|  | Dear John, Welcome to the second edition of our Strengthening Feminist Movements newsletter! Every day, we’re working to fund, resource, and invigorate the movements for gender and racial equity through grantmaking, capacity building, and philanthropic advocacy. On a quarterly basis, we’ll be sharing programmatic and movement updates about the latest Foundation news, including open grant cycles, convenings, opportunities for strategic assistance, and more, as well as victories and insights from our partners. |
| | Grantmaking & Capacity Building Updates |
| 2024 Grantmaking Overview In our 2024 fiscal year, we moved $6,724,500 to 219 grantee partners across 38 states and Puerto Rico! These grants were made through our capacity building work and six grantmaking portfolios: Activist Collaboration & Care Fund, Birth Justice Initiative, Building Connections Initiative, Girls of Color Initiative, Ms. Midwest, and Ms. South. Our grantees are on the frontlines, meeting the needs of their communities and driving change while navigating a profoundly challenging and shifting political context. Rapid Response Opportunity for 2025 Abortion Ballot Initiatives Ms. Foundation received a one-time $200,000 special opportunity gift that enabled us to make general operating support, rapid-response grants in critical states with abortion-focused ballot initiatives. In September and October, Ms. Foundation quickly mobilized grants across six states – Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Nevada, and Nebraska – to partners working in state coalitions to conduct voter engagement and education in their communities. |
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| | | Ms. Foundation Virtual Birth Justice Grantee Partner Convening Birth Justice Program Officer Sona Smith hosted a virtual three-day convening for Birth Justice grantee partners that provided space for deepening relationships, collaboration, wellness, healing, and self-care. Partners were also able to discuss the full breadth of the Birth Justice movement and connect with Ms. Foundation staff. |
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| The majority of the conference sessions were facilitated by current grantee partners. A great deal of attention was spent incorporating wellness and healing justice centered aspects into the convening. Ms. South Virtual Community Gathering Senior Program Officer Samantha Franklin also hosted a virtual convening for the Ms. South grantee partners. This gathering, which offered full Spanish language accessibility, gave leaders an opportunity to connect and reflect on their work together. A highlight of the program was an interview between Samantha and Teresa Younger on the theme of sustainability in a challenging time in the movement. |
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| Birth Equity Funders Summit Sona Smith participated in the second Birth Equity Funders Summit, hosted by Funders for Birth Justice and Equity, in Chicago, IL. Sona designed and moderated the opening panel fireside chat, Illinois Funding Birth Justice: Innovation, Collaboration, and Activation. Panelists included Shruti Jayaraman from Chicago Beyond, Jeanine Logan of Chicago South Side Birth Center, and Lt. Governor of the State of Illinois, Juliana Stratton. Discussion focused on the need for community-based models of care, run by and centered around people of color, as well as the progress made in birth justice and equity in the state of Illinois. |
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| | New Program Officer Melanie Jimenez joins the GCB team! Melanie Jiménez (she/her), joined the Grantmaking & Capacity Building team as a program officer, and will be overseeing the Ms. South portfolio, the Activist Collaboration & Care Fund, and supporting our capacity building programming. Based in New York, Melanie is deeply rooted in community, drawing from her South Central LA background. She brings over seven years of grantmaking and capacity building experience to the role. Most recently, Melanie served as a Senior Associate at Arbor Rising, an NYC-based grantmaking organization that provides funding and capacity strengthening support to a portfolio of grantees focused on building pathways out of poverty. We are thrilled to welcome her to Ms. Foundation! You can learn more about Melanie on our blog. |
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| |  | MPRnews mentioned Ayada Leads’s work in an article titled “Local groups mobilize to support immigrant access to the polls.” The article, which discusses the critical civic engagement and voter mobilization work of local organizations in immigrant communities, is available here. |
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 | African American Roundtable (AART) relaunched its LiberateMKE campaign, a participatory budgeting campaign that advocates for police divestment and community investment. AART’s Leadership Development Cohort fellows will lead the campaign in 2025, when the campaign transitions to being community-owned. |
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 | Nashira Baril, Executive Director of Neighborhood Birth Center (NBC) was featured on TEDxTalk, where she discussed “how midwifery could change birth for the better” Watch it here! In addition, NBC is working to build the first freestanding birth center in Boston. Here are the latest renderings of the birth center. |
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| | Ms. Foundation For Women
1 Willoughby Square, Suite 2000 | Brooklyn, New York 11201
Questions? Email us at [email protected] or call (212) 709-4444 |
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