It’s been nearly four years since we launched our Rapid Response & Seed Grant program in 2016! Last year, we set a goal to increase grantmaking through this program, and with the support of our incredible community, we more than doubled the number of grants made, 34 in total. That’s over $100,000 to resource new and emerging groups and get funds quickly to organizers on the frontlines responding to the many attacks and opportunities this intense year has thrown at us. Thank you!

To keep you in the loop and celebrate all the transformative work these organizations have been up to, we’re sharing out our most recent round of Rapid Response and Seed Grants.

We’ve made 12 Rapid Response Grants so far in 2020 – here are examples of how two grantees led powerful work in their communities:

• Native Wellness Institute is a leading organization in Indian Country that supports healing and trauma informed care instrumental to transformational change in the Native communities they serve. In early 2020, they held a series of healing gatherings for youth in response to the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women in their region. High school age youth on the Crow and Northern Cheyenne reservations in Montana were invited to connect, grieve, and learn tools for resiliency together.
• Black Community of Portland is a community-based organization that promotes sustainability, self-sufficiency, higher learning, and economic empowerment within the Black communities of Portland. They’ve been hard at work delivering over PPE, wellness supplies, and over 1200 hot, healthy meals to Black families in the Portland area.

22 emerging organizing groups received Seed Grants from SJF so far in 2020. Here’s what two of them have been up to:

• Black Star Farmers’ mission is to become a Black and Indigenous led foundry for the radical reclamation of land and food sovereignty for Black, Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) through education, conversation, and volunteerism in a safe, joyful, and intentional community. In late summer 2020, BSF had the opportunity to steward new land and scale up their program to feed even more BIPOC Seattle community in 2021.
• The Southern Oregon Coalition for Racial Equity (SOEquity) was formed in direct response to the murder of George Floyd and the protests that erupted in our local communities and around the world in June 2020. SOEquity’s goal is to hold sessions for community teaching on anti-racism to bring equity to their community’s most marginalized. They want to ensure that the criminal, education, and healthcare systems are treating all BIPoC with equity, so that they are cared for exactly as they need to be.

We believe in and trust the power of these organizations to serve their communities and build a better world. We encourage you to take it one step further by engaging with their work and giving to them directly!

To our members, grantees, and donors — thank you for being a part of this critical work.