March 27, 2019
Oakland – Akonadi Foundation will be distributing $255,000 through its final round of grants of the Beloved Community Fund to 17 organizations. The funding provides general support to organizations that employ a cultural strategy to advance racial justice in Oakland. Moving forward, the foundation will no longer fund one-time events and will engage peer institutions and governmental agencies to grow the overall base of funding for people of color-led arts and cultural institutions in Oakland.
The Beloved Community Fund was founded in 2012 with the goal of investing in efforts that use art and culture to build voice, power, and self-determination in communities of color. Since 2012, the Beloved Community Fund has given $2,319,825 to 196 organizations to support free public art and cultural events for communities of color in Oakland. In 2018, the average grant size was 7,800 with a total of $500,000 awarded to 64 projects.
The following organizations will be receiving grants of $15,000 each:
Afrocentric Oakland
American Indian Child Resource Center
Afro Urban Society
SambaFunk!
Fua Dia Congo
Betti Ono
Intertribal Friendship House
Omnira Institute
Peacock Rebellion
The Umoja Festival
BH Brilliant Minds Project, Inc.
Studio Grand
Friends of Lincoln Square
Friends of Peralta Hacienda Historical Park
Oakland Public Conservatory of Music
American Friends Service Committee (67 Sueños)
Omi Arts Project Space at Ashara Ekundayo Gallery
About the Akonadi Foundation
At Akonadi Foundation, our mission is to support the development of powerful social change movements to eliminate structural racism and create a racially just society. With an emphasis in Oakland, Akonadi Foundation seeks to stop the criminalization of youth and young adults of color, end the school to prison pipeline, and build responses to harm that nurture wellness and well-being. Since its founding in 2000, the Foundation has given over 1,600 grants totaling $40 million to nonprofit organizations, primarily in the Bay Area as well as across the country. For more information: Akonadi.org. On social media @akonadi_oakland