THE RISING FUND
WOMEN OF COLOR HEALING JUSTICE WORKSHOP
received a grant this year to support Jamaican
women involved in activism to participate
in the Women of Color Healing Retreat in
Discovery Bay, Jamaica.
BLACK LOVE CONVERGENCE, an independent
project created in response to the current
administration and the resurgence in overt
anti-Blackness, received a grant to support its first
national Convergence. Working with a group
of healing/arts justice practitioners - including
Afia Walking Tree, Sonya Renee Taylor and
Gina Breedlove, the gathering took place at the
Franklinton Center at Bricks, a former slave
plantation turned Black run retreat center,
in Whitakers, North Carolina. The organization
also held local events in Durham, NC and will
host a virtual and live Black Love Dinner in
September.
MAROON WOMEN INDIGENOUS CIRCLE received
a grant to purchase a bus to help transport
indigenous women in the underserved Maroon
community of Jamaica.
A grant to SHABNAM HASHMI helped support her
ongoing work related to gender, democracy and
secularism in India. Working with some of the most
marginalized communities, Shabnam’s goal is to
support communities to liberate themselves.
ALIANZA NACIONAL DE CAMPESINAS promotes
farm worker women’s leadership in a national
movement to create a broader visibility and
advocate for changes that ensure their human
rights, received a grant for their ongoing, frontline
work, including their work on violence in the
workplace and their increasing work spurred by
#MeToo.
V-Day supported longtime partner ASHÉ CULTURAL
ARTS CENTER with a grant for work in their
20th year, including concerts of/with women
musicians, visual artists and poets, healing
suites and community events.
CLIMBING POETREE received a grant for their
ongoing social justice work, including an online
resource hub highlighting solutions to the most
pressing issues of our time, a social justice
curriculum, and other arts-based projects.
Climbing PoeTree is dedicated to addressing
social and environmental justice issues
through creative mediums and participatory
art that awakens inspiration and centralizes
solutions through a heart-centered and
intersectional approach.
SAFEBAE headed by V-Day Alumna Shael Norris,
received a grant for its student-focused, survivordriven
work to raise awareness about sexual
assault in middle and high schools and
student’s rights under Title IX. SafeBAE is
focused on preventing dating violence and
sexual assault by giving students the tools
to change peer culture, end harassing revictimization,
and advocate for consent and
safe relationship education.
A grant also went to CENTER FOR THE ARTS IN
PORT AU PRINCE, founded by activist photographer
Nadia Todres. The program works to empower
some of Haiti’s most underserved girls through
the arts.
A grant went to the COACH2EDIFY FOUNDATION,
which works to foster education in regenerative
wellness so that individuals can lead a balanced
lifestyle and peace of mind. The organization
used the funds for the documentary Sun Dancers.
A grant went to ROC ACTION (RESTAURANT
OPPORTUNITIES CENTER UNITED) for their work
to transform the restaurant industry and end the
practice of tipped wages, so that all restaurant
workers can earn a fair living wage.