CLOSED - The Oscar Grant Peace and Racial Justic

Akonadi Foundation Call for Applications
Oscar Grant Peace and Racial Justice Fund - CLOSED
Immediate Mini-Grants (Up to $500)
 
The Killing of Oscar Grant
 
On the first day of 2009, a white BART police officer shot and killed 22 year old Oscar Grant as the young African American man lay on his stomach with his hands cuffed behind his back.  While the officer has now been charged with murder, his arrest took place a full two weeks after the killing, following massive public outcry and an intervention by the state Attorney General.  (For more information please go to
http://joincape.blogspot.com).
 
In response to Oscar Grant’s killing, people all across Oakland, the Bay Area, and the country have come together to demand justice. This outpouring of collective action has been supported and guided by the experience, resources, and members of community organizations that have worked for years toward creating a world free of the structures of racism that oppress and
brutalize people of color every day.
 
The Oscar Grant Peace and Racial Justice Fund
 
To support the critical and emerging organizing, advocacy, and cultural work taking place, the Akonadi Foundation is making available immediate mini grants of up to $500 to 501c3 or fiscally sponsored organizations engaged in community-led action in Oakland in response to the killing of Oscar Grant. Through this fund we seek to support the immediate demands for justice and institutional change as well as the long-term movement building this situation can shape.
 
The creation of this fund is guided by the Akonadi Foundation’s commitment to:
 
·     Leadership of communities of color:  Efforts to achieve racial justice must be defined and led by the communities of color most effected by structural racism;

 ·     Leadership from the field:  Foundations must support and be led by the ideas, innovations, and needs of organizations directly involved in the work of racial justice.

 
Grantmaking Schedule
 
Grants will be awarded in two cycles on the following schedule:
 
Application Due                                 Notification of Decision*
5 p.m., Friday, January 23                     5 p.m., Tuesday, January 27
5 p.m., Friday, January 30                     5 p.m, Tuesday, February 2
 
*Organizations will receive checks within one week of grant approval.
 
How To Apply
 
Organizations seeking to apply for a grant must fill out the application form available on the foundation website at www.akonadi.org.   Applications must be submitted via email as a Word attachment  to sos@akonadi.org.  
 
Funds may be used for events, meetings, materials, communications, leadership development activities, documentation, and other costs related tothe immediate organizing, advocacy, and cultural work in Oakland in response to the shooting of Oscar Grant.

DOWNLOAD APPLICATION BY CLICKING HERE