to supporting the groups through the grants, the fund will also provide assistance in research, data and other areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cPhilanthropy is the least accountable sector of all sectors,\u201d Simon said. \u201cWe really wanted to make sure we were honoring Black freedom fighters by making sure we were making the right grants at the right time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
More than two dozen philanthropic organizations and corporations on Thursday launched the California Black Freedom Fund, a $100 million, five-year initiative that they say will provide resources to Black-led organizations in the state that are seeking to eradicate systemic racism. The 25 funders include the philanthropic groups of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":63983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6045,984],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n