Why Powerbuilding and Systems Change?

Powerbuilding is about creating and sustaining movements that empower communities to influence and reshape the systems that impact their lives. Systems change involves addressing the root causes of systemic inequities and working toward solutions that foster long-term justice and equality. The Black Equity Fund recognizes that real progress happens when communities have the tools, resources, and support needed to drive these changes from within.

Grants of up to $100,000 are available through the Black Equity Fund for Black-led and Black-serving organizations in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. Applications are being accepted through September 13, 2024.

The Black Equity Initiative – Inland Empire (BEI-IE) and the Inland Empire Funders Alliance (IEFA) have established a Black Equity Fund, an effort to raise and grant $5 million over 2 years to Black led/Black empowering organizations in the Inland Empire region.

The Fund assists nonprofits that are focused on systems change and power-building work in the Fund’s priority areas of civic engagement, criminal justice transformation, housing justice, health equity, education equity and economic liberation.

Interested organizations can review grant guidelines, determine eligibility and submit their application here. All interested applicants should submit through the online portal as emailed applications will not be accepted.

Applicants with questions regarding their grant requests should send an email with the subject titled “Questions” here.

Together, we can build a more equitable and just region. Apply today and join us in shaping the future!

Stay up-to-date on the good work IECF is doing through the power of philanthropy. Sign up for our monthly eNewsletter, Philanthropy Matters.

The post New Powerbuilding & Systems Change Grant Opportunity Opens! appeared first on IECF.

Why Powerbuilding and Systems Change?

Powerbuilding is about creating and sustaining movements that empower communities to influence and reshape the systems that impact their lives. Systems change involves addressing the root causes of systemic inequities and working towards solutions that foster long-term justice and equality. The Black Equity Fund recognizes that real progress happens when communities have the tools, resources, and support needed to drive these changes from within.

Grants of up to $100,000 are available through the Black Equity Fund for Black-led and Black-serving organizations in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. Applications are being accepted through September 13, 2024.

The Black Equity Initiative – Inland Empire (BEI-IE) and the Inland Empire Funders Alliance (IEFA) have established a Black Equity Fund, an effort to raise and grant $5 million over 2 years to Black led/Black empowering organizations in the Inland Empire region.

The Fund assists nonprofits that are focused on systems change and power-building work in the Fund’s priority areas of civic engagement, criminal justice transformation, housing justice, health equity, education equity and economic liberation.

Interested organizations can review grant guidelines, determine eligibility and submit their application here. All interested applicants should submit through the online portal as emailed applications will not be accepted.

Applicants with questions regarding their grant requests should send an email with the subject titled “Questions” here.

Together, we can build a more equitable and just region. Apply today and join us in shaping the future!

Stay up-to-date on the good work IECF is doing through the power of philanthropy. Sign up for our monthly eNewsletter, Philanthropy Matters.

The post New Powerbuilding & Systems Change Grant Opportunity Opens! appeared first on IECF.

Why Powerbuilding and Systems Change?

Powerbuilding is about creating and sustaining movements that empower communities to influence and reshape the systems that impact their lives. Systems change involves addressing the root causes of systemic inequities and working towards solutions that foster long-term justice and equality. The Black Equity Fund recognizes that real progress happens when communities have the tools, resources, and support needed to drive these changes from within.

Grants of up to $100,000 are available through the Black Equity Fund for Black-led and Black-serving organizations in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. Applications are being accepted through September 13, 2024.

The Black Equity Initiative – Inland Empire (BEI-IE) and the Inland Empire Funders Alliance (IEFA) have established a Black Equity Fund, an effort to raise and grant $5 million over 2 years to Black led/Black empowering organizations in the Inland Empire region.

The Fund assists nonprofits that are focused on systems change and power-building work in the Fund’s priority areas of civic engagement, criminal justice transformation, housing justice, health equity, education equity and economic liberation.

Interested organizations can review grant guidelines, determine eligibility and submit their application here. All interested applicants should submit through the online portal as emailed applications will not be accepted.

Applicants with questions regarding their grant requests should send an email with the subject titled “Questions” here.

Together, we can build a more equitable and just region. Apply today and join us in shaping the future!

Stay up-to-date on the good work IECF is doing through the power of philanthropy. Sign up for our monthly eNewsletter, Philanthropy Matters.

The post New Powerbuilding & Systems Change Grant Opportunity Opens! appeared first on IECF.

Members of Sankofa Birthworker’s Collective at the Maternal Health Network Bi-annual Summit in January 2024 at IEHP Headquarters

Honoring ancestral heritage, strengthening family ties, and embracing a right to birthwork all coalesce at Sankofa Birthworkers Collective of the Inland Empire. The intrepid organization comprises a dynamic variety of birthworkers from many professional backgrounds, all of whom offer unique skills sets.

“We are a group of more than 100 providers across Riverside and San Bernardino Counties,” noted Chantel Runnels, the organization’s Doula of Operations. “When we say birthworkers, we denote anyone who serves pregnant families, such as midwives. We specifically try to first connect these Black providers across to the largest counties right in the state. Secondly, we try to connect the community with these providers in the hopes of people receiving more culturally congruent care.”

It’s a bold endeavor all around and one that holds significant reach.

Sankofa’s collective includes midwives, certified doulas, lactation consultants, community advocates and other supporters. In addition to offering high-level service, Sankofa strives to place birthing families in “a position of agency” throughout the perinatal and postpartum experiences.

“We just started in 2018,” Runnels says. “We’ve worked with a couple of fiscal sponsors, and we’re just finalizing our own paperwork as a nonprofit this year. “Our hope is that, you know, in a couple years we’ll be able to stand on our own.”

By the looks of it, that seems destined.

Thus far, the organization has impressed with its array of services. In addition to linking individuals with one another, Sankofa offers several unique meetups that are designed to inspire. The Hybrid Postpartum Support Group is available in person and online, for instance. Monthly Black Breastfeeding Circles are geared to help individuals find much-needed community during their breastfeeding journeys.

newly trained doulas

Yet another breastfeeding group is designed specifically for mothers in the High Desert.

Recently, Sankofa Birthworkers Collective received a Black Equity Fund grant through Inland Empire Community Foundation. As a growing organization, the grant arrives at a vital time when Sankofa hopes to expand its impact.

“We’re hoping this grant, specifically, will help us in our capacity-building and strategic planning,” Runnels says. “It truly gives us a little more runway to strategize to connect the community and providers.

“We always have big dreams,” she adds, “and we’re hoping this specific grant could help us with those dreams.”

One of the key things to any new organization’s success is getting the word out. To that end, Sankofa has expanded in just a short amount of time. Runnels says she’d love for people in the region to know more about Sankofa, specifically, “that we’re committed to building community among culturally congruent providers across the Inland Empire.”

One of the organization’s taglines adheres to a commitment to “community, cause, and connection.”

“Those are our three C’s,” Runnels adds, “like building community, serving the community, building connection around providers, and supporting the cause of changing maternal healthcare in the Inland Empire.”

On the horizon, look for Sankofa to participate in the Perinatal Equity Initiative (PEI) Summit, running April 12-13. The intention of the summit is to reduce Black and African American maternal and infant mortality within San Bernardino and Riverside Counties.

“April 12 is a ‘provider day,’ and April 13 is a community day,” Runnels notes. “Sankofa will be there with many other providers across Inland Empire. Then, on April 14, we have a day just for new members— a special date just to care for them, because we know if you care for the people doing the work, then they’ll be able to go further in actually doing the work.

All that takes place during National Maternal Health Week, April 11-17.

In the meantime, valued community partnerships with standout organizations such as Diversity Uplifts, Inc., the California Black Infant Health Program, Riverside University Health System, and California Black Women’s Health Project, among others, further fuel the creative fires of this ambitious local change agent.

Learn more at sankofabirthworkers.com

This story originally appeared in the Press Enterprise, April 2024.

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Led by professional artists with more than 50 years of combined experience, the professional ensemble shares stories of cultural and historical relevance through the cultural arts—including such things as stilt walking and song—and has established a strong educational arm in the process. Along the way, it has performed at many universities and schools, and established ties to the entertainment industry.

“The arts are always engaging,” says Dr. Adama Jewel Jackson, Founder and Director of African Soul International. “We always say the drums get them [students] in, then we can teach them more about their culture. The drum is very attractive because of its power and the connection with music—a connection that for many of us was forcibly taken. And unfortunately, people have lost it because the power of the drums were illegal here. People could not congregate and play the drums because they were so unifying.”

To that end, connecting and building up cultural resilience remains a key goal for the nonprofit today.

“We remind students of our ancestors of antiquity, which built everything from Sankoré University in Timbuktu to over 200 different pyramids in Sudan and in Egypt,” Jackson says. “It’s about that rich cultural history that many of us unfortunately are not connected to.”

Jackson and the creative community she built within African Soul International have long been champions for the arts but importantly, how the arts can strengthen one’s understanding of the power of their lineage. A bevy of educational programs, performances, and community-building filter into the mix within the organization, and Jackson’s passion for educating individuals about the power of their own, well, “soul,” is always key.

“We know that our children hear negative imagery regularly,” she says. “They hear conversations, songs, and read news articles that could give them the impression that they may not even need to have hope because maybe people who look like them aren’t successful, and maybe people who look like them don’t achieve. We need to combat that because it’s not true. We stand on a very rich legacy of success, resilience, and of positivity and impact.” 

Recently, African Soul International received a grant from the IE Black Equity Fund via Inland Empire Community Foundation (IECF). Jackson says the grants fueled creative efforts for a unique cultural arts program the organization offered at Savant Preparatory School, a Black-owned charter school based in San Bernardino.

In fact, the technical assistance grant the organization received helped produce a performance during Black History Month.

“It helped us to continue building our ability, to do more within San Bernardino, and to offer programming for families and youth,” Jackson says, noting the importance of informing students about the contributions African Americans have made to this country and the world at large.

“The grant was just another way to help us to have a more realistic and accurate view of ourselves as world citizens, and as contributors to the world,” she says. “We want to make sure that our children know that they come from a group of people who contributed to the world, who helped to shape the world, but who also left them the blueprint for how they can impact in their own generation.”

Looking ahead, Jackson’s vision for the organization includes reaching as many new students as possible. She is also keen on creating unique partnerships.

“We’re always looking for people to sponsor the kids and support our organization,” she says. “A lot of our kids are low-income and inner-city young people whose parents may not have the disposable income to help them take classes and to travel. We like to take them to different dance conferences—just one, so they can get an experience of being on the road and being out of their immediate community, but also so that they can actually get to study for a master artist and people from different places in the world.

“That really expands their knowledge of the world and how they see themselves,” she adds. “When our students meet some of our professional artists from Senegal and they speak four or five different languages, it really helps, especially African American kids, to see themselves in the world very differently.”

Learn more about African Soul International at africansoulinternational.org.

This story originally appeared in the Press Enterprise, May 2024

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“Fostering Thriving Communities” was the theme of Southern California Edison’s 2024 Black History Month event, where the Black Equity Initiative of the Inland Empire (BEI-IE) was a Community Partnership honoree!

Attendees gathered for an enjoyable morning of networking, inspiring guest speakers, and recognition of African American businesses and community organizations in Southern California. IECF Board Chair Nefertiti Long and former SCE employee and current IECF board member Joseph Williams were also in attendance. Listen in to an interview with co-conveners Pastor Sam Casey and Dina Walker as they talk about the impact of SCE’s support and the work being accomplished by BEI-IE.

We’re grateful to SCE and so many other donors for their contributions to the IE Black Equity Fund, which supports Black-led and Black-serving organizations and their programs to advance diversity and racial equity across the region. As Dr. Bob Ross, president and CEO of the California Endowment, said, “Diversity assures that a broader array of talents, perspectives, and cultures becomes engaged in building the wellness of entire communities.” The California Endowment, along with IECF, was the first foundation to seed the IE Black Equity Fund.

Learn more about the social, political, and economic issues affecting the IE’s Black population through Mapping Black California, a data-driven initiative of the Black Voice Foundation and Black Voice News. Get to know some of the organizations supported through the Fund by visiting the IE Black Equity Fund Giving Guide! Their programs are helping to close persistent equity gaps in education, health, employment, and housing for the region’s Black community.

Stay up-to-date on all the news from IECF, where we’re helping to create a vibrant region through the power of philanthropy. Sign up for our monthly eNewsletter, Philanthropy Matters.

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In the ever-busy 2020s, nobody is fully immune from stress, anxiety, and even grief.

The result is Blueprints and Pathways, a non-profit, community-based organization whose sole mission is to alleviate sometimes overbearing challenges.

“Our mission is to help African Americans make decisions that improve their overall life satisfaction, and we want to impact the community in a positive way,” Robert Gipson says. “We provide roadmaps based on evidence-based practices to address stress and stress management.”

The genesis for Blueprints and Pathways began in 2022. Gipson was working on his doctorate at California Baptist University when he was struck with an impulse to help others. Through a series of cohorts, he acquired vital information to help him form the nonprofit and soon became its founder and executive director.

“There is a unique experience of stress for African Americans that we experience from racial trauma, generational trauma, and just the history of the African American experience—from slavery and inequities,” Gipson says. “That is a separate layer of stress we experience outside of the normal human stress we all experience. Our goal is to comprehensively address those stresses and reduce them utilizing evidence-based practices with an outcome of having increased life satisfaction.”

The way the organization implements all that is by focusing on the four pillars of mental health: diet and nutrition, physical exercise, stress management, and social health. For instance, stress management can be in the form of any therapy or Christian counseling, which the organization will offer. There is also peer-to-peer group support and therapeutic techniques for coping with stress management.

Access to a bevy of resources also filter into the mix.

Recently, Blueprints and Pathways received a Black Equity Fund grant through the Inland Empire Community Foundation. Gipson says the grant funding will, “definitely help us in the sense of getting up and running and really working the program.”

One of the unique components of the group’s mission to aid in easing stress is pinpointing those stressors.

“Social determinants of health also impact us,” Gipson notes. “So, for instance, if I don’t have an education or income, or my business is not doing well, I may need access to networking. We’re deeply looking at things like that and also connecting people to resources.”

He goes on to say that currently, the organization is working with small cohorts of three to five individuals at a time. Gipson and his trained partners offer myriad activities—from hikes out in Claremont Wilderness Park to engaging with a counselor, mental health educator or even a holistic practitioner trained in something like reiki.

“The hikes, for instance, may be a 30- to 40-minute walk in nature and we’d discuss some of the stresses that we are experiencing and ways to mitigate them,” he says, “and different kinds of coping skills. At the same time, it truly allows for social connection with others.”

“That’s one big way the grant was great for us,” he adds. “It is a technical assistance grant that will help grow and scale the nonprofit model we have.”

Gipson is enthusiastic about the possibilities ahead and believes 2024 and beyond will prove to be fruitful.

“We are starting off small, but ultimately we want to use the results and the outcomes through evaluations and testimonials and then start collecting quantitative data on the mental and psychological changes,” he says. “That will support further growth and expanding the model and the entire program.”

Reach out to Blueprints and Pathways at blueprintsandpathwaysatgmail.com.

Learn more at iegives.org.

This story originally appeared in the Press Enterprise January 2024.

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Assemblymember Corey A. Jackson with BEI committee members and grantees

Non-profit organizations and vital initiatives led by and serving Inland Empire’s Black community will benefit from a milestone achievement. The IE Black Equity Fund has raised more than $6 million since its inception in 2020.

It’s a historic feat, considering the organization launched three years ago, and its importance is not lost on Pastor Sam Casey, BEI-IE co-founder, and executive director at Congregations Organized for Prophetic Change (C.O.P.E.). Casey quickly points out that Black-led and Black-empowering organizations of the Inland Empire play a strategic role in the transformation and the revitalization of the community.

“The failure for far too long to fully fund and capacitate these organizations has hindered, I believe, a more progressive forward progress for the overall community in the Inland Empire,” Casey says. “The fund is a testament to what can be done when organizations are given the opportunity with resources being given in a way that allows them to reclaim for themselves opportunities that outside of that would not be created.”

The BEI/IE Black Equity Fund Celebration was held in Riverside on November 3, 2023.

News of the funding was announced in early November at a celebration event in Riverside. More than 200 attendees attended the event, including nonprofits, philanthropists, funders, and local officials committed to fostering Black community empowerment in the region.

Assemblymember Dr. Corey A. Jackson announced the allocation of $1 million to the Fund, bringing the total to $6 million to help close persistent equity gaps in education, health, employment, and housing for the region’s Black community. Investments from the California Endowment, the Weingart Foundation, and the James Irvine Foundation along with numerous individual donations also contributed to the $6 million milestone.

L-R: Pastor Sam Casey, Dr. Bob Ross, Dina Walker

Dr. Bob Ross, president and CEO of The California Endowment (TCE), the program’s guest speaker, vigorously encouraged guests to honor the past sacrifices of others and consider giving back. Ross has been instrumental in creating a sea change in the region—TCE was the first organization to invest $1 million into the Fund.

“The original goal we set for ourselves was $5 million,” Casey notes. “Here’s the reality. That’s a drop in the bucket to what can be given. But this shows that there are resources out there that should be and can be secured to not only extend this fund, but as Dr. Corey Jackson stated, the endowment is set up so that these resources can be around even after we’re gone.”

The genesis of the endeavor stems from a unique partnership. The Black Equity Initiative-Inland Empire (BEI-IE) created the Fund with support from IE Funders Alliance and Inland Empire Community Foundation. BEI-IE is a coalition of nonprofit leaders whose work is focused on ending systemic racism and building political and economic power for the Black community in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

“This is a terrific milestone for the Inland Empire and our Black-led nonprofits,” says Brie Griset Smith, Sr. VP of Charitable Giving at IECF. “We are so appreciative of those who gave generously to support the Black Equity Fund at IECF, and to BEI-IE who created this inspiring opportunity to benefit our region.”

To be sure, the ripple effects of the Fund stretches far and wide. It recently granted $1.027 million to 71 organizations across the Inland Empire. Additionally, the Fund has fiscally sponsored projects in its second round of grantmaking. Since its inception, the Fund’s grants promoting racial equity in the region have reached $1.7 million.

Understanding the issues affecting the Inland Empire’s Black community is key to the initiative. The region’s Black community comprises 7.3 percent of the region’s population. The IE Black Equity Fund partnered with Mapping Black California to publish the “Black Equity Fund Report” to assist with identifying where funding would have the most impact.

There’s still work to be done, however.

“The one thing I want people to know is, let us not rest here,” Casey shares. “There must be a continuous fight as a priority shift within the state and community, and there must be continuous vigilance on what’s taking place in the lives of Blacks within the Inland Empire. We must remain intentional about making sure this fund remains invested in for the long haul.”

For more information about the IE Black Equity Fund and its mission, visit iegives.org/ieblackequityfund. For more information about BEI-IE, visit blackequityie.org.

This article originally appeared in the Press Enterprise, November 2023.

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This story originally appeared in our 2022-23 Annual Report. 

When it comes to building healthy communities, Robert K. Ross, M.D., understands the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion. As president and CEO of The California Endowment, the first foundation along with IECF to seed the IE Black Equity Fund, he recognizes that public health is an “all in” discipline, which means full inclusion. “Diversity assures that a broader array of talents, perspectives, and cultures becomes engaged in building the wellness of entire communities,” he says.

Time spent working as a pediatrician at a community health center in the late ’80s and early ’90s was pivotal in Dr. Ross’ transition from providing individual care to focusing on public health. He witnessed first-hand the devastation wrought by the crack cocaine epidemic in that era and the subsequent criminalization of Black people. “It changed my perspective as a healer and altered my career path.”

Dr. Ross spent close to a decade working in the public sector in health leadership roles prior to being appointed to his current position in September 2000. “I’ve learned that the community is the source of wisdom in addressing health issues,” he says. During his tenure at The California Endowment, Dr. Ross has provided leadership in supporting the vision of underserved communities and grassroots leaders for a healthier California and a healthier America.

“I am most proud of our investments to bring healthcare to the undocumented and mental health services to schools, and to begin closing youth prisons in our ‘Schools Not Prisons’ work,” he says. He also takes pride in the increased exercise opportunities the Endowment’s Parks for All investments realize as well as the healthier eating opportunities its FreshWorks investments afford.

When buzz surrounding IECF and the Black Equity Fund reached Dr. Ross, he felt compelled to investigate. “It felt like a movement was afoot as I heard from grantee-partners, our staff, board members, and even from other foundations.” The California Endowment ultimately invested in the Fund, providing $1 million in financial support. He envisions the Black Equity Initiative IE (the collective behind the Fund) creating an ecosystem and infrastructure for Black power-building for justice in the Inland Empire.

“The Black Equity Fund asserts the principles of the mobilization of democratic voice and the deployment of capital to drive an equity and opportunity agenda for Black communities,” he says. “It is God’s work.”

The IE Black Equity Fund advances the missions of Black-led and Black-empowering organizations through program and project support and capacity building.

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