WASHINGTON, DC — In celebration of the 18th anniversary since its founding, the National Black Justice Coalition will provide tens of thousands of microgrants to youth-serving organizations supporting Black LGBTQ+ and same-gender loving children, youth, and young adults.
The investments build on the National Black Justice Coalition's efforts to identify and support the development of Black LGBTQ+/SGL youth and to address gaps in mental health needs, services, and supports. We have selected 23 organizations in anticipation of 2023! Grantees include:
Abolitionist Teaching Network. Abolitionist Teaching Network's mission is to develop and support those in the struggle for educational liberation by utilizing Abolitionists' intellectual work and direct action in many forms. Learn more here: https://abolitionistteachingnetwork.org/
The Attic Youth Center (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). The Attic Youth Center creates opportunities for LGBTQ youth to develop into healthy, independent, civic-minded adults within a safe and supportive community and promotes the acceptance of LGBTQ+ youth in society. Learn more here: https://www.atticyouthcenter.org/
Black Youth Project 100 (Chicago, Illinois). BYP 100 is a national, member-based organization for Black activists and organizers dedicated to creating justice and freedom for all Black people; focused on building a network focused on transformative leadership development, direct action organizing, advocacy, and political education using a Black queer feminist lens. Learn more here: https://www.byp100.org/
BreakOut! (New Orleans, Louisiana). BreakOut! seeks to end the criminalization of LGBTQIA+ youth to build a more just New Orleans. They work to end discriminatory policing practices and address "feeders" into the criminal justice system such as LGBTQ+ youth homelessness. Learn more here: https://www.youthbreakout.org/
Fierce NYC (New York, New York). Fierce NYC engages LGBTQ+ youth of color in community organizing in response to unjust social issues primarily impacting their communities, including some of the poorest neighborhoods in New York City, to actively direct their social change agendas. Fierce NYC also provides ongoing and progressive skills-based and leadership training and mentorship opportunities. Learn more here: http://www.fiercenyc.org/
GSAFEWi (Madison, Wisconsin). GSAFEWi creates safe and inclusive schools for LGBTQ+ youth in Wisconsin through leadership development, GSAs (Gay/Straight Alliance), training educators, advancing educational justice, and deepening racial, social, and LGBTQ+ justice. Learn more here: https://gsafewi.org/
House of Tulip (New Orleans, Louisiana). House of Tulip is raising funds to buy and restore a multi-family property in an area of New Orleans that's accessible to health care and employment opportunities. Learn more here: https://houseoftulip.org/
Jasmyn (Jacksonville, Florida). Jasmyn is focused on supporting and empowering LGBTQ+ youth by creating a safe space, providing health and wholeness services, and offering youth development opportunities all while bringing people & resources together to promote equality and human rights. Learn more here: https://www.jasmyn.org/
Lost-n-Found Youth (Atlanta, GA). Lost-n-Found Youth has a mission to end homelessness for all LGBTQ youth by providing them with the skills and support needed to live independently. It envisions a world where all youth feel safe and supported to live and love authentically. Learn more here: https://lnfy.org/
Mijente (Phoenix, Arizona). Mijente is a political home for Latinx and Chicanx people seeking racial, economic, gender, and climate justice that helps people through campaigns, connects people across a vast network, and serves as a hub for culture, learning, and advocacy. Learn more here: https://mijente.net/
Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network (Baltimore, Maryland). The Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network is a healing justice organization committed to transforming mental health for queer and trans people of color. The network envisions a world where all people have access to healing resources rooted in social justice and liberation to recover from trauma, violence, and systemic oppression. Learn more here: https://nqttcn.com/en/
Ruth Ellis Center (Highland Park, Michigan). The Ruth Ellis Center provides trauma-informed services for LGBTQ+ youth and young adults experiencing homelessness, involved in the child welfare system, or experiencing barriers to health and mental health issues. The center creates opportunities with LGBTQ+ young people to build their vision for a positive future. . Learn more here: https://www.ruthelliscenter.org/
SNaP Co (East Point, Georgia). SNaP Co is a Black trans and queer-led organization that builds safety within their community, invests in their collective embodied leadership, and builds political power. SNaP Co envisions a vibrant, radically inclusive metro Atlanta where all people are safe and free and have the opportunity to live and thrive as their authentic selves.Learn more here: https://www.snap4freedom.org/home
TransCenter for Youth (Milwaukee, Wisconsin). The TransCenter for Youth operates in small high schools by offering culturally appropriate school services and creating inclusive teaching/learning methods that serve as education models for other schools. Learn more here: http://www.transcenterforyouth.org/
TransTech. TransTech is an incubator for LGBTQ+ Talent with a focus on economically empowering transgender people. At TransTech, they learn and work together to develop skills and value within marginalized LGBTQ+ communities. Learn more here: https://www.transtechsocial.org/
Wordplay Cincy (Cincinnati, OH). Wordplay Cincy creates spaces for young people to fulfill their potential by discovering, honoring, and sharing their voices. The WordPlay community nurtures young participants from all backgrounds through personal discovery and academic skill-building programs with reading, writing, and storytelling at their core. Learn more here: https://www.wordplaycincy.org/
Youth Oasis (Baton Rouge, Louisiana). Youth Oasis' mission is to support youth and young adults recovering from the trauma of homelessness and family separation through housing, healthcare, and advocacy. Learn more here: https://www.youthoasis.org/
YWCA - Madison (Madison, Wisconsin). YWCA-Madison is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women, and promoting peace, justice, freedom, and dignity. YMCA Madison creates an inclusive community through race and gender equity; improves financial situations through job training and transportation; supports people in housing and shelters, and offers school and community restorative justice programming.. Learn more here: https://www.ywcamadison.org/
HBCU Grantees include:
Howard University CASCADE (Washington, D.C.). Howard University CASCADE celebrates, uplifts, and advocates for all LGBTQ+ students on the Howard campus. CASCADE is one of the oldest LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations on an HBCU campus and works to set the tone on a national level for how Black queer people should be treated. Learn more here: https://howard.campuslabs.com/engage/organization/cascadehu
Spelman Afrekete (Atlanta, GA). Afrekete offers safe, creative, and liberating spaces forLGBTQIA+ students and their allies. They provide programming that creates spaces for queer students to build community, engage in critical dialogues, and network with outside organizations that are committed to the same mission of a world free of oppression and injustice. Learn more here: https://spelmancollege.campuslabs.com/engage/organization/afrekete
University of the District of Columbia's The Alliance Group (TAG) (Washington, D.C.). The Alliance Group (TAG) is transforming the culture, perceptions, and experiences of LGBTQ+ students at UDC. Learn more here: https://www.instagram.com/tagatudc/?hl=en
Wilberforce University Division of Student Engagement and Success (Wilberforce, OH). The Division of Student Engagement and Success at Wilberforce University offers students dynamic opportunities to engage in activities, programs, services, and learning while at school, which helps enhance students' discovery of their purpose, strengthens their skills, and inspires success at school and beyond. Learn more here: https://wilberforce.edu/students/
Wiley College (Marshall, TX). Wiley College recognizes the hardships Black LGBTQ+/SGL students endure due to family rejection and prejudice and seeks to provide a welcoming and inclusive campus community. Learn more here: https://www.wileyc.edu/
The National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) is America's leading civil rights organization dedicated to the empowerment of Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer+, and same gender loving (LGBTQ+/SGL) people, including people living with HIV.
