There are an incredible amount of organizations doing important work right now, and it can feel overwhelming to figure out where to direct your immediate attention. In the spirit of helping you gradually digest your options, and in hopes of potentially introducing you to some causes you might not have heard about yet, we’re briefing you on 5 initiatives to consider each week; while donating is not (and should not be) the only way to affect positive change, it is a 100% helpful practice if you have the means, and is a great habit to get into year-round.
Here are 5 places we suggested last week, and below are 5 more to consider this week:
Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective
BEAM is a collective of advocates, yoga teachers, artists, therapists, lawyers, religious leaders, teachers, psychologists and activists who are advocating for the emotional/mental health and healing of Black communities. They achieve this through educational training, movement building and grant making. Due to the pandemic, their peer training sessions have gone virtual, but they focus on a wide variety of areas including healing justice, unconscious bias, masculinity and mental health, restorative justice and more. They have also created the Black Virtual Therapist Network, a directory of licensed Black therapists who are certified to provide telemental health right now. Support this organization and the crucial work it does here.
Art for Justice
Art for Justice makes direct grants to artists and advocates focused on safely reducing the prison population, promoting justice reinvestment and creating art that changes the narrative around mass incarceration. Their grantees work to reallocate government funding back into communities affected by poverty, violence and incarceration, as well as to repeal or reform excessive prison sentences and incarceration laws. They also work to promote reentry, and to use art as a critical tool for change. Support their important and multifaceted efforts here.
Black Women’s Health Imperative
BWHI is the first nonprofit organization created by Black women to help protect and advance the health and wellness of Black women and girls; they advocate for the empowerment of Black women and girls, and they are working to eradicate the racial and gender-based health disparities faced by Black women. Support this life-saving work here.
National Black Food & Justice Alliance
NBFJA is an coalition of Black-led organizations advocating for Black food and land sovereignty through visibility, institution building and direct action. From the website: “We work to ensure that Black people have not only the right, but the ability to control of our food, through means including but not limited to the means of production & distribution. Governance of food systems must be rooted in the right to healthy & culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound & sustainable methods, and the right to define our own food & agriculture systems.” This is tied to land liberation and self-determining food economies, and NBFJA is doing essential work to achieve those things. Support them here.
Girls For A Change
We recently spoke with Mia Brabham about her new book, and she told us about Girls For A Change; the organization aims to at empower Black girls and other girls of color in Central Virginia by inviting them to design, lead, fund and implement social change projects that confront issues girls face in their own neighborhoods. They also focus on things like goal planning, financial literacy, skill building and more. Super cool initiative, and a great place to support whether you’re DMV-based or not.
Where have you been donating lately? Is there someplace close to your heart that you’d like us to talk about? Email [email protected] to get in touch.
