Third Wave Fund Announces Grants to Youth-led Gender Justice Groups

May 12, 2017

Third Wave Fund Announces Grants to Youth-led Gender Justice Groups

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Third Wave Fund, the only activist fund led by and for women of color, intersex, queer, and trans folks under 35 years old in the U.S., announced last night the first grant recipients of its Grow Power Fund, a long-term investment fund in new and small youth-led gender justice organizations working to end patriarchy, transphobia, homophobia, and misogyny.

The fund provides six-year grants of up to $40,000 per year for general operating support, organizational development, capacity building, and long-term visioning and coaching. Third Wave announced the grants during its 20th-anniversary celebration last night in Brooklyn, which raised $170,000.

"We created the Grow Power Fund to help emerging organizations get the resources they need to grow and build leadership in their communities," said Rye Young, Executive Director of Third Wave Fund. "These grantees play a critical role in advancing a more inclusive feminist and gender justice movement, and their work is needed more than ever as vulnerable communities suffer from our current political environment."

The six organizations chosen as part of the Grow Power Fund's inaugural year all work on issues or in regions that are philanthropically underresourced. The funds will help these groups build strong infrastructure that can support the long-term success of their work, which covers issues spanning immigrant justice, decriminalization, reproductive justice, queer and trans liberation, and health justice.

Recipients of the grants -- all of which have young cis and/or trans women and young women of color comprising the majority of their staff, membership, and board leadership -- include:

Asian American Organizing Project - an organization focused on building the power of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community in Minnesota through a queer, feminist lens.

Assata's Daughters - a Chicago-based collective of radical Black women who provide a safe and uplifting space, mentoring, and weekly programming for young Black women.

Immigrant Youth Coalition - a group that mobilizes youth, families, and incarcerated people to end the criminalization of immigrants and people of color in California.

Trans Queer Pueblo - an LGBTQ migrant-led organization in Phoenix, AZ that fosters the leadership of undocumented, previously detained, and women LGBTQ migrants and provides the services they need to survive and be well.

West Fund - an organization based in El Paso, TX, that uses education, community building, and direct funding to help West Texans access the healthcare they need, including abortion services.

Youth Organizing Institute - a popular and political education and leadership development organization with a queer, trans, and racial justice lens dedicated to empowering the lives and experiences of young people in Central North Carolina.

"The West Fund is incredibly excited to be a part of the first-year cohort of grantees of the Grow Power Fund," said Samantha Romero, President of West Fund. "This grant will help us meet the increasing need for abortion care under a hostile state and federal government."

"This funding will allow Immigrant Youth Coalition to make multi-year plans to develop our programs and campaigns." added Jonathan Perez, Co-founder and Project Manager of Immigrant Youth Coalition.

Each organization will receive up to five years of core funding, which includes general support, capacity building funds, and funds for coaching, and will also receive a sixth-year grant that will match their grassroots fundraising.