“There’s a wide range of grassroots organizations that Bread & Roses supports and each one of them is amazing!”
For Erika Aaron, a 2023 Racial & Economic Justice Giving Project alum, volunteering with Bread & Roses has been a transformative experience. Erika, a lifelong Philadelphia resident, has been involved with Bread & Roses since the 1970s “I first heard of Bread & Roses as a community-based organization that was working for radical change. I immediately felt like Bread & Roses represented my values and my political beliefs.”
The Giving Project gave Erika a unique opportunity to engage with other members of the Bread & Roses community on a deeper level. “The Giving Project’s goals represent what’s dearest to me: using an anti-racist, class-conscious lens to support social justice movements. We all had to address our own racism and classism, it was done in a very thoughtful and intentional way and included some uncomfortable conversations. I strongly believe that uncomfortable conversations are the root of all growth and learning. Being in the Giving Project helped me better understand and work on my own prejudices.”
Through the Giving Project, Erika was able to see Bread & Roses’ theory of “change, not charity” in action. “There’s a wide range of grassroots organizations that Bread & Roses supports and each one of them is amazing! When we interviewed groups seeking grants, they all said that Bread & Roses allowed them to do what they believed in and that they didn’t feel like they had to change any goals or objectives. Throughout the grant-making process, it was made clear that the people in the community know best about what the community needs, and they should make the decisions, not us.”
“I got a chance to meet unbelievably remarkable people who are doing revolutionary work. I left the project feeling so hopeful about the future. That was important to me, especially during this time of despair.”
“Especially with the uncertainty that the coming year brings, funding the organizers doing the hard work of fighting to change unjust systems of oppression is critical.” -Casey Cook
In June of 2023, Bread & Roses Community Fund’s Racial & Economic Justice Fund and Future Fund made $290,000 in grants to thirty-four grassroots groups working to promote racial and economic justice in the Philadelphia region. This marks the largest amount of money raised by a Giving Project at Bread & Roses in recent history.
The unprecedented amount of funds raised by members of the 2023 Racial & Economic Justice Giving Project is an example of what can happen when people from different backgrounds come together under the banner of justice. The record-making effort of our Giving Project members, the generosity of our donors, and the tenacity of our grantees is a true testament of Bread & Roses’ community-driven grantmaking model, where the people most affected by the issues are the ones making decisions about where money is needed most.
“Especially with the uncertainty that the coming year brings, funding the organizers doing the hard work of fighting to change unjust systems of oppression is critical,” says Bread & Roses executive director Casey Cook.
For groups like Juntos, grants from Bread & Roses support the expansion of their community organizing efforts to protect the rights of immigrants in the Philadelphia region. “The growth of our membership…and the continuation of our youth development [work] are critical areas we are focusing on for the future. There’s a real need in the community and our work is necessary. Juntos is about keeping the community supported and thriving and we just need to be the strongest organization that we can be to better respond to the challenges that we’re facing,” says Erika Gaudalupe Núñez, executive director of Juntos.
For Native American House Alliance the grant goes towards a greater goal of state recognition. “When we first reached out to Bread & Roses, we were trying to start a Native American Commission here in Philadelphia. Federally recognized Indians have the Bureau of Indian Affairs, but currently we have nobody to go to for help. With the new city administration, in 2024 we hope to establish a commission locally and eventually statewide,” says executive director Cornelia Dimalanta.
For Unique Dreams, grant funds help to build power in communities in Frankford. “Coming into an election year, our work is more important now. The communities we serve are hard to reach unless you live there. Since we are based in the community, the funds go directly towards initiatives to help community members. We were able to host a large community carnival and resource fair that allowed us to have the voter commission come out to set up a table. Because of that initiative, we were able to be a polling place for the election. We opened our doors to people that probably wouldn’t vote otherwise, that was huge for us,” says chief executive officer and founder Angenique Howard.
Howard further asserts, “Nonprofits led by Black women are in a very difficult arena when it comes to funding. Bread & Roses streamlines the process and allows us to focus on the work.”
“There are new immigrants arriving every day and they’re being met with a city that does not have adequate resources to address their needs. They are essentially alone.”
Navigating Philadelphia as a new immigrant can be daunting, says Erika Guadalupe Núñez, executive director of Juntos, a community-led, Latinx immigrant organization and Racial & Economic Justice Fund grantee. “Philadelphia is classified as a sanctuary city, but we still have community members who come in every day and say, I was in court, and I couldn’t get language interpretation, or the police hung up on me because I don’t speak English.”
Founded over 20 years ago in response to the growing wave of migrants arriving in Philadelphia, Juntos responds to the needs and issues that immigrants face, guided by the principle that everyone has the right to quality education and the freedom to live with dignity regardless of immigration status. Says Núñez, “There are new immigrants arriving every day and they’re being met with a city that does not have adequate resources to address their needs. They are essentially alone.”
As an organization, Juntos has seen significant growth in the last few years. They are currently developing a youth leadership development pipeline through Fuerza, Juntos’ youth leadership committee. “Fuerza members can apply to be ambassadors, which are 12-week paid positions where they learn organizing skills like public speaking, canvassing, and political education around campaigns,” says Núñez.
Juntos takes community leadership seriously. This January they ratified a membership model in which the governance of the organization has essentially been passed to its members. Members assemble monthly and vote on major organizational decisions. Says Núñez, “We have a growing membership, which shows that there’s a need in the community and that our work is necessary, and that we need to be the strongest organization that we can be to better respond to the challenges that we’re facing.”
“It has been a long 8-year campaign where many people, most importantly those who have directly suffered imprisonment at Berks—Black and Brown families and women—have organized and lifted up their voices against the shameful practice of imprisoning immigrants.” -Adrianna Tores-Garcia
In November 2022, the federal government announced that Berks County Residential Center would be closing after twenty years of operating as an immigrant detention facility. The closure is a significant victory for the Shut Down Berks Coalition, comprised of several Bread & Roses grantees and other immigrant rights advocates who have long fought against the inhumane treatment of people detained at the Berks County Residential Center.
“It has been a long 8-year campaign where many people, most importantly those who have directly suffered imprisonment at Berks —Black and Brown families and women— have organized and lifted up their voices against the shameful practice of imprisoning immigrants,” says Adrianna Torres-Garcia, deputy director of Free Migration Project, an organizational member of the Shut Down Berks Coalition and a Racial & Economic Justice Fund grantee.
The Berks County Residential Center became a federal immigrant detention facility in 2001, and in 2014 it became one of three immigrant family detention centers in the United States used to detain mothers and children, finally transitioning to a women-only facility. Throughout its history, Berks County Residential Center was fraught with allegations of human rights abuses including lack of access to basic medical care, denial of legal representation, and assault and exploitation. Because of these harms, the Shut Down Berks Coalition focused on an abolitionist model rather than working with an eye on reform.
“It was important to always make clear that our demand was to shut it down, not just create better conditions. For years, people from Berks County asked that the building be turned into something that provides health and human services or educational services, and not be used to detain people who are in this country trying to make a better life for themselves,” says Torres-Garcia.
The coalition used various tactics to keep pressure on the state and federal government to close the facility. “We did a lot of work to make sure the issue was in front of the media, such as writing op-eds, letters to the editor, and ensuring the press was there to capture our actions. We collaborated with artists to create signs for protests and to run art programs for the detainees when we were allowed inside. These programs were not only therapeutic but were also an opportunity for the women to radicalize and organize themselves,” says Torres-Garcia.
The Shut Down Berks Coalition’s campaign spanned three presidencies, each with its own deficiencies when it came to the treatment of migrants and asylum seekers. The Obama administration expanded family detention in response to an increase in Central American migrants seeking refuge in the United States. The Trump administration enacted an infamous zero-tolerance policy that resulted in the separation of families and the detention of children.
Erika Guadalupe Núñez, executive director of Juntos, a Shut Down Berks Coalition organizational member and Racial & Economic Justice Fund grantee, says, “Under Biden, there are more people in physical detention centers than under Trump. Biden has also kept many of Trump’s policies in place regarding the southern border.”
While the closure of Berks County Residential Center and the subsequent release of the remaining women detained there was a resounding victory, it also marked the end of the coalition. However, member organizations continue the fight for immigrant rights, such as ending the practice of medical deportations, lobbying for driver’s licenses regardless of immigration status, and ensuring that immigrants have equal access to city programs and services.
“I love the work of Bread & Roses! They fund grassroots projects by regular people, like you and me. Building from the ground up like this totally changes the power dynamics.”
For Sara Giraldo, a 2021 Gender Justice Giving Project alum, giving to Bread & Roses is rooted in her passion for racial and gender justice: “As an immigrant and a person of color, I see how immigrants struggle. Because I had the opportunity to live in different cities in the U.S., I know there are not as many resources for the Latinx community in Philadelphia as in other places, like California. And because I’m fortunate to speak English, I feel called to get more involved in connecting people to resources.”
Sara works with Comadre Luna, a Bread & Roses grantee and feminist collective that organizes to build a network of support for Latinx women in Philadelphia. Through her work with the collective, she learned about the Giving Project.
“The Gender Justice Giving Project was a transforming experience for me. As a person of color, I think of myself as someone who is not so privileged, but in terms of gender, as a heterosexual, cis-gender woman, I am a privileged person. Working so closely with trans and non-binary people in the Giving Project and seeing their struggles was eye opening for me. I really appreciated all the conversations we had around ‘what is my privilege’ and ‘what is your privilege’ and ‘how do we come together and work this out to create a more just world?’”
“I love the work of Bread & Roses! They fund grassroots projects by regular people, like you and me. Building from the ground up like this totally changes the power dynamics.”
We are excited to announce a new collaboration with Philadelphia Health Partnership and Bread & Roses Community Fund to create a fund to move money to grassroots groups of parents and caregivers organizing for change.
The fund will focus specifically on early childhood. Like all our funds, community input will drive the design of the fund and distribution of the grants, and the fund will focus on issues prioritized by parents and caregivers.
The fund will also be a platform for building community among its grantees and creating opportunities for them to support and learn from each other. After the first grant cycle, Bread & Roses will also convene grantees to identify common barriers and challenges, and to make recommendations to funders and policymakers on how to continue, adapt, and expand support for family voices and leadership.
Bread & Roses is currently recruiting parents, caregivers, and allies to serve on the Community Grantmaking Committee, which will design the fund criteria, review applications, and make decisions.
“They were afraid, but they learned that they have power and they can win.” –Liana Kallman
For the last decade, housekeepers at the University of Pennsylvania were trapped in a two-tier wage structure that kept half of them in a permanent bottom tier, earning $5 less per hour than coworkers performing the same work. In June, Philadelphia Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU), a Racial & Economic Justice Fund grantee, helped the 500+ housekeepers defeat the two-tier system and win raises for all 550 members of Teamsters Local 115, which also includes groundskeepers and truck drivers.
“The five-year contract puts every Teamster at UPenn on a progression to top pay,” says TDU staff organizer Liana Kallman. “This year, the first tier is making $25.12 and the second tier is at $20.90, but by the end of the contract every housekeeper will get $28.68.”
TDU is a worker-led organization that mobilizes Teamsters to fight for higher wages, build power on the job, and win new leadership and new direction for their union.
Longtime Teamster Local 115 members contacted TDU because they felt the two-tier system was destroying their union, Kallman says. TDU helped them organize the housekeepers, many of whom are East African immigrant women whose first language is not English. TDU created a bargaining survey, which was translated into Amharic and Spanish, and helped plan a rally outside the university president’s office that drew 70 workers, community members, and press.
“Housekeepers had never rallied on campus,” Kallman says. “Some of the Ethiopian women were told, ‘You’re not allowed to rally, not in your uniform. You could get fired for this.’ They were afraid, but they learned that they have power and they can win.”
TDU is currently organizing UPS workers, whose contract expires next year, staff organizer Paul Prescod says: “UPS Part timers, who are disproportionately workers of color, are in the union but it’s almost like another tier of workers—they’re paid very low, sometimes less than Amazon part timers. We want to create more full-time jobs and raise wages.”
“People in positions of privilege should not have the power to decide where the money goes. Communities should decide.”
For Melissa Melby, a 2021 Gender Justice Giving Project member, giving to Bread & Roses is about shifting the balance of power. Last year, after the stock market made record gains, Melby’s uncle gave each of his nieces a generous cash gift. “I felt so uncomfortable getting this gift when so many people were struggling because of the pandemic that I immediately started looking for places to give it away,” Melby says. When she learned about Bread & Roses’ focus on community-driven participatory grantmaking, she joined a Giving Project. “I am inspired by Bread & Roses’ vision and process of moving money from communities of donors to communities of people who need it.”
Her parents were her first “ask” and it led to some pivotal conversations: “My dad had reservations about giving money when the recipients had not already been decided—it was like giving up control over where their money was going. We talked about how people in positions of privilege should not have the power to decide where the money goes. Communities should decide how best to spend the money.” Her parents were so impressed by this community-based approach that they made a gift that was two and half times larger than they planned. Melby went on to raise more money for the Giving Project than she ever expected.
“Being in a group of people with so many different experiences and perspectives, all working toward the same goal, was a transformative experience. It showed me that together we can achieve so much more than any one individual can achieve.”
“Dobbs empowers ideologues to move beyond the abortion context and restrict a broad array of rights…There is a lot at stake.” Reggie Shuford
The recent Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v Wade and revoke the federal constitutional right to abortion jeopardizes the health and safety of millions of people who need access to safe abortion care. This decision will be felt most acutely in communities of color and poor communities who already face deep inequities in healthcare access. As the dissenting opinion from the liberal Supreme Court justices points out, Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization doesn’t just eliminate the right to abortion, it threatens other legal precedents that establish rights to privacy, sexual intimacy, and bodily autonomy—opening the door to the erosion of gender justice and human rights.
“Dobbs empowers ideologues to move beyond the abortion context and restrict a broad array of rights,” says Reggie Shuford, Executive Director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania. “We have folks in the courts and elected officials who are committed to revisiting what we believed were long-resolved rights, guaranteed to every American. That includes the right to marry, the right to contraception, the right to gender expression, the right to vote, and the right to learn what you want in school. There is a lot at stake.”
“We are seeing a very concerted effort to destroy people’s ability to make decisions about their health, their bodies, and their lives,” says Farrah Parkes, Executive Director of the Gender Justice Fund. “It’s not an accident that the two states with the most restrictive anti-abortion laws, Florida and Texas, are also states with some of the most restrictive anti-trans laws. Florida just started denying Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming treatments for trans adults.”
“We’ve been living in a post-Roe world in Pennsylvania since 1985, when the state implemented a racially and economically unjust law which prohibited Medicaid funding from covering abortions,” says Elicia Gonzales, Executive Director of the Abortion Liberation Fund of PA. “Dobbs is going to make abortion access even more difficult for Black, Brown, and Indigenous folks who are already burdened by poverty as a result of racialized capitalism.”
While abortion is still legal in Pennsylvania, state legislators are pushing through an amendment to the state constitution that says: “there is no right to taxpayer-funded abortion or any other right relating to abortion.” If the amendment passes, state courts would be powerless to recognize abortion as a right guaranteed by the state constitution. An amendment requires two consecutive votes and a ballot initiative. Legislators passed the amendment in July 2022 and will vote again in early 2023. Pennsylvania voters could decide on the amendment as early as May 2023.
Movements are fighting back. The Women’s Law Project of PA filed a lawsuit on behalf of Pennsylvania abortion providers challenging the state ban on Medicaid funding for abortions. The litigation, which will be heard this fall, also asks the state Supreme Court to affirm that Pennsylvanians have a fundamental right to abortion under the state constitution.
“The majority of Americans believe in abortion. Politicians should be listening to their constituencies,” Shuford says. “People need to vote in every election. You have to be in the fight. You cannot win unless you are fighting.”
In Pennsylvania, women returning from prison often have to wait more than a month to access critical Medicaid benefits. For women with substance use disorder who were receiving medication-assisted treatment in prison, this disruption in care can be fatal, says Rev. Dr. Michelle Anne Simmons, chief executive officer of Why Not Prosper, a Racial & Economic Justice Fund and Phoebus Criminal Justice Initiative grantee that supports women’s re-entry journey from prison back to their communities.
“When women are released, they’re supposed to get their benefits activated in five days, but it usually takes 32 days,” Rev. Simmons says. “If a woman comes home with opioid addiction and can’t get her medication-assisted treatment, she’ll use and she’ll die. We lose too many women this way.”
Why Not Prosper is taking its fight to Harrisburg, educating legislators about the healthcare crisis women face inside and outside of prisons. “We want every woman to be released from jail with at least one month of their prescription,” Rev. Simmons says. “That way, if it does take that long to get their benefits, they’ve got a prescription to hold them for 30 days. We want that to be the state law. Women’s lives depend on it.”
Why Not Prosper has made powerful allies, including PA Senator Art Haywood, who chairs the Health and Human Services Committee, and First Lady Frances Wolf. Mrs. Wolf recently visited Why Not Prosper’s Germantown office to meet with formerly incarcerated women and bring their stories to Governor Wolf.
Rev. Simmons founded Why Not Prosper in 2001. As a formerly incarcerated woman who once experienced addiction, she brings the lessons she learned to help other women on their re-entry journey. Why Not Prosper offers a continuum of programs that include pre-release mentoring, residential services, job training, and help reuniting with family. “Formerly incarcerated people are human beings first,” she says. “They need to be approached with non-judgment, love, and support.”
