Following the announcement of a new open funding opportunity this summer, The Allstate Foundation has awarded nearly $4 million in grant funding to organizations focused on empowering youth. The Foundation chose the organizations based on criteria including focus on racial equity and practices that address the needs of diverse communities. All organizations are receiving programmatic funding from The Allstate Foundation for the first time.
“Advancing equity has always been at the core of the Foundation’s work, but we’ve realized we can build more equity into our funding practices. One way is by holding an open call for grant funding applications,” said Francie Schnipke Richards, vice president of Social Responsibility and The Allstate Foundation. “Awarding grants through this process and at this scale gives us the opportunity to fund organizations that we may not have been aware of that are doing incredible work to support diverse communities through inclusive leadership training and relationship violence prevention programs for youth. We are honored to support their efforts.”
Total funding available was initially $3 million, but after receiving more than 2,000 pre-applications the Foundation increased the amount awarded to $3.8 million. Seventy organizations were invited to submit a full application and those that were not selected were awarded a $5,000 honorary grant in acknowledgement of their time and effort, an additional $175,000 in funding. Twenty-seven organizations received full grant funding.
The organizations receiving full grant funding provide inclusive leadership programs for young people and educators or deliver programming that helps young people build healthy relationships and prevent relationship abuse.
“Open-funding allows organizations, such as ours, to take advantage of opportunities that have typically been offered to a select few,” said Dr. Rita Davis-Cannon, Board Chair of grant recipient Men Stopping Violence. “By opening funding channels, organizations that have been doing long-standing work in underserved communities will have equal opportunities to impact their communities in meaningful ways. Openly-funded organizations will also benefit from connecting and partnering with other like-minded organizations that were formerly unknown to them.”
Organizations receiving full grant funding:
Inclusive Leadership Programs for Young People & Educators:
Amala Foundation (Austin, TX)
Chicago Freedom School (Chicago, IL)
Community Network Council (Kent, WA)
Community Youth Advance, Inc. (Hyattsville, MD)
East African Community Services (Seattle, WA)
IF Institute (Dallas, TX)
Initiatives of Change, Inc. (Richmond, VA)
Kindness Campaign (Chicago IL)
KnowledgeWorks Foundation (Cincinnati, OH)
National Conference for Community and Justice of Greater Dayton (Dayton, OH)
New York State Network for Youth Success, Inc. (Troy, NY)
Teaching Lab (Washington, DC)
The Oliver Scholars Program, Inc. (New York, NY)
Youth Activism Project (Bethesda, MD)
YWCA Tri-County Area (Pottstown, PA)
Relationship Violence Prevention:
American Indian Child Resource Center (Oakland, CA)
Arab-American Family Support Center (Brooklyn, NY)
Be Strong, International (Palmetto Bay, FL)
Family Bridges (Oakbrook Terrace, IL)
Girls Incorporated of Alameda County (Oakland, CA)
Men Stopping Violence, Inc. (Decatur, GA)
Nationwide Children’s Hospital Foundation Center for Family Safety and Healing (Columbus, OH)
Nimiipuu Protecting the Environment (Pullman, WA)
Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Nonviolence (SPAN) (Boulder, CO)
The Hive Community Circle (Columbia, SC)
The Women’s Center of Tarrant County (TWC) (Fort Worth, TX)
Youth in Action (Providence, RI)