The Greater Washington Community Foundation is excited to partner with Black leaders and national philanthropic leaders on the launch of the Black Voices for Black Justice Fund (BVBJ). The Fund is led by co-chairs Wes Moore, Kerry Washington, and Jean Desravines and Selection Committee co-chairs John B. King, Jr., Tenicka Boyd, Kristen Clarke, and Shavar Jeffries.
As the U.S. continues an unprecedented racial reckoning following the deaths and continued pursuit of justice for countless Black Americans including Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, an innovative new fund is supporting Black leaders on the frontlines of shaping the urgent movement to build a fair, equitable, and anti-racist America. BVBJ will amplify Black voices and directly support Black advocates in building an anti-racist America without the typical constraints of philanthropy. BVBJ is unique in its approach – letting awardees use funding dollars in whatever way they believe will make the greatest impact toward racial justice.
BVBJ launched today with an initial $2 million investment, and a goal to raise $10 million nationally, which will be distributed as awards to Black leaders focused on voting rights, COVID recovery, criminal justice reform, creating economic opportunity, environmental justice, and education. Thirty-one awardees – encompassing Black leaders across U.S. cities including Minneapolis, MN; Tulsa, OK; Washington, D.C.; Brooklyn, NY and Portland, OR – have been selected for the fund’s first set of investments, encompassing a range of Black community leaders and organizers across the country who are working to address systems of oppression, violence, and inequality.
Awardee Nicole Lynn Lewis, who founded and runs Generation Hope, a nonprofit that helps teen parents forge a path to economic opportunity, said: “Receiving this award is a recognition of my voice and vision but, more importantly, it is a validation of young parents, single mothers and fathers, and parenting college students everywhere. Their stories – our stories – are intricately intertwined with the roots of racial oppression in this country, and this support will allow us to amplify their experiences and work alongside others to dismantle systemic barriers to their economic mobility."
Initial funding was pooled by seven foundations: The Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation (which supports the fund’s special area focus in Brooklyn); The Moriah Fund; Galaxy Gives; Chan Zuckerberg Initiative; and CityBridge Foundation, Greater Washington Community Foundation and Bridge Alliance Education Fund (which collectively support the fund’s special area focus in Washington, D.C.)
As a local partner to this national philanthropic initiative, The Community Foundation is proud to sponsor two awards for local leaders from our community: Nicole Lynn Lewis and Brittany Packnett Cunningham. These awards recognize the incredible work that’s being done locally by everyday heroes, like Brittany and Nicole, who are on the frontlines of dismantling racist systems to build more equitable, just, and enriching communities.
The Community Foundation will open the nomination process for Justice Fellows awards, a local initiative to support Black leaders who are grassroots advocates, organizers, and emerging voices in the Greater Washington region, in partnership with GOODProjects and with seed funding from Bridge Alliance Education Fund.
“We are excited to be part of this national initiative, and to work alongside the Black Voices for Black Justice Fund to help scale the work of emerging leaders in the Greater Washington region by providing financial support so they can continue to live while they lead,” says Tonia Wellons, President and CEO, Greater Washington Community Foundation. “This initiative will help elevate the voices of Black leaders and invest in solutions led by Black leaders to fuel their efforts to address structural and systemic racism.”
“The Bridge Alliance Education Fund believes it is critical for us thrive as a people we must embrace and support the diversity that defines our nation,” says David Nevins, Chairman of the Board of Bridge Alliance Education Fund. “We are proud to be partnering with the Greater Washington Community Foundation in providing resources to Black-led organizations at the forefront of community work to strengthen our communities and our nation.”
Meet the Local Awardees
Brittany Packnett Cunningham
Love & Power Works, Washington, DC
Brittany Packnett Cunningham is an educator, organizer, and writer. Cited by President Obama as a leader whose "voice is going to be making a difference for years to come," Brittany was an appointed member of the Ferguson Commission and President Obama's Task Force on 21st Century Policing. She is a co-founder of Campaign Zero, a police reform campaign, and was previously the executive director of Teach for America in St. Louis. Brittany has worked to impart lessons of movement-building, social impact, leadership, and empowerment for women and girls-especially girls of color. Today, she continues to advocate for urgent systemic change at critical decision making tables and through national and international media.
Nicole Lynn Lewis
Generation Hope, Washington, DC
As CEO of Generation Hope, Nicole Lynn Lewis surrounds motivated teen parents and their children with the mentors, emotional support, and financial resources that they need to thrive as they pursue their education. Generation Hope rallies around teen parents to help them earn college degrees and forge a path to economic opportunity and is now expanding its work with young parents beyond the DC region by sharing its best practices to help colleges and universities across the country better meet the needs of the nearly four million parenting students who are working toward their degrees. In 2003, Lewis graduated from the College of William and Mary as a teen mother who had overcome homelessness and a drug-infested environment to achieve the impossible. She was named a CNN Hero in 2014. Lewis is also a nationally known author and speaker with her next, highly-anticipated book, Pregnant Girl, to be released in the spring of 2021 by Beacon Press.
The Community Foundation has long been a supporter of Nicole and Generation Hope’s success. In 2010, as a fledgling nonprofit, Generation Hope participated in The Community Foundation’s incubator program, sharing office space and resources to support the organization during its critical first years. Since then, Nicole has helped grow Generation Hope into an organization providing emotional and financial support to hundreds of parenting teens as they pursue a college degree.
About Black Voices for Black Justice Fund
The Black Voices for Black Justice Fund is a new racial justice fund that is supporting Black leaders and Black-led organizations on the front lines in shaping the urgent movement to build a fair, equitable, and anti-racist America. It will amplify and elevate ongoing efforts to address our national crisis surrounding racism, white supremacy, police brutality, and racial inequality. By linking emerging community and local leaders with a cohort of established national leaders, the Fund will also seek to help develop the next generation of Black leaders.