No matter the program, our grantmaking has always centered movements and individuals committed to building a racially just Oakland. Below you’ll find some of our previous funds and special projects.
All in for Oakland (AiO)
All in for Oakland (AiO) was a five-year grantmaking initiative Akonadi launched in 2020 to end the criminalization of young people of color in Oakland and Alameda County. The initiative invested in an ecosystem of movement organizations to mobilize directly impacted people to win and implement police free schools, reimagine school safety and school discipline, close youth prisons, and realize other critical efforts to transform youth justice in Oakland.
AiO distributed multi-year funding to grant partners that worked for decades to hold people in power accountable and cultivate the power and agency of young people and families who have been criminalized by the education and juvenile justice systems.
Our grant partners were focused on the following areas:
- Movement building and organizing – Organize directly impacted people to lead systems-change through culture and healing-centered base building.
- Research – Inform and advance strategy and power analysis of each campaign.
- Organizational capacity – Employ technical assistance to fortify leadership and organizational capacity.
- Policy advocacy – Lead policy campaigns aimed at advancing long-term systems change.
While this program is sunsetting in 2025, you can learn more about our grant partners in this interview series to read more about their impact.
Creatives in Place
Creatives in Place was a collaborative listening project shared in 2021 that began with a question: In a time of such economic and racial disparity, what do creative and cultural communities need in order to continue to be rooted in the Bay Area?
We identified 22 diverse, multidisciplinary artists throughout the Bay Area and offered them a stipend to participate in a creative journey with us and share their insights and perspectives. The results of their wisdom is captured in a website, featuring photography, videography and other multimedia pieces from each of the artists and also ended up as a window display in downtown Oakland.
Arc Towards Justice Fund
From 2013 to 2018, this fund provided support to organizations leading long-term efforts to foster equity for youth and young adults of color, and engages communities of color as leaders and agents of social change to build collective power to shape the policies and systems that impact their lives. Over six years, the Arc Towards Justice Fund provided over $6.8 million in grants to Oakland-based racial justice organizations focused on building collective power to shape the policies and systems that affect communities of color in Oakland.
Caption: Arc Towards Justice grant partner CURYJ at “Dream Beyond Bars” Youth Justice Town Hall co-organized with fellow grant partner, Urban Peace Movement Photo credit: Bryan Patrick
Beloved Community Fund
From 2012 to 2019, the Beloved Community Fund awarded over $2 million to 196 organizations to support free public art and cultural events for communities of color in Oakland. Our goal was to invest in efforts that use art and culture to build voice, power, and self-determination in communities of color.
Oscar Grant Peace and Racial Justice Fund
Launched in 2009, this fund supported urgent local organizing and coalition building with rapid response mini-grants after the killing of Oscar Grant in 2009 and called for greater philanthropic and public attention to the racial justice issues the case illustrated.
