Women and Girls of Color Archives ~ Page 2 of 21 ~ Philanthropy Women

Ms. Foundation Hosts May 20 Feminist Block Party

On May 20th, get ready for a one-of-a-kind online event honoring female movers and shakers with some moving and shaking of your own. The first-ever Feminist Block Party is an online dance party and fundraiser for critical nonprofits and community organizations run by women of color, supporting those organizations in the nation’s communities most heavily impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.

The Ms. Foundation for Women will host Roar for Women: A Feminist Block Party, the first online event of its kind, on May 20, 2020. (**Image Credit:** Ms. Foundation for Women)

Hosted by the Ms. Foundation for Women, Roar for Women: A Feminist Dance Party will include notes from guest speakers, leaders from the Ms. Foundation, influencers, and organization spokespeople from across the country, including the 2020 Women of Vision Honorees.

Texas Women’s Fdn Makes $320K in Grants for Women and Girls

Editor’s Note: The following update was provided by the Texas Women’s Foundation on their recent grantmaking.

The global health and economic crisis has brought into sharp focus the challenges faced by women and families at the margins. Now, perhaps more than ever before, we see the impact of deep systemic disparities affecting low income women and families, especially women of color. Here in our own community, we see that those who were hit first and hardest by the crisis are those who face the longest and most difficult road ahead. We are dedicated to help meet their needs, now and in the months ahead, through the Resilience Fund.

The Texas Women’s Foundation has made over $320,000 in grants for women and girls in COVID, with more to come. (Image Credit: TWF)

We are deeply grateful to Texas Women’s Foundation’s dedicated friends who are contributing their support. In April, through the Resilience Fund and the generosity of our donors, we distributed $320,768 in grants aimed at relief for low income and marginalized women, girls and families.

Grantmakers for Girls of Color Gives One Million for COVID-19

The Love Is Healing COVID-19 Response Fund is providing one million dollars in grants to resource organizations and efforts addressing the immediate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on girls, fem(mes), and nonbinary/gender expansive youth of color. The grant-making initiative represents Grantmakers for Girls of Color’s first grantmaking effort as an independent entity.

(Photo Credit:) *Credit: Grantmakers for Girls of Color*

Monique W. Morris, Ed.D., newly appointed executive director of Grantmakers for Girls of Color (G4CC), notes, “In this moment and beyond, philanthropy must address the lack of diversity, quality, and responsiveness of capital directed to support girls of color at the intersection of their complex identities and experiences.” Morris adds, “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.”

Funding the World We Want to See: Sonal Sachdev Patel

Editor’s Note: This interview in our Feminist Giving IRL series features Sonal Sachdev Patel, writer, activist and CEO of GMSP Foundation.

Sonal Sachdev Patel, CEO of God My Silent Partner Foundation (GMSP) Foundation. (Photo courtesy Sonal Sachdev Patel)

1. What do you wish you had known when you started out in your profession?

So much. I wish I had known to go straight to the grassroots. The civil society leaders on the frontlines know what their communities need and know how to deliver it. But they’re constrained by a funding environment that is too often inflexible, impatient and imperialistic in terms of who drives the agenda. When we started in 2006, we were giving project-based funds. After listening to our local partners, we shifted to unrestricted funding.

May 14 Webinar: Feminist Giving for COVID: Strategies and Models

What can feminist giving do to help alleviate the COVID-19 crisis?

We’re seeking to answer this question in “Feminist Giving for COVID: Strategies and Models,” the first ever webinar event from Philanthropy Women. Join Editor-in-Chief Kiersten Marek and special guests Marianne Schnall, Surina Khan, and Emily Nielsen Jones to discuss key strategies to support women and girls through COVID.

COVID 19 is presenting humanity with extreme challenges and hardships, and particularly for women and girls, the impacts are, and will be, profound. This 45 minute session will feature expert insights on how to apply a gender lens not only to your funding, but also to your everyday life in COVID, in order to improve our collective response to this unprecedented health crisis.

Pastoralist Child Fdn Announces Campaign To Fight COVID in Kenya

The far-reaching effects of the COVID-19 crisis appear as more than just devastating illness. Crop failures, locust swarms, and market shutdowns all combine to put African villages in further peril, and when it comes to fighting these widespread effects, the Pastoralist Child Foundation finds itself on the front lines.

*PCF volunteers, wearing N95 masks, hand out desperately-needed food and supplies in villages in the Samburu region of Kenya. (**Photo Credit:** Pastoralist Child Foundation)*

The Pastoralist Child Foundation (PCF) is a nonprofit dedicated to ending female genital mutilation and forced marriages while empowering African women and girls to pursue education and leadership roles in their communities.

Consortium Providing Relief Grants to Southern Black Women and Girls

Editor’s Note: The following announcement is from the Southern Black Girls and Women’s Consortium:

Black women will, as we always have, look out for the needs of our family, friends, and community.

The Black Girl Joy Challenge is providing awards up to $250 for girls and young women ages 12 to 25 who have an idea to spread joy virtually. (Image Credit: SBGWC)

Given the unprecedented turmoil of the COVID-19 outbreak many of us will need extraordinary help to care for our families, maintain our homes, and remind our communities to find joy, even in this.

The Southern Black Girls and Women’s Consortium (SBGWC) is a collective of funders, activists and community leaders working to advance the movements for Black girls and women in the Deep South. We are offering an immediate funding opportunity to support Black girls and women and the people who rely on them. The SBGWC COVID-19 fund will rapidly deploy resources to organizations that support Black girls and women in the South that may be experiencing financial crisis or uncertainty due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Free Virtual Therapy for People of Color Affected by COVID-19

The COVID-19 Free Virtual Therapy Support Campaign is a Boris L. Henson Foundation (BLHF) effort to raise money for mental health services for communities of color.

Taraji P. Henson starred in the 2016 movie Hidden Figures about the key role a group of female African-American mathematicians played in the U.S. space program’s early years. (Image Credit: BLHF)

According to the BLHF, “the campaign was developed to cover the cost for virtual or tele-therapy services by licensed, culturally competent clinicians in our network.” Up to five sessions are covered, and those seeking COVID-related virtual therapy can register with BLHF. The Foundation is seeking donations to support the program (Text NOSTIGMA to 707070), as well culturally competent providers to provide services.

The BLHF was founded in 2018 by actor and mental health advocate Taraji P. Henson and is led by Executive Director Tracie Jade Jenkins. It has seen strong interest in the tele-therapy program since it debuted on April 15. In a Today Show interview, Henson, who most recently has appeared on the television series Empire, said, “We had to shut the server down … that’s how big the need is.” She argues that for many, the hardships imposed by COVID-19 are “added trauma,” and that mental health services are helping “thousands stay alive.”

Women InCharge: Design Legend and Amazon Highlight Women in Biz

“Alexa, who inspires you?”

If you ask your little Amazon robot this question, she responds with a female mathematician, a woman scientist, a labor rights activist–and tells you all about them!

You can also tell Alexa, “Happy International Women’s Day!” to hear information on lady trailblazers like architect Zaha Hadid, environmental scientist Rachel Carson, and activist Dolores Huerta.

*In honor of International Women’s Day 2020, Diane von Furstenberg and Amazon collaborated to highlight woman-owned businesses, woman authors, and female entrepreneurs. (**Image Credit:** Amazon)*

“Our goal is to showcase some examples of the far-ranging impact women have had on all aspects of culture, and inspire women and girls to be their own trailblazers,” said Lilian Rincon, Google Assistant’s Senior Director of Product Management, in an interview with USA Today.

NDWA Announces $4 Mil Care Fund for Domestic Workers

In March 2020, the National Domestic Workers Alliance announced the Coronavirus Care Fund, a campaign to raise $4 million in emergency relief funds for domestic workers affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

On March 16, the NDWA announced its campaign to raise $4 million to support domestic workers impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. (**Image Credit:** NDWA)

Domestic workers, a large percentage of whom are women, immigrants, and people of color, are among the unsung heroes on the front lines of the pandemic. They take care of homes, families, and people who are at high risk of catching the virus, like the elderly and people with chronic illnesses. What’s more, many domestic workers find themselves faced with the COVID-19 crisis without any kind of support network, savings to fall back on, or union to protect their rights.

Category: Women and Girls of Color