Collective Future Fund Announces $1.75 Million in Rapid Response Funding For Women-of-Color-Led Initiatives for Safety

The awarded groups center Black and Indigenous women, women of color, trans and nonbinary people of color, and survivors, working at the intersections of racial, gender, economic justice to end all forms of violence.

(NEW YORK) Today, the Collective Future Fund awarded grants to 35 organizations through the Survivor Safety and Support Fund launched in 2020 to address the myriad of issues driven by the pandemic, economic recession and the escalation of racial and gender violence, totalling $1.75 million. The grantees are working at the forefront of movements to end interpersonal, workplace, and state violence in all its forms, and are all led by and center Black women, Indigenous, women of color, trans and nonbinary people of color, and survivors.

The grantees work domestically and transnationally to build safety for women and girls of color using a variety of interconnected approaches––from mutual aid, to organizing, to advocacy and legal campaigns. Some grantees are working to build immediate safety for their communities, from holding retreats and support groups to providing financial and housing support for trans and gender non-conforming people of color in the ongoing COVID-19 health and economic crises. Others are focused on organizing and advocacy to build long-term conditions of safety for women and girls of color, such as the #SayHerName campaign, focused on the often overlooked police killings of Black women; organizing clemency and prison bailout efforts for women who face additional risks from incarceration during COVID-19; efforts to stop family separation and deportations among undocumented survivors otherwise excluded from legal support; and a campaign to secure a fair wage and reduce workplace harassment and violence for tipped service workers, among many others. 

“With this grant, Menīkānaehkem’s Tiny Homes for Healing project is building more safe, transitional houses for survivors and vulnerable community members,” said Kristin Welch, Menīkānaehkem’s organizer and lead coordinator of its Women’s Leadership Cohort. “Native communities like ours have had to close shelters due to the pandemic, so these homes are meeting an urgent need for community members experiencing homelessness, economic difficulties, and gender-based violence while demonstrating how to be self-sustainable, gain a connectedness to Mother Earth, and grow community ownership of health.” 

“Our work to support and free Black LGBTQIA+ migrants held in ICE detention centers has become even more critical as conditions within these prisons worsen and put Black LGBTQIA+ lives at risk during the pandemic. Those detained are often fleeing violence and persecution, and we are actively organizing, fundraising, and engaging legislators to liberate Black LGBTQIA+ migrants who are being indefinitely detained,” said Ola Osaze, Director of Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project. 

The rapid deployment of these grants comes in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, where women and girls of color face disproportionate rates of job loss and economic hardship in comparison to their white and male counterparts, while simultaneously holding many of the jobs with the highest risk of exposure to the virus as essential workers. As uprisings for racial justice continue across the United States, this funding also benefits groups working to elevate and allieviate the often underrepresented rates of violence perpetuated against women, girls, trans and gender non-conforming people of color. 

“We are building a future in which women, girls, trans and gender non-conforming people of color, and survivors of violence are not only safe from state, workplace, and interpersonal violence––but live in shared abundance, joy, and collective power,” said Aleyamma Mathew, Executive Director of Collective Future Fund. “Collective Future Fund’s grantees work to build power across all facets of our lives, reimagine safety, and break out of silos that artificially segment our lives and movements into issue areas.”

Organizations were invited to apply to the grantmaking round based on recommendations from members of the funding collaborative and previous grantee partners. Recipients each received grants of $50,000.