Town of Brookline and the Brookline Community Foundation have launched a Racial Equity Fund to support community organizations and efforts to advance racial equity and racial justice for the Brookline community.
Donor Name: Brookline Community Foundation (BCF)
State: Massachusetts
Town: Brookline
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 03/06/2023
Details:
The Racial Equity Grant Program was created to support community organizations, nonprofits, and other entities seeking funding for projects, programs, and initiatives that advance racial equity and racial justice for the Brookline community. This grant program will provide funding to address racial equity gaps that affect the quality of life for people of color in Brookline.
The Racial Equity Grant Program is the only grant program in their community that aims to address the impact of racism on the health, well-being, and overall quality of life for communities of color, and reallocate resources and power to those members of their community who have been historically marginalized and disadvantaged. They aim to do this by supporting projects that seek to reduce the racial inequities they are seeing in their community and by ensuring that funds go exclusively to lifting and building up members of their community who have been historically and/or are currently marginalized and disadvantaged.
Values and Priorities
BCF’s vision of a better Brookline for all who live, learn, work, and play here means working relentlessly to achieve equity—the condition where the dimensions of one’s identity have no influence on each of us getting what they need to survive or thrive. They recognize that many of the challenges they see across the country and here in Brookline have become more acute this past year and that BIPOC individuals and communities are disproportionately impacted by these challenges.
The Racial Equity Grant Committee’s activities and decisions will be rooted in and guided by the following values articulated by the Committee:
- They stand for the self-determination and empowerment of people who identify as Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC).
- They value BIPOC-led ideas, projects, and movements.
- They value efforts and organizations led by people of color who are working with groups that have been historically and/or are currently disadvantaged or marginalized, particularly those efforts and organizations that the philanthropic sector has traditionally underfunded.
- They value efforts and organizations focused on serving people of color and others who are currently disadvantaged or marginalized.
In alignment with these values, the Committee will consider proposals from all organizations and efforts in Brookline that seek to reduce racial inequities; however, the Committee will prioritize funding to BIPOC-led and BIPOC-serving applicants.
For this grant program, an organization/group is considered BIPOC-led if they meet at least one of the following three criteria:
- The organization/group’s Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer or Board Chair identifies as BIPOC.
- 50% or more of the organization’s leadership staff or program directors identify as BIPOC.
- 50% or more of board members identify as BIPOC.
Eligibility Criteria
501(c)(3) nonprofits organizations, Town departments or agencies, including the Town’s Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Relations (ODICR) or Commission for Diversity Inclusion and Community Relations (CDICR), and community groups can apply for funding. Organizations and groups that are currently funded through other BCF grant programs are eligible to apply. BCF cannot make grants to individuals.
Eligible projects may include:
- New projects and innovations in need of seed funding;
- Existing projects or programs in need of ongoing funding;
- Shorter-term projects that address racial inequities by meeting the immediate, individual needs of people of color (Individual needs may present as low-wage jobs, poor physical health, mental health problems, alcohol and drugs misuse, personal financial crises, housing insecurity and instability, emergency medical situations, and experience of the criminal justice system);
- Longer-term projects and innovations that seek to address the root causes of racial inequities and reduce systemic barriers to equity and inclusion (Systemic barriers may involve poverty, inequality, housing supply and affordability, unemployment, access to affordable healthcare, access to healthy and nutritious food, and institutional racism), and;
- Projects that address racial inequities through power-building and movement building efforts.
For more information, visit Racial Equity Grant.
