Each grant is made possible by a community of thousands of donors giving what they can to support movements for justice.
Racial & Economic Justice Fund
The Racial & Economic Justice Fund is a core fund at Bread & Roses that supports groups that are engaged in direct-action community organizing in the Philadelphia region to promote racial and economic justice. The money for these grants was raised by the 2021 Racial & Economic Justice Giving Project.
Abolitionist Law Center is a law firm dedicated to ending race and class-based discrimination in the criminal justice system. This grant will partially fund a formerly incarcerated organizer who will train a group of survivors of solitary confinement to organize against the use of this inhumane practice.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
ACT UP Philadelphia is a diverse, nonpartisan group of individuals united in anger to end the AIDS crisis using direct action. This grant will support ACT UP’s work to push for safe consumption sites through voter registration, national lobby days, and the National AIDS Conference in addition to organizer and anti-oppression training.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Amistad Law Project is a West Philadelphia-based public interest law center that organizes and litigates for the human rights of incarcerated people and their families. This grant will support their goal of organizing the family members of people serving life sentences, work with a faith-based organizing effort to support parole eligibility for people serving life sentences, and build more alliances.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Asian Americans United empowers Asian Americans in Philadelphia to exercise leadership in their communities and come together to challenge oppression. AAU will use this grant to fuel their racial and economic justice work focused on fair funding and language access in Philadelphia public schools, voting rights, immigrant rights in the face of continuing detentions under the Biden administration, and their response to anti-Asian violence. Website | Facebook | Twitter
Comadre Luna Collective cultivates safe spaces of collective care among immigrant Latinx women to empower them to make decisions about their bodies and life without fear and supports access to reproductive justice in Philadelphia. This grant will help the Comadre Luna Collective facilitate a series of workshops centered on reproductive justice awareness, women’s oppression, and healing circles to work against gender inequality in Latinx communities. Facebook
El Comité de Apoyo a los Trabajadores Agrícolas is a migrant farmworker and low-wage immigrant worker organization building power to win better working and living conditions. This grant will support their convenings and coalition building towards racial and economic justice. Website | Facebook | Twitter
Healing Communities PA is led by formerly incarcerated people organizing faith communities to engage in campaigns working to change the criminal legal system using a restorative justice approach. They will use grant funds to continue addressing racial and economic disparities in the system and gains made towards probation and parole reform, ending life without parole, and ending solitary confinement.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Free Migration Project works at the intersection of law and community organizing to build power in immigrant communities and promote the freedom of movement as a basic human right. This grant will support a new staff member who will add force to their currently small staff and help them fight against family detention and ICE persecution of immigrant families in Pennsylvania.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Girls Justice League grounds their work in intersectional feminism to advance social, educational, and economic justice for all who identify as women in Philadelphia. This grant will support Girls Justice League in convening girls to engage in intersectional issues based on personal experience and analyzing data to identify issues within the educational, juvenile, criminal justice, and reproductive health systems.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Juntos combines leadership development, community organizing, and collaboration with other community-based advocacy organizations to build power in Latinx immigrant communities. This grant will support Juntos’ work on leadership development and campaigns against immigrant detention.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Make the Road Pennsylvania is a grassroots organization that builds power for justice in Latinx, immigrant, and working-class communities of color. This grant will allow more staff time to support their youth committee in their campaigning efforts and provide the young members with more leadership development opportunities.
Website | Facebook | Twitter
National Domestic Workers Alliance works for the respect, recognition, and inclusion in labor protections of domestic workers and home care workers, most of whom are immigrants and women of color. This grant will support their continued work for domestic workers’ rights under the new Philadelphia Domestic Worker Bill of Rights they worked to pass in 2020. Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia is using interfaith organizing, direct action, and leadership training to promote immigrant rights and transform communities. This grant will support their organizing and base-building efforts in addition to their Promotores de Justicia leadership program, which provides organizing training.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Philadelphia Community Bail Fund is a grassroots community bail fund organizing for collective liberation and the abolition of bail, pretrial detention, and prisons. This grant will support their continued organizing and hiring of their first paid staff member to expand their base-building capacity. Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Philadelphia Teamsters for a Democratic Union is a worker-led, grassroots movement that organizes economic justice campaigns, develops grassroots leaders, and promotes community-labor alliances to improve workers’ rights. This grant will support their preparation for the two-year national election process as they broaden their movement, develop new activists, protect and expand union democracy, and build partnerships with other organizers. Website | Facebook | Twitter
Why Not Prosper responds to the needs of women in the prison system and supports women’s re-entry journey from prison to their community. This grant will support Why Not Prosper’s Women’s Advocacy program in its fight for quick access to Medicaid and doctor’s appointments for returning women. Website | Facebook | Twitter
Youth Art & Self-empowerment Project empowers young people who are or have been incarcerated in adult jails and prisons through artistic expression, political education, and leadership development. This grant will support their organizing to push the city’s now-progressive district attorney’s office for lasting change. Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Future Fund
The Future Fund is a core fund at Bread & Roses that supports organizations working on emerging issues or developing new approaches to social justice activism.
The Agape African Senior Center helps elderly African and Caribbean immigrants and refugees and their families combat unjust laws, policies, and systems. This grant will support their community organizing, a political education program, and advocacy skill development seminars. Website
Beyond the Bars is a student-driven music and career skills program that is dedicated to interrupting cycles of violence and incarceration. A grant from this fund will help them form a student steering committee, where students can learn how to organize around the issues important to them and their communities. Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
CAIR-Philadelphia’s mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims. This grant will help them develop student leaders from BIPOC Muslim backgrounds, encouraging them to affect long-term change towards greater inclusion and equity in their school districts. Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Coalition of African Communities (AFRICOM) advocates and organizes to promote immigrant and refugee empowerment. This grant will help them implement a new immigration legislative advocacy program that will recruit and train a cohort of people from grassroots African and Caribbean immigrant organizations to advocate for social change. Website | Facebook | Twitter
Empowerment Center USA organizes citizens to work within institutions and government to ensure that their voices are heard by accessing resources difficult to obtain by the community. This grant will support their Prison Debt Solutions initiative, which pushes for policy changes to relieve post-release debt. Website | Facebook
Germantown Residents for Economic Alternatives Together (GREAT) uses their collective resources to grow food, share tools, organize around issues of housing justice and strengthen their community’s health and well-being. This grant will help them build their capacity as organizers through skill-building and collaborative learning. Website | Facebook
Indigenous Peoples’ Day Philly cultivates an active Indigenous presence in Philadelphia through cultural, educational, and community-building initiatives that uplift Indigenous traditions, creative economies, and histories. This grant will support their efforts to build stronger communication channels between the City of Philadelphia and Tribal governments. Website | Facebook
Movement of Immigrant Leaders in Pennsylvania (MILPA) is a network of families across Pennsylvania working to build power among immigrant communities to disrupt the current criminal legal system and challenge its treatment of undocumented immigrants. Website | Facebook
Native American House Alliance (NAHA) is fostering racial, economic, and political justice by and for Native American people and promoting an accurate understanding of the Native American experience. Website
PA Youth Vote is creating a nonpartisan collaboration of students, educators, and organizations working to elevate student voices and empower PA youth as civic actors. This grant will help establish their coalition of engaged youth and teachers from public high schools throughout low-income communities of Southeastern PA. Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Philadelphia Asian Performing Artists is a volunteer, member-driven organization that provides holistic artist care for over 100+ Asian and Asian American artists in the Philly area. They will use this grant to create a direct action campaign confronting the use of yellow and brown face in Philly arts institutions. Website | Facebook | Instagram
Philly’s Children’s Movement is a collective of families and educators talking, playing, learning, and rising up for racial justice. This grant will help them work with youth and families for racial justice organizing and provide opportunities for youth to lead, learn, play, unite, and lift their voices. Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Sisters Returning Home helps women returning from prison to re-establish connections to family and community and build and develop self-esteem, self-respect, confidence, and self-sufficiency. This grant will aid their continued work raising the voices of women who have been incarcerated to speak out about discriminatory and unjust treatment. Website | Facebook
The Young Artist Program amplifies youth voices through art to bring about social change. This grant will support their continued work creating a community of solidarity, unmitigated Black Queer joy, and hope led by young people committed to transformative social change through healing, political education, peer collaboration, and art-making. Website | Instagram
Urban Tree Connection is building a neighborhood-rooted food and land system through community leadership development and land-based strategies in West Philadelphia. This grant will support their continued work developing a community-governed, sustainable, and equitable food and land system capable of eliminating hunger, mitigating climate change, and serving as a catalyst for more community-controlled building projects. Website | Facebook | Twitter
Environmental Justice Fund
The Environmental Justice Fund is a special fund at Bread & Roses that will award one-time grants to grassroots groups that use community organizing to promote equitable access to a clean and healthy environment for communities and neighborhoods most impacted by environmental racism, climate change, and environmental injustice. The money for this fund was raised by the 2020 Environmental Justice Giving Project.
Camden for Clean Air is organizing the Camden community to close the largest air polluter in Camden County, the Covanta Camden trash incinerator. Website | Facebook
Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living is mobilizing to close the Covanta Delaware Valley trash incinerator and push for a green economy with safe, living wage jobs in clean energy and zero waste. Website | Facebook
Eastwick United is establishing a community land trust to affirm the right to a clean, safe environment for Eastwick residents who have been impacted by catastrophic flooding as a result of the city’s failed Urban Renewal plan in the 1950s.
Energy Justice Network is a national network of community groups working for an equitable and community-owned transition to clean energy and zero waste. They have previously focused on shutting down trash incinerators in Delaware, Montgomery, and Camden Counties, and are now building their base of support in Philadelphia in coalition with environmental justice leaders in the city. Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Human Rights Coalition is working to dismantle and abolish the prison system by expanding their #ShutDownFayette campaign to close SCI Fayette, a maximum security prison which houses over 2,000 people on a toxic dump site. Website | Facebook
Mill Creek Urban Farm grows and distributes fresh, chemical-free produce to nourish the community and create a world where Black and Indigenous communities have stewardship of the land. Website | Facebook | Twitter
National Institute for Healthy Human Spaces is building a regional environmental justice coalition to improve the health of low-income communities and communities of color and to promote sustainability. Website
Neighbors Against the Gas Plants is using community organizing, direct action, and community meetings to fight the SEPTA power plant and initiate an air quality monitoring project in North Philly. Website | Facebook
North Philly Peace Park is fighting gentrification by building grassroots leadership, advancing food justice, and supporting resident land reclamation. Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
One Art Community Center offers space, programming, and tools to community groups at its regenerative urban eco-arts village in order to promote environmental sustainability and community healing. Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Philadelphia Jobs with Justice is a coalition of unions, student, community, and faith groups organizing for educational equity. They are currently focusing on remediating environmental hazards such as led, asbestos, and mold in schools. Website | Facebook | Twitter
Philadelphians Organized to Witness Empower & Rebuild (POWER) is an interfaith organization mobilizing religious, spiritual, and ethical communities to push for sustainable climate and energy policy in the Southeastern and Central Pennsylvania region. Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Philly Thrive is a multi-racial, cross-class community organization coordinating a Right to Thrive campaign against systemic environmental racism by pushing for community-controlled development grounded in anti-racism, equity, and justice. Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Sappho and LaRoyce Foundation is a Black-led organization that educates, elevates, and empowers LGBTQ+ communities of color to sustain healing and promote access to healthy food and safe housing. Website | Facebook | Twitter
UC Green is engaging volunteer environmental stewardship in West and Southwest Philadelphia through free street tree planting, accessible community gardens, and block clean ups. Website | Facebook | Instagram
Urban Creators is a grassroots organization using food, art and celebration, and political education to nurture food sovereignty, access to healthy food, opportunities for supporting local businesses, cooperative economics, and preserving sacred spaces throughout Philadelphia. Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Phoebus Criminal Justice Initiative
The Phoebus Criminal Justice Initiative is a core fund at Bread & Roses that supports groups organizing to address the root causes of the crises within the criminal legal system. The money for these grants comes from a partnership with the Phoebus Fund family foundation.
Amistad Law Project is a public interest law center provides legal services for people incarcerated in Pennsylvania’s prisons and organizes to fight mass incarceration. Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Ardella’s House provides transitional housing for women who are released from prison and advocates for the needs and rights of formerly and currently incarcerated and women. Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Coalition to Abolish Death by Incarceration (CADBI) seeks to end life without parole sentences in Pennsylvania by centering people who have been directly impacted by crime and long-term incarceration. Website | Facebook
The Empowerment Center USA is led by formerly incarcerated community members and their families. Their Prison Debt Solutions initiative is organizing for policy changes to relieve post-release debt. Website | Facebook
Hearts on a Wire is a collective of transgender and gender non-conforming people building a movement for gender, racial, and economic justice and an end to the policing and mass incarceration of their communities. Website | Facebook
Human Rights Coalition (HRC) is working to dismantle the prison system by abolishing solitary confinement, shutting down toxic prisons, and fighting for the freedom of their loved ones. Website | Facebook
Metropolitan Christian Council of Philadelphia (MCCP) is a faith-based community organization that centers restorative and racial justice to resolve conflict, heal, and make decisions in community. Website | Facebook | Twitter
Outside the Bars supports children who have incarcerated parents through peer and academic support, mentorship, and policy advocacy. Website
Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity (PLSE) supports people with criminal records through free legal representation, strategic litigation, community education, research, and legislative advocacy. Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Why Not Prosper responds to the needs of women in the correctional system and supports women’s re-entry journey from prison to their community. Website | Facebook | Twitter
Youth Art & Self-empowerment Project (YASP) empowers young people who are or have been incarcerated in adult jails and prisons through artistic expression, political education, and leadership development. Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Opportunity Fund
Opportunity Fund grants are intended for special projects or emergencies that are not part of an organization’s ongoing work. The money for these grants comes from donations from individuals.
Indigenous Education created an educational winter mural highlighting traditional Indigenous winter themes on the 1600 block of Ridge Avenue.
Philly Black & Native Street Medic Crew trained thirty-two new Black and Indigenous street medics to provide aid at Juneteenth events. New street medics will become part of their BIPOC street medic crew which provides street medic aid to BIPOC events throughout the city.
Siloam Wellness expanded their social media presence to provide information and engage youth on the topic of HIV prevention.
Successful Women Achieving Goals held a series of workshops to educate community members on how to protect their legal rights and how to advocate for others.
Why Not Prosper hosted a community celebration in honor of their 20th Anniversary to celebrate their re-entry work and share visions for their next phase of growth.
Equitable Public Space Fund
The Equitable Public Space Fund is a special fund at Bread & Roses that supports groups organizing to create equitable public spaces in parks, libraries, recreation centers, greenways, waterways, community gardens, community centers, plazas, and play areas in Philadelphia and Camden. The money for these 2-year grants was raised by the 2019-20 Equitable Public Space Giving Project. 2021 is the second year of this grant.
Soil Generation is expanding their Threatened Gardens Campaign to push forward equitable policies that reduce barriers for people of color and low-income communities to access land and grow food. Website | Facebook | Instagram
Urban Tree Connection is repurposing vacant lots in West Philadelphia’s Haddington neighborhood for communal growing and gathering, sustainable food production and affordable food distribution, and intergenerational health, wellness, and political education. Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Vietlead is growing their intergenerational Resilient Roots Community Farm in Camden by cultivating neighborhood ownership and co-creation, making the farm more publicly accessible, incorporating art and cultural knowledge, and launching a campaign against gentrification. Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Asian Americans United is organizing around Chinatown’s changing public spaces, including protection of the Inch by Inch Garden, educational programming around public space equity, and publishing recommendations for equity in Chinatown.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Black and Brown Workers Cooperative is organizing to reclaim land, conducting teach-ins about community land trusts, and bringing art and disruption actions to public spaces. Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Coalition of African Communities is expanding access to public parks and libraries for African and Caribbean immigrants by hosting events and trainings in public spaces as well as conducting legislative advocacy campaigns to build more soccer infrastructure.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Cooper Grant Neighborhood Association and Concerned Citizens of North Camden are working in coalition to expand access to public spaces controlled by Rutgers University Camden by organizing residents, distributing multilingual information, and creating guerilla marketing campaigns. Website | Facebook
Healing Communities USA is using a restorative justice approach to expand access to public spaces for communities impacted by the criminal legal system.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Holly Street Neighbors Community Garden, an initiative of UC Green, is amplifying its role in West and Southwest Philadelphia by serving as an accessible and therapeutic community space for events, education, and arts.
Website | Facebook
MOVES is working to create access to community-controlled spaces in which Black and Brown LGBTQ people can create, critique, explore, enjoy, and perform art.
Website | Facebook | Twitter| Instagram
Mt. Vernon Manor CDC is partnering with the Friends of the Mantua Greenway and the Mantua Urban Peace Garden to organize community members, create a succession plan for the older generation of leaders, and steward local green spaces.
Website| Facebook | Twitter
National Institute for Healthy Human Spaces is working with the Camden NAACP and Friends of Cooper River Open Space Equity Group to push officials to remediate and open up public spaces that have remained polluted for over 20 years. In Philadelphia, they are working with Native American House Alliance to build awareness of local historic sites and promote open space and land justice. Website
Norris Square Community Alliance is promoting equitable development through their Nuestro Barrio Project, which organizes to secure public ownership of vacant lots that have been used as public spaces for years and to steward these spaces to meet the needs and wants of their community. Website| Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
One Art Community Center is increasing community land ownership, expanding accessibility, cultivating educational programming, creating coworking spaces, and building a community kitchen and a library. Website| Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Philadelphia Black Pride is organizing to make William Way LGBT Community Center more equitable and welcoming to Black LGBTQIA people by hosting events, developing leaders from the Black LGBTQIA community, and increasing the number of Black LGBTQIA people accessing resources and services at William Way.
Website| Facebook | Instagram
Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign is partnering with United Steelworkers (USW) Local 4889 to create a public “free store,” expand their community center hours, create a community farm, and build a labor history and activism library.
Website| Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Senior to Senior Community Outreach is expanding their campaign to address food insecurity in senior communities by developing a series of forums to discuss accessibility of public spaces such as community gardens and libraries for seniors.
Spiral Q is claiming public space using art activism in order to center and honor people working against oppression and discrimination and to connect people and movements for change. Website| Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Urban Creators is investing in amenities that enable their neighbors to use their 2-acre farm on their own time and terms and establishing a neighborhood marketplace that offers local businesses and entrepreneurs opportunities to generate revenue and develop their businesses. Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
William Way LGBT Community Center is expanding their free and low-cost space-sharing program to specifically meet the needs of people of color, transgender, and gender-nonconforming people. Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Solidarity Fund for COVID-19 Organizing
The Solidarity Fund for COVID-19 Organizing was an emergency response fund created to meet the urgent needs of grassroots community organizing groups during the COVID-19 pandemic. This fund was open from April 2020 to March 2021. You can see all 83 grants on this page.
Neighborhood Equitable Recovery Fund
The Neighborhood Equitable Recovery Fund is a partnership between the City of Philadelphia Office of Community Empowerment and Opportunity (CEO) and Bread & Roses Community Fund to support community-based nonprofit organizations that serve communities of color and those with low incomes, which have been hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
African Cultural Alliance of North America supports newly-arrived Caribbean and African immigrants in their resettlement process by connecting families with social, health, and economic services. This grant will support the expansion of ACANA’s food assistance nutritional education program to provide their communities with culturally sensitive nutrition information and greater food security. Website
Agape African Senior Center helps at-risk elderly African and Caribbean refugees and immigrants linguistically, socially, culturally, and economically. This grant will support the opening of their new in-person Office of Health Advocate that was created to address the impact of COVID-19 and its aftermath by helping victims’ families who lost breadwinners and sponsors. Website
ArtWell supports young people and their communities through multidisciplinary arts expression, education, and creative reflection to celebrate their strengths and help them thrive while facing complex challenges. This grant will help pay their staff and provide students with art supplies. Website
Big Picture Alliance’s mission is to engage, educate, and empower Philadelphia’s youth whose stories have traditionally been under-represented through filmmaking & digital media arts. This grant will support their digital media programs that provide youth with access to digital media tools, 21st-century skill development, professional mentorship, creative community, paid work experience, and career pathways. Website
The Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia strives to improve the quality of life of Cambodian-Americans in the Philadelphia area through direct service, advocacy, and cultural education. This grant will expand their capacity to provide social services, including health education and elder engagement, to address needs as their community makes steps into the post-pandemic phase. Website
Center in the Park is a nationally accredited nonprofit senior community center located in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia. This grant will support their operating expenses including social services and housing programs serving low-income older adults. Website
Cradles to Crayons collects gently used and new, donated children’s items and re-distributes them to families unable to afford them. This grant will help them purchase school supplies, diapers, and hygiene products in bulk quantities for distribution to families. Website
Esteem Girls empowers girls underrepresented in STEM by building their self-esteem and confidence to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math fields. This grant will go towards rent, stipends for their Esteem Leaders, four summer camp interns, and will also help offset the costs of their programming. Website
Free Migration Project works at the intersection of law and community organizing to promote freedom of movement as a basic human right. They call for the abolition of detention and deportation as well as unjust immigration restrictions. This grant will support payroll and overhead to meet the increased need for reliable and affordable legal representation of low-income immigrant residents of Philadelphia. Website
Georgia E. Gregory Interdenominational School of Music is a safe, creative space for youth to experience cognitive, social, and cultural development through music and the performing arts. This grant will help them provide tuition-free music, dance, and drama classes for youth K-12 to address the mental challenges of COVID-19, expand after-school meals, and to continue to support “art-risk” families with education and artistic programming. Website
Grands As Parents supports grandparent caregivers and their grandchildren through workshops on financial literacy, legal training related to custody and DHS, and education about nutrition, mental health, and voting. This grant will provide food, clothing, and housing incentives for additional families and individuals within their community. Website
The Hunting Park Community Revitalization Corporation promotes the development, welfare, and well-being of all people in the Hunting Park community. Informed by input from residents, HPCRC is prioritizing programs that support energy affordability, housing, and hot-weather resiliency. This grant will support a heat-relief resource giveaway, energy efficiency education at community events, and workshops on weatherization and utility assistance programs, heat health, and heat resiliency.
The Islamic Cultural Preservation and Information Council – New Africa Center CDC is a nonprofit coalition of university scholars, educators, multi-disciplinary artists, parents, and individuals striving to preserve and elevate the cultural heritage of Islam in America. This grant will go to the costs of their New Freedom District Community Day program, a weekly truck rental to pick up supplies from food distribution centers, and part-time staff to distribute food to the community. Website
Kensington Soccer Club is dedicated to providing the Kensington community with high-quality soccer and youth development programs for everybody, regardless of their ability to pay. This grant will help them establish continuity of programming and care and keep both participants and residents drug-free, violence-free, and healthy. Website
KITHS is a community-based organization that provides serve Cambodian refugees and other Southeast Asian immigrants with social services using a social justice framework. This grant will support KITHS’ Kitchen, a culturally-affirming food pantry that provides education on nutrition and information about food access. Website
Mighty Writers positively impacts the educational crisis in the US by offering free literacy and resource distribution programs to youth. This grant will be used for personnel costs, program expenses, contracted educator fees, facilities and equipment, administrative expenses, and travel. Website
Mt. Vernon Manor CDC works to create accessible and safe communities by advancing affordable housing, building green spaces, and encouraging economic mobility and public health. This grant will be allocated toward the salary costs of MVM’s Director of Community Development, which is a position that will allow their staff to dedicate more time to managing long-term recovery projects. Website
The Monkey & The Elephant is a nonprofit café on West Girard Avenue that supports young people in the transition from foster care to independence through a holistic employment and life skills program. This grant will provide the funds needed to continue to employ and support the most vulnerable youth during this fragile time and help expand their impact through 2022. Website
Native American House Alliance promotes racial, economic, and political justice for Native Americans through media representation, organizing, and advocacy campaigns. They are working to establish the state’s first Native American Commissions. This grant will help build their capacity as Philadelphia’s only Native American community-based organization to take a lead role in the proposed Native American Commission campaign. Website
One Art Community Center promotes racial and economic liberation by working towards sustainability, land sovereignty, and against food apartheid in their communities. This grant will go towards the establishment of a Black-owned farm food distribution and recycling program operated through One Art’s Sustainability Training & Education Program (STEP). Website
PAR-Recycle Works hopes to support their transitional employees who were formerly incarcerated through payroll and other benefits, encouraging their economic self-sufficiency. Funds will support payroll for these transitional employees. Website
Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation (PCDC) supports equitable recovery for Philadelphia’s low-income, limited-English-proficient immigrant community members in the areas of financial, housing, educational, and mental/emotional issues. PCDC will use this grant to help sustain their expanded Housing and Family Services Program to meet the increased needs in the low-income Chinese immigrant community. Website
Purple House Project PA works with women who have experienced intimate partner violence and builds a community of women who uplift and support other women. This grant will be used to purchase program supplies, provide incentives for women, pay contractors and staff, and purchase personal care items for women. Website
Safe Haven Family Life Center provides a safe environment for the Strawberry Manson Community to obtain healthy meals, youth programs, senior aid, family counseling, and other services as needed. This grant will help to pay staff—which sometimes they are unable to do due to lack of funding—provide outdoor community youth activities, and repair their air conditioner.
The Reawakening Agency assists incarcerated people with a successful transition back into their communities after they are released from prison. This grant will go towards payroll, rent, and other operating expenses incurred from developing their remote/virtual services.
Tree House Books is a community-based organization that seeks to be part of the North Central Philadelphia neighborhood’s continued renewal and uplift. This grant will help them implement new pre-teen and teen leadership programs, expand their new bookmobile, and assist in the reopening of their Giving Library. Website
Unemployment Information Center/Philadelphia Unemployment Project organizes and serves the unemployed and low-income communities of Philadelphia. The grant will go to organizing staff working with unemployed Philadelphians, mostly people of color. Website
Unique Dream empowers and strengthens youth and families in the Frankford community, which consists of 70,000 residents. The grant will allow them to purchase a van and hire staff to facilitate food distribution, transport seniors in the area to fulfill their medical needs, and provide safe travel for summer camp and aftercare students. Website
Why Not Prosper is a grassroots organization located in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia that provides women in the reentry process a continuum of programs and services that include pre-release mentoring, residential services, employment help, family reunification, etc. Funds will be used to help support the community’s food security through their Share the Bounty program. Website
Women’s Community Revitalization Project (WCRP) is a women-led, multi-racial community development organization committed to social and economic equity for low-income women and their families. This grant will be used to support the organization and their constituents in recovering from the pandemic. Website
Kensington Community Resilience Fund
The Kensington Community Resilience Fund is a public-private-community partnership between the Kensington community, regional funders, Bread & Roses Community Fund, and the city of Philadelphia.
Community Center at Visitation provides a safe place to connect residents to resources and a central location for recreation, educational programs, and health services. A grant from this fund will support one year of hosting family-friendly monthly dinner and resource fairs. Website | Facebook | Instagram
Good Host Plants is a native plant nursery promoting biodiversity in the region by growing open-pollinated, local-ecotype plants. A grant from this fund will help them convert five to ten empty lots into community pollinator gardens. Website | Facebook | Instagram
Harrowgate Civic Association strives to help the Harrowgate community become a safe and beautiful community. This grant will go toward theirplan to help residents with neighborhood cleaning by distributing trash cans and other cleaning supplies. Facebook | Twitter
Hart Lane Neighborhood Farm is a group of neighbors and stakeholders dedicated to creating and tending to a healing, safe urban farm in the Kensington community. This grant will help them replace broken sidewalks in their garden and reconnect the space safely to the neighborhood with an ADA-compliant access point. Facebook
Kensington Soccer Club provides high quality soccer and youth development programming for everyone, regardless of ability to pay. This grant will support their core programming, which includes connecting families to legal assistance, health care, college financial aid, and leadership development. Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Papermill Food Hub is an all-volunteer operation that provides weekly deliveries of food, diapers, and other supplies to Kensington, Fishtown, and Port Richmond families in need. This grant will support them in renting permanent space to store and prepare food for their weekly deliveries, launch a garden to grow produce for families, and hire a staff member to lead garden classes with neighborhood children. Website | Facebook | Instagram
Photography Without Borders teaches young artists to tell their stories through photography to a wider audience. This grant will be used to expand their youth photography program to Kensington Health Sciences Academy in an after-school setting. Website | Facebook | Instagram
Power Street Theatre is dedicated to connecting multicultural and intergenerational communities through the performing arts by sharing original stories that innovate and inspire. This grant will support their programs, including free bilingual performance and playwriting classes. Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Providence Center provides children, teens, and adults a safe space to overcome trauma and grow to their full potential. This grant will be used to hire former Trauma Ambassadors in the recruitment and training of a new cohort. Website | Facebook | Instagram
Ride Free provides Kensington-area youth with opportunities for creative self-expression, skill-building, and mentorship that help them envision a positive future and avoid or build pathways out of cycles of trauma, violence, and incarceration. This grant will complete their new studio’s fit-out with professional-grade instruments and equipment. Instagram
Rock Ministries directly addresses many of the needs of the Kensington neighborhood: youth activities, addictions treatment assistance, homelessness, GED education, street cleaning, beautification, and more. This grant will fund a subscription to medical record software that tracks patient treatment and a mini-split heating/cooling system to operate their Wellness Center year-round. Website | Facebook | Instagram
Sisters Returning Home help women returning from prison to re-establish connections to family and community and build and develop self-esteem, self-respect, self-confidence, and self-sufficiency. This grant will support ongoing programming and beds and bedding for clients transitioning into long-term housing. Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
The Sisters of Saint Joseph Welcome Center offers immigrants and others opportunities to access education, support and free legal services, and programs leading to self-sufficiency. This grant will improve their ESOL and Citizenship Test Preparation Classes and expand their Outreach program that provides food and gift cards to students. Website | Facebook | Twitter |Instagram
Taller Puertorriqueño is a community-based cultural organization whose primary purpose is to preserve, develop, and promote Puerto Rican arts and culture. This grant will support investments in staff, upgrading data entry technology capacity, general operations, and education arts programming. Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Team NAS is a volunteer group of resident leaders that elevates neighborhood voices, connects residents to resources that promote wellness, and addresses inequities through advocacy and local action. This grant will support them in creating a cooperative neighborhood-wide block initiative through ongoing outreach, providing needed equipment, and cultivating platforms for neighborhood exchange and celebration.
The Block Gives Back targets issues within the Philadelphia community and devises plans to recruit local volunteers, businesses, organizations, and community leaders to help in working toward a solution. This grant will be used to support ongoing programming such as affordable events and services to youth aged 5-24 in the Kensington neighborhood.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
The Salvation Army operates the New Day Drop-In Center, a safe, trauma-informed, welcoming, and non-judgmental space for sex workers and survivors of human trafficking. These funds will be used to maintain staff, cover transportation costs to appointments, purchase supplies for clients, secure increased security measures, and other operational costs. Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
The Simple Way supports neighbors in building a neighborhood where everyone can belong and thrive and collaborates locally to increase neighborhood food security. This grant will be used to pay one of their current volunteers, digitize systems, and purchase an inventory software. Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Urban Extreme Youth Development helps to rebuild communities by influencing the lives of youth and their families in addressing education, health, economic, and social needs. This grant will help them implement programming for mentoring, youth community engagement, and family engagement and support a third Bold and Beautiful Girls Conference to build power among female Kensington High School students.
Youth United for Change develops young leaders in Philadelphia with a critical political, historical, and economic understanding of society and empowers them to improve the quality of their lives and communities. This grant will provide stipends for members to participate in community outreach efforts for their upcoming community campaign dealing with trash and litter. Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Previous Grantees
View our 2020 grantees.