Sacramento social justice nonprofits receive aid from $1 million grant initiative
Fourteen organizations in the Central Valley have been awarded grants from the James B. McClatchy Foundation as part of the latest round of investment from a $1 million initiative to support groups dedicated to social justice issues and civic engagement.
The LIFT Initiative, launched in 2019, is aimed at investing in community groups that protect First Amendement rights — free speech, freedom of expression, and a free press — and help organizations more effectively create systemic change. The grants, ranging from $25,000 to $100,000, will help organizations pay for leadership development, staffing, technology capacity, or strategic planning.
“This is about us believing in and standing by an inclusive generation of leaders,” foundation board member Joaquin Alvarado said in a statement. “It’s the local stories and local leaders on the front lines who create real change.”
Among the recipients is the Black Youth Leadership Project, an organization based in Sacramento that seeks to make public policy more accessible to students, and calls for social justice in the education system.
The nonprofit runs several programs, such as Goals, Organization, Applications and Transcripts program, known as G.O.A.T., to help prepare students for college applications. In the last few years, the group has also been a vocal advocate on behalf of Black students at the Sacramento City Unified School District, who are disproportionately suspended and expelled.
The $25,000 grant will allow the organization to hire more interns and staff, as well as a consultant to assist in longterm strategic planning, said Lorreen Pryor, president of the Black Youth Leadership.
“Anytime there’s an opportunity to use funds to expand what we already have in place, it’s a good thing,” Pryor said. “It just seemed like they were looking for programs like ours who are being intentional about the advocacy we’re doing.”
Social Justice PolitiCorps, which works to crowdsource information about local politics and help residents become civically engaged on social justice issues, also received a grant from the foundation.
Kula Koenig founded the group last summer, and has been organizing residents through “piecemeal” platforms like Google Forms, she said. The grant will allow Social Justice PolitiCorps to hire a developer to build an app that will allow users to sign up for alerts on city and county agenda items, find talking points for public comment, read meeting recaps and more.
“It’s really, really important for folks to pay attention, because things are happening at the county level around the budget (such as) being heavily allocating toward law enforcement versus affordable housing and health,” Koenig said. “When people are paying attention and active,” people can make a difference, she added.
Other recipients in the latest round of funding include the California Center for Civic Participation, Ivanhoe Sol, Breakbox Thought Collective’s Fresno Black Girl Magic Project, the Central Valley Latino Leadership Academy, and Little Manila Rising, among others.
The James B. McClatchy Foundation, founded in 1994, is a philanthropic nonprofit started by the family that previously owned the McClatchy Company. It is not affiliated with McClatchy or its publications.
This story was originally published February 12, 2021 at 9:24 AM.