Believe in a Black Girl Grant

Black Women for Black Girls (BW4BG) is a giving circle composed of Black women from the greater New York area that support organizations, causes and initiatives that seek to enhance the lives of black girls throughout the five boroughs. BW4BG members pledge a financial contribution to create grant-making opportunities.
The Believe In A Black Girl® Grant will be issued to programs and organizations that have demonstrated both the ability and the capacity to improve the lives of black girls in the New York area.

Our funding philosophy has asked grant recipients to demonstrate tangible impact in supporting Black girls’ education, economic opportunity or esteem, as recommended by the study, Black Girls in New York City: Untold Strength & Resilience. This year, we are adding areas for impact that speak to our current moment in America, and the need to elevate the voices of Black girls and young women in the public sphere. Proposers should focus on one or more of the following:

A:

Develop affinity groups for Black girls to promote a strong sense of racial identity and power for social change during critical developmental years.
B:

Increase awareness about and act to dismantle the school to prison pipeline and other systems of over-policing that impact Black girls.
C:

Public advocacy or action focused on poverty and in equality, lifting up the voices of youth.
D:

Arts-based initiative that enables Black girls to share their vision for the world they want to see or challenge current conditions

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Awards

Awards include $1,000 to support projects to begin in 2019. We expect to make two awards during this cycle.

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible for consideration, applying organizations must:

Have 501(c)(3) tax-exemption. If an applying organization is separately incorporated but tax-exempt through a group ruling, the applicant should supply the 501(c)(3) letter of the parent organization and documentation that it is part of the group.
Have an operating budget of between $5,000 and $500,000.
Be a community-based organization (CBO) that provides services to young people in any of the five boroughs of New York City