New Orleans, LA (February 22, 2022) – Today, the Greater New Orleans Foundation (Foundation) announced renewal grants totaling $1 million to 31 Black-led organizations as part of its Greater Together Fund for Racial Equity. These grants support organizations that provide leadership in eliminating inequitable systems and building wealth for African American families. With today’s announcement, the Foundation will have granted a total of $2.45 million to Black-led nonprofits as part of its commitment to distribute $3 million through this fund over a three-year period.“On the heels of the Foundation’s Celebration of Black Philanthropy event and as part of our commemoration of Black History month, we are thrilled to announce another $1 million in grantmaking to Black-led nonprofits who are working to make our region more equitable everyday,” said Andy Kopplin, President and CEO, Greater New Orleans Foundation. “We launched the Greater Together Fund for Racial Equity in September 2020 to put words into action by providing recognition and much needed financial support for the important work these organizations have been doing and continue to do on the front lines in our communities.”“The Greater Together Fund for Racial Equity allowed the New Orleans African American Museum to produce a free cultural experience each month during uncertain times when our residents and visitors could come together safely on our two-acre campus in the middle of historic Treme and connect,” said Gia M. Hamilton, Executive Director and Chief Curator, New Orleans African American Museum.
Today’s grant recipients include:
| Urban League of Louisiana
Families and Friends of Louisiana’s Incarcerated Children Grow Dat Youth Farm Home by Hand, Inc. Power Coalition TrainingGrounds, Inc. Birthmark Doula Collective Thrive New Orleans Go.Be. Daughters Beyond Incarceration Familias Unidas en Acción Ujamaa Economic Development Corporation Ashé Cultural Arts Center Ellis Marsalis Center for Music House of Tulip |
Citizen SHE United
Junebug Productions Inc. Our Voice Nuestra Voz Jane Place Neighborhood Sustainability Initiative Corporate Internship Leadership Institute New Orleans African American Museum The 1881 Research Institute Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center Groundwork New Orleans No Dream Deferred NOLA Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development Operation Restoration Sankofa Community Development Corporation ACLU of Louisiana Made in New Orleans Foundation The First 72+ |
“The Greater New Orleans Foundation’s grant has not only catapulted this work to the forefront of people’s minds for New Orleans and the hospitality industry, but it is also helping us set the standard for what hospitality can be,” said Lauren Darnell, Executive Director of Made in New Orleans, which works to create a New Orleans hospitality industry that leads the world in growing, supporting, and financing the success of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). “Because of the Foundation’s investment in MiNO, we have been able to provide resources, support, and access for restaurant owners and operators as well as offer resources to BIPOC professionals.”
“Roads to success are rarely ‘easy’ but they can certainly be smoother, and investments such as these prove that point,” said Nyree Ramsey, Executive Director, Ujamaa Economic Development Corporation, which is working to advance the equitable redevelopment of the Claiborne Corridor and adjacent communities. “We are thankful for the Foundation’s commitment to ease burdens and make meaningful contributions towards economic and cultural competencies in New Orleans.”
Launched in November 2020, the Greater Together Fund for Racial Equity was seeded by an initial investment of $350,000 from the Foundation and makes large, sustained investments in a number of nonprofits leading on racial equity whose work has scalable local, regional, and even statewide impact. The Foundation has made a commitment to distribute $3 million through this fund by the end of 2023.
Through this latest round of funding, the Greater Together Fund for Racial Equity continues to provide critical sustaining support to nonprofits working tirelessly on the community level in the following areas:
- Bolstering the work of Black-led nonprofits leading on racial equity: making investments to sustain the work of local nonprofits that are having an impact in eliminating inequitable systems; and
- Closing the racial wealth gap by investing in initiatives to help small, minority businesses grow their share of gross receipts in our region from the current level of two percent to create meaningful prosperity, as well as investing in housing and other strategies that can build wealth for African American families.
The Foundation will also provide leadership by engaging speakers and using our convening power to host conversations and advance dialogue promoting systems change in our region as part of this initiative.
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With roots extending nearly 100 years, the Greater New Orleans Foundation has over 1,000 different philanthropic funds and assets of $460 million. The Foundation serves the 13 parish region of Southeast Louisiana including Assumption, Lafourche, Terrebonne, St. Charles, St. James, St. John, St. Tammany, Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, Tangipahoa, and Washington. Over 900 nonprofits from the region participate in its annual online giving day, GiveNOLA Day, which has raised over $40 million for nonprofits in the last eight years. The Greater New Orleans Foundation has responded to every disaster since Hurricane Katrina, when it led the Unified Community Planning Effort and a $23 million affordable housing fund. The Foundation distributed nearly $7 million in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and has distributed over $3.2 million in response to Hurricane Ida.