Month: September 2020

Solidaire Network Announces $1 Million for Movement Protection As Part of the Black Liberation Pooled Fund

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact: 
Bilen Mesfin Packwood, [email protected]

Solidaire Network Announces $1 Million for Movement Protection In Honor of Janisha R. Gabriel As Part of the Black Liberation Pooled Fund

OAKLAND, CA – Solidaire Network announced today $1 million for movement protection as part of the Black Liberation Pooled Fund to honor Janisha R. Gabriel, Solidaire’s former communications lead who passed away on September 6, 2020 after fighting cancer. This will be the first round of grants since Solidaire launched the Black Liberation Pooled in June 2020.

“Janisha lived a life of love and transformation, changing the world every day with her grace and profound compassion,” said Rajasvini Bhansali, executive director of Solidaire Network. “She was a life-long activist and organizer, bringing with her a deep movement ethos and creative fire to Solidaire. With these grants through the Black Liberation Pooled Fund, we hope to honor her legacy and devotion to movement-building and Black liberation.”

Solidaire aims to allocate $1 million from the Black Liberation Pooled Fund prior to December 2020 toward urgent and immediate needs of movement leaders facing heightened risks, targeted by threats of violence and confronting increased dangers due to the current political climate in the United States.

Through the Black Liberation Pooled Fund, Solidaire is moving money to the powerful ecosystem of Black-led social change organizations around the country, and will make multi-year grant commitments, with the first $10 million moving within 2020-2021. The Black Liberation Pooled Fund was launched in June 2020 as a critical opportunity for donors and foundations to step up in defense of Black lives. In August, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation pledged $20 million over the next five years to the fund as part of its commitment to improve grantmaking to support justice and equity.

“Movements in defense of Black lives are targets of increased state repression and vigilante violence and cyberattacks,” said Jason Franklin, Solidaire Network’s Board Co-Chair. “We are committed to ensuring that social movement leaders and organizers have the resources they need immediately for their security and protection.”

Janisha Gabriel joined Solidaire Network in 2018 as a communications consultant, later becoming Solidaire’s communications manager and digital organizer. She redefined Solidaire’s visual identity, digital presence and storytelling approach and used her creative talent to build the first website and logo for New York’s Black Lives Matter chapter. Janisha was also a fierce advocate for LGBTQIA+ rights, social justice, and Black history, culture and art.

Prospective grantees can apply through this secure link.

About the Solidaire Network: Since 2011, inspired by the progression of movement moments from anti-austerity, to the Arab Spring and Occupy, Solidaire Network has worked to create a more radical model and vision for giving. As a community of donor organizers, the network supports social movements and grassroots efforts led by Black, Indigenous, immigrant, and other marginalized communities. Through its donor organizing and grantmaking, Solidaire Network aims to build a fair and just society and a healthy, thriving planet where all people flourish and have the power to shape the decisions that affect their lives. Learn more at https://solidairenetwork.org/.