Meet our April and May 2020 MPF Grantees
In response to the impact that COVID-19 has had on our communities, we let all of our grantees know that we were ready to support their increased needs related to COVID-19 with rapid response funding. We shifted our frequency of the Mobilize Power Fund (MPF) cycle to biweekly in order to get more funds out more quickly to those on the frontlines.
Meet the organizations, partnerships, and coalitions that we funded in April and May of 2020!
Asian American Resource Workshop | Dorchester, MA | $10,000
In response to the rise of anti-Asian violence and racism alongside COVID-19, AARW launched virtual discussion groups to build Pan-Asian solidarity while building community-based anti-violence protocol.
Assata’s Daughters | Chicago, IL | $10,000
Assata's Daughters, a Black-led organization in Chicago's south side Washington Park neighborhood, mobilized emergency mutual aid for Black youth and their families in their community being impacted by existing conditions of poverty compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bay Area Workers Support | Oakland, CA | $10,000
BAWS reactivated their emergency grant program while providing culturally-specific health and safety information both online and offline.
Bemba PR | Mayaguez, PR | $10,000
In the aftermath of ongoing climate crisis disasters and the present crisis of COVID-19, basic information and resources remain inaccessible to young women, queer, and trans people, including street-based people and sex workers. BEMBA PR implemented public health education and installed water stations to support the health, hygiene, and wellness for street-based youth in Puerto Rico.
Best Practices Policy Project | Morristown, NJ | $5,800
BPPP mobilized for approximately ten weeks to quickly respond to partner orgs impacted by COVID-19, ensuring groups led by Black sex workers and trans communities would survive, and provided direct support to the most impacted community members.
Birthmark Doula Collective | New Orleans, LA | $10,000
BDC organized virtual doula support and prenatal and postpartum virtual support circles for Spanish-speaking Black and Brown pregnant people impacted during COVID-19.
Black Excellence Collective | Newark, NJ | $10,000
BEC launched a mutual aid fund that supported Black transgender, gender non conforming and queer sex workers, elders, unhoused, and disabled people impacted by COVID-19 and struggled to access existing mutual aid support.
Black Phoenix Organizing Collective | Phoenix, AZ | $7,000
BPOC responded to COVID-19 impacting Phoenix communities by creating mutual aid networks and know your rights trainings, and continuing their organizing around police accountability as a way to meet the urgent health and safety needs of Black people in Phoenix.
Black Sex Workers Collective | New York City, NY | $10,000
BSWC launched a Black and trans-led sex worker mutual aid fund, security training, 1on1 healing & support, and made other shifts in their programming as a way to meet urgent community needs.
Brave Space Alliance | Chicago, IL $10,000
As the first Black-led, trans-led LGBTQ Center located on the South Side of Chicago, BSA developed a crisis food pantry and Trans Relief Fund for those who are elderly, sick, HIV-positive, living with disabilities, quarantined without pay, undocumented, and/or Black, Brown and Indigenous on Chicago's Southside.
Brown Girl Recovery | Bronx, NY | $10,000
Communities of color in the Bronx continue to lead in first place in most positive cases throughout NYC’s five boroughs (as of April 2020). In response, BGR created The Bronx Heals Itself, an effort to host community discussions, healing spaces, and build up skills around healing justice through pod mapping and more.
Choose Yourself | Portland, ME | $10,000
Choose Yourself mobilized mutual aid in the form of grocery drop offs, which were also used to check in on the safety of their members, while also shifting to virtual programming which serves as a safe and emotional support space for their community.
Coalition for the Rights and Safety of People in the Sex Trades | Seattle, WA | $10,000
The Coalition provided COVID-19 risk reduction supplies, health information, referrals, case management and emergency housing to houseless people who traded sex along the Pac Highway in south King County.
Colectivo Intercultural TRANSgrediendo | Queens, NY | $10,000
CITG works to support the rights and well-being of trans Latinx people, many of whom do sex work, in Jackson Heights, Queens. They launched their Sex Work 101 Project / COVID19 to respond to immediate needs of the community with financial assistance, critical supplies, emotional support and community education.
Community Estrella | Atlanta, GA | $10,000
Working with transgender immigrant Latina women in Atlanta, Community Estrella mobilized to respond to the urgent needs of under-resourced trans Latinx communities during COVID-19 with emergency financial support, food, hygiene supplies, and informational outreach and education, all in Spanish.
Compañeros | Durango, CO | $10,000
In response to COVID-19 and its significant social and economic impacts, Compañerosorganized mutual aid support and developed a mass communication platform to connect and offer public education to low income immigrant families in Colorado.
Disability Justice Culture Club + Community Ready Corps | Oakland, CA | $15,000
DJCC and CRC built on the care networks they organized during the #PowerToLove campaign (MPF 2019), they mobilized a COVID-19 mutual aid & support network led by and for disabled Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color.
Fanm Saj | Miami, FL | $10,000
Fanm Saj Inc. organized "Quarantine & Heal," a 8-week digital series of healing and political education to support Black and Brown 13-24 year olds impacted by school closures in South Florida.
Fireweed Collective (formerly The Icarus Project) | National | $10,000
Fireweed Collective launched a series of virtual support groups led by and for trans and queer people of color to address mental health challenges, including anxiety and depression, brought on by the current COVID-19 pandemic as well as the social conditions that led to the resulting crisis in the United States.
For the Gworls | New York, NY | $10,000
For the Gworls established a Black trans medical transportation support fund to ensure that Black trans people, especially chronically ill, disabled, and immunocompromised people, are able to access essential medical care during New York City’s stay-at-home order.
G.L.I.T.S. | New York, NY | $10,000
Gays & Lesbians Living In A Transgender Society is a grassroots organization dedicated to supporting the LGBTQIA+ community on a global scale. They provided emergency mutual aid for trans people getting released from Rikers Island Prison Complex.
Hoe is (Our) Life | Brooklyn, NY | $10,000
Hoe is (Our) Life, a Black women and femme sex worker-led group, provided sex workers of color with financial support for basic necessities while providing trainings around online sex work and group therapy and support resources.
InterAction Initiative | Chicago, IL | $5,000
InterAction Initiative is gathering counter-narratives of YBIPOC in Chicago and neighboring regions to amplify their experiences and contribute support for YBIPOC during COVID and beyond. They also launched virtual discussions that connected racial and healing justice to current moments and the ways it is impacting YBIPOC.
Jahajee Sisters + Caribbean Equality Project | New York, NY | $15,000
Jahajee Sisters and Caribbean Equality Project collaborated to provide mutual aid to low-income survivors of violence impacted by COVID-19 and at risk of increased violence due to New York City’s stay-at-home order.
Justice for Muslims Collective | Washington, DC | $7,500
Justice for Muslims Collective launched a COVID-19 Community Relief Fund for Black, African, Arab, South Asian, Iranian, East Asian, South West Asian, and North African (SWANA) Muslim communities in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia (DMV) region.
Kink Out | Brooklyn, NY | $10,000
Kink Out mobilized around International Whore’s Day to create digital spaces during the pandemic, including speakers from NYC-based, sex worker-led organizations, creating a list of resources for sex workers, and an online zine of sex worker art and writing.
Mass Liberation Arizona | Phoenix, AZ | $15,000
Working with their base of currently incarcerated members, many of whom are incarcerated in a women’s prison, Mass Liberation AZ developed a public health agenda for COVID-19 crisis response and convened 25 local and national partners to push their demands for release and safe conditions of confinement.
Movement for Justice in El Barrio | New York, NY | $10,000
Movement for Justice in El Barrio’s COVID-19 Campaign for Immigrants sought to create a mutual aid project aimed at supporting immigrant women members and their families of the El Barrio community of East Harlem who are sick with COVID-19. They also mobilized for the immediate release of all immigrants in detention centers during this global health crisis.
Orleans Parish Prison Reform Coalition | New Orleans, LA | $10,000
In light of the COVID-19 crisis nationally, and in New Orleans in particular, they organized to evacuate the Orleans Parish Prison via digital organizing and direct support to currently incarcerated people.
Out in the Open | Brattleboro, VT | $7,500
Out in the Open coordinated mutual aid for their rural trans and queer community members and led organizing efforts around healthcare access, economic justice, and ICE resistance.
The Outlaw Project | Phoenix, AZ | $10,000
The Outlaw Project mobilized to provide immediate support to the sex worker communities in Arizona and surrounding areas with the goal of preventing homelessness, securing food, providing for basic needs, and advocating for the release of incarcerated community members via actions, letter writing campaigns and video statements.
PAIGE, Inc. | Memphis, TN | $10,000
PAIGE Inc provided emergency financial resources while distributing public health information and harm reduction and safer sex supplies to their community members. In addition, they also shifted their HIV decriminalization organizing from in person to online.
POC SWOP + Green Light Project | Seattle, WA | $10,000
POC SWOP and Green Light Project led grassroots street outreach for Seattle sex workers to obtain medical and safety supplies, and increased their efforts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Presente Maine | Portland, ME | $10,000
Presente Maine provided financial support, mutual aid, and housing resources for undocumented immigrants in their local community directly impacted by COVID-19 and unable to access government resources.
Project LETS | Westbury, NY | $10,000
Project LETS Mutual Aid for Disability Justice rapid response effort provided crisis support, harm reduction, mutual aid, and political education to folks who are Disabled, chronically ill / immunocompromised, and/or experiencing houselessness, un(der)employment, and abuse or intimate partner violence.
Rural QTIPOC Survival Fund | Chapel Hill + Carrboro, NC | $10,000
The QTPOC Survival Fund is a grassroots mutual aid organization working in southern and rural communities in North Carolina in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. They provided direct financial support to queer and trans BIPOC community members who are under/unemployed and left out of existing government COVID-19 support.
Stand for Art + The Bilingual Project | Alexandria, VA | $20,000
Ward 8 in Washington DC is a predominantly immigrant/black community with the percentage of families living in poverty is twice as high as the national average. The recent economic collapse due to COVID-19 regulations has put an added strain on low-income families, particularly youth who no longer can access their schools for education or free lunches. In response. Stand for Art and the Bilingual Program provided meal distribution, transportation, virtual programming and tutoring for Black and immigrant young people in Ward 8.
Street Youth Rise Up | Chicago, IL | $10,000
SYRU works to address institutional violence faced by homeless and street based and LGBTQAGNC youth of color throughout Chicago who are surviving on street-based economies. They mobilized emergency outreach and to offer harm reduction supplies, remote trainings, and information gathering for future participatory action research.
Surviving the Mic | Chicago, IL | $10,000
Surviving the Mic increased their capacity for virtual programming and developed online resources, coping tools, healing content, and virtual communities for survivors experiencing trauma or retraumatization.
SWOP Minneapolis | Minneapolis, MN | $4,300
A chapter of Sex Workers Outreach Project-USA (SWOP), SWOP Minneapolis organized mutual aid efforts and sewing CDC compliant face masks for sex workers to empower sex workers to support the containment efforts from the safety of home or shelter and generate a small income one masks at the same time.
TKO Society + Yellowhammer Fund | Selma + Tuscaloosa, AL | $20,000
TKO and Yellowhammer Fund partnered to provide emergency resources for Black TGNC youth and their families while also providing alternative education programming in response to COVID-19 school closures.
Trans Queer Pueblo | Phoenix, AZ | $10,000
As coronavirus infections surge and epidemiological models paint terrifying scenarios, Trans Queer Pueblo organized and mobilized mutual aid, political education, and powerbuilding efforts.
Transwoman Empowerment Initiative | Albuquerque, NM | $10,000
TEI created an open call to trans/GNC/LGBQ people of color while prioritizing Black, native, and asian folks within the Albuquerque community to redistribute funds and supply care packages directly.
Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network | Seattle, WA | $10,000
WAISN established a COVID-19 Response Hub hotline for undocumented immigrants, where trained dispatchers support in completing forms, sharing information, referring people to testing cites, and connecting them with food assistance and a Rapid Response Network in their city.
Women With A Vision | New Orleans, LA | $10,000
WWAV mobilized resources to sustain the health and wellness of sex workers in Louisiana during the pandemic of COVID-19.
