The AAPI Civic Engagement Fund (AAPI Fund) is requesting proposals for their 2025-2026 Creative Catalyst Fellowship Program. The program provides opportunities for independent artists to engage the public in critical issues impacting AAPI individuals and communities across the country. Up to eight artists working in various art forms, such as music, video, visual arts, performing arts, poetry, and more, will receive $30,000 contracts to produce work with the potential to break through mainstream media and catalyze conversations around the themes In it Together, Belonging, and Voting Together. Click here to learn more. 

 

Photo credit: Sacramento Observer – Marc Philpart, Executive Director of the California Black Freedom Fund, emphasized that every legislator and the Governor of California should support the coalition’s efforts. (File photo by Antonio Ray Harvey, CBM)

 

“Black families that had settled in that region really did so because those were the only regions that they could settle in, so we wanted to be a part of helping those individuals who were impacted find some relief and begin to start the long road to recovery,” said Marc Philpart, CEO of The California Black Freedom Fund (CBFF) in this piece with The Sacramento Observer. CBFF and California Community Foundation partnered to launch the Black LA Relief & Recovery Fund to support community organizations on the ground working to meet the immediate and long-term needs of Black communities displaced by the wildfires. The fund will particularly benefit residents of Altadena, an area of Los Angeles County that has historically been a haven for Black homeowners who could not at one point buy homes elsewhere. Read more here. 

 

The Zellerbach Family Foundation, in partnership with the San Francisco Foundation, Akonadi Foundation, California Wellness Foundation, and the California Funders for Boys and Men of Color (CFBMoC), have developed a new initiative called Journey to Justice – a learning cohort that seeks to reimagine youth justice systems in the Bay Area. The program focuses on strengthening the relationships among key partners and thought leaders who together, with a range of perspectives, expertise, and experience, can reimagine how our systems can work to support young people. Find more information here. 

 

“One is to live out my definition of success, which is … also about my spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical health and nurturing my relationships and interests.” Our CEO Bilen Mesfin Packwood was featured in Dreamers & Doers where she speaks on her four intentions for 2025. Read the full article here.