The Weingart Foundation, a private grantmaking foundation, recently awarded 64 grants totaling over $8.7 million to organizations advancing racial justice, providing critical services, and building political power in underserved communities.
Half of the grantees are new partners for the Weingart Foundation as an intentional effort to deepen reach with emerging organizations and those led by Black, Indigenous, Persons of Color (BIPOC).
“Our commitment to racial justice calls on us to invest in the organizations deeply connected to the communities most impacted by racism and unequal systems,” said Miguel A. Santana, president and CEO of the Weingart Foundation.
“More than three quarters of our new partner organizations have leadership whose lived experience reflects that of the people served. We’re proud to invest in BIPOC leaders as we work together to advance racial justice.”
Immigrant and refugee rights and integration is an area of special interest for the Weingart Foundation. Many partners that serve people who are immigrants exemplify cross-racial, cross-identity efforts that are critical in building solidarity and racial healing.
For example, Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project, which builds and centers the power of Black LGBTQIA+ migrants to ensure the liberation of all Black people through community building, political education, organizing, and access to direct services, and the TransLatin@Coalition, founded by Latin@ transgender, gender nonconforming, and intersex immigrant women in Los Angeles to advocate for policy change and services for their community and develop and promote Trans leadership.
“We understand that when we center Black liberation it leads to the liberation of all people. As new partners, we’re looking forward to working with the Foundation to continue to cultivate the power and voice of Black LGBTIQA+ migrants and to connect them to critical services and support,” said Oluchi Omeoga, co-director of Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project, a new Weingart Foundation partner.
Many Weingart partner organizations are on the front lines providing critical direct services to communities most impacted by systemic racism. Nearly two-thirds of the $6.9 million dollars the Foundation awarded in unrestricted funds supports organizations that provide key essential services such as health, mental health, housing, and reentry support.
Partners providing vital services include Center for Living and Learning, the only reentry organization in the San Fernando Valley offering workforce development, led by Executive Director Maria Alexander who is a former client of the Center; Riverside-San Bernardino County Indian Health, Inc., a culturally competent health care provider serving Native Americans throughout the Inland Empire; and Forgotten Children, a Black-led, women-led anti-human trafficking organization providing young women throughout south Los Angeles with a safe space and healing services to rehabilitate and rebuild their lives.
“On behalf of the Weingart Foundation Board, we’re proud to partner with organizations committed to structural change so that all communities can thrive. We look forward to working with both our long-term nonprofit partners and to forging new partnerships to advance our mission of racial justice,” said Aileen Adams, the Weingart Foundation board chair. “We are energized and inspired by the work our nonprofit partners lead each and every day.”
