In addition to our signature grantmaking programs, Akonadi Foundation collaborates with public and private partners across California to build a racially just Oakland where love, justice and belonging prevail. Our partners are committed to supporting social movements led by people of color who are invested in power-building, organizing, cultural expression and healing that push forward our city’s historical traditions of resistance and rebirth.
Belonging in Oakland: A Just City Cultural Fund
A Just City Cultural Fund is a partnership between Akonadi Foundation, the City of Oakland, and East Bay Community Foundation to lift up the radical imagination of Oakland’s communities of color and create new visions of a racially just world.
This fund supports Oakland-based, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color who are artists/cultural practitioners with a demonstrated commitment to community-centered social justice practices and systemic change.
The Fund seeks projects with the multiple purposes of:
- Challenging the policies and practices of oppressive racialized systems;
- Lifting up value systems and ways of being that cultivate belonging;
- Supporting self-determined action by those most impacted by systemic racism; and
- Generating new tools/policy arguments/prototypes for a just and equitable city.
Approximately seven or eight two-year grants ranging from $30,000 to $50,000 will be awarded each grant cycle. See the full list of 2020 and 2021 awardees here. To learn more and apply for future funding, visit the East Bay Community Foundation website. The 2023 funding cycle is now open to applicants until July 31, 2023.
California Black Freedom Fund
The California Black Freedom Fund is a partnership with Akonadi Foundation and philanthropic organizations throughout California to support a five-year, $100 million initiative to ensure that Black power-building and movement-based organizations have the sustained investments and resources they need to eradicate systemic and institutional racism.
Launched in 2020, the California Black Freedom Fund is the first state-based fund of its kind and prioritizes investments in the courageous and visionary grassroots advocates and community leaders who are transforming our cities, our state — and our world.
By creating and accelerating a new statewide ecosystem of Black-led organizations confronting racism and anti-Blackness, this fund aims to affect the culture, policy and systems changes necessary to realize equity and justice in California. In its first year, the California Black Freedom Fund granted $15 million to over 75 Black-led organizations across the state. To learn more and apply for future funding, visit the California Black Freedom Fund website.
Creatives In Place
Creatives in Place is a partnership between Akonadi Foundation, Tao Rising, TJ Universe, and Change Consulting to support Bay Area artists who represent various artistic and cultural practices, ethnicities and races, gender identities and sexualities, and career stages.
In response to the pandemic, Creatives in Place provided artists with a $10,000 stipend to use the funds as needed and share their ideas and work with us. Through the connections built in this listening project, we learned that Bay Area culture is upheld by a powerful network of artists, healers, and culture-keepers and that it is our collective duty to nourish and resource this network abundantly.
During a time of racial justice uprisings, gentrification, displacement, and physical disconnection, these artists provided pathways toward our collective liberation and healing. We invite artists, foundations, public and private donors and investors to reflect on how we can develop sustainable ways to support the Bay Area’s vibrant arts and culture movements. To learn more about the artists and see their work, visit the Creatives in Place website.