To our Community:

Our whole world aches from new wounds and old scars reopened, and still this is a moment to ambitiously define our shared future.

We’re seeing, in distressing detail, how closely disparities in public health, economic insecurity, racism, and reactionary nationalism are tied together and are the expected outcomes of racist systems. The communities made vulnerable yet again are disproportionately Indigenous, Black, Asian and Latinx communities (all usually included in the umbrella of BIPOC) in this COVID-19 pandemic.

In our collective pain, we can only hold each other so close over a video call, even as many of us crave nothing more than the comfort and safety of being with our loved ones. And still, we must see this as a chance to seize our collective opportunity to create our shared future where every person (and especially those who have suffered the most) are heard and included in designing solutions to chart paths that will result in better outcomes for everyone.

The BMPP Giving Circle is made up of a group of families who believe that we can build a better future for all of us when we come together to celebrate, learn about, and fuel the change we want to see in the world. As communities and neighborhoods rebuild, we want to contribute to supporting efforts that focus on building solidarity across communities and support efforts that focus on healing, in whatever form it may take.

For our 2020 grant round, we will make micro-grants of up to $2,500 for projects working that focus on building solidarity across BIPOC communities and healing projects that hold and support communities during this moment. This can include (but is not limited to) community and neighborhood organizing efforts, community teach-ins that liberate the mind and creates opportunities to unlearn and relearn BIPOC-centered histories and issues, work that centers the needs of BIPOC communities in issues-based advocacy and power building, and providing healing for communities, artists, organizers etc.