Client News

Today, Essie Justice Group will host virtual and in-person rally calling out the ongoing crisis of pretrial incarceration in California and showing the reality of Black folks still paying for one anothers’ freedom. The rally will feature former state senator and Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly Mitchell, Los Angeles Public Defender Ricardo Garcia, actor Rashida Jones, as well as Gina Clayton-Johnson of Essie, Raj Jayadev of Silicon Valley De-Bug and more. Sacramento Bee. 

Essie will also bail Black mothers out of the Century Regional Detention Facility in Los Angeles. This is the 5th year that Essie has led National Bail Out campaign efforts in California. Here’s how you can get involved: 

• Donate to Essie now to help raise the money needed to bring a Black mama home in time for Mother’s Day: https://donate.essiejusticegroup.org/essiejusticegroup
• Watch the livestream of the rally on Blavity’s Facebook Page beginning at 10:30 a.m.: bit.ly/BailoutsLiveStream

“Many in philanthropy had no idea what we were talking about, but now, [structural racism] is a term used by everybody.” Wayne Jordan and Quinn Delaney, founders of Akonadi Foundation and Lateefah Simon, its president, recently spoke with Inside Philanthropy about the foundation’s origins, All in for Oakland, the newly relaunched Belonging in Oakland and what we can we learn about the state of progressive power-building from its grantmaking. 

“While there are many strategies focused on marginalized groups, Black womxn and girls consistently find themselves on the periphery and disproportionately overlooked when it comes to funding and policy-making. The few exceptions to be found are those created and nurtured by – you guessed it – Black womxn.” In a powerful essay in response to the ruthless killing of 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant in Columbus, Ohio, Dr. Torie Weiston-Serdan, Chief Visionary Officer of the Youth Mentoring Action Network calls out the leadership of Grantmakers for Girls and Women of Color Executive Director Dr. Monique Morris who helped to launch the Black Girl Freedom Fund in 2020, “urging the field to commit $1 billion dollars to resource Black womxn and girls.” Philanthropy Women. 

ICYMI

Last week, W. Kamau Bell opened the latest season of his CNN show “United Shades of America” with an episode close to our hearts: a piercing and intimate look at policing in America featuring so many of our friends and community members leading the movement for the freedom and liberation of Black people in the Bay, in California and across the country. 

Thanks to Cat Brooks, co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project (APTP) and the Executive Director of The Justice Teams Network, Lateefah Simon, President of Akonadi Foundation, Jackie Byers, Founding Executive Director of the Black Organizing Project, Nicole Lee, Founder and Executive Director of the Urban Peace Movement, Alicia Garza, Co-Founder of Black Lives Matter and Principal of the Black Futures Lab and Pastor Michael McBride of The Way Christian Center in Berkeley for your vision and your leadership. Check out a trailer for the powerful, extended episode on Twitter.