Voqal is excited to announce grants to nine organizations working in Minnesota to create a more racially and socially equitable community. The grants to Awood Center, Black Visions Collective, Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en la Lucha, Comunidades Organizando el Poder y la Accion Latina, Minnesota Healing Justice Network, Minnesota Holistic Black-led Movement Fund, Nexus Community Partners, Reviving the Islamic Sisterhood for Empowerment, and Voices for Racial Justice reflect Voqal’s commitment to supporting the grassroots organizations that are working to address the racial and social inequities that have come into sharp focus as a result of the tragic murder of George Floyd and the countless other black lives that have been lost to the pandemic of police brutality.
Awood Center ($25,000)
The Awood Center is a dynamic worker-led organization that creates a culturally and linguistically relevant space to build unity and develop the next generation of leaders in Minnesota’s diverse East African communities. The Awood Center is engaging the community of 100,000 and growing recent immigrants and their families in the Twin Cities area by educating, organizing, developing leadership, and mobilizing to improve the economic and political life of the community and all working people.
Black Visions Collective ($25,000)
Black Visions Collective, puts into practice the lessons learned from organizations that have come before it to shape a political home for Black people across Minnesota. It aims to center its work in healing and transformative justice principles, intentionally developing its organization’s core “DNA” to ensure sustainability and develop Minnesota’s emerging Black leadership to lead powerful campaigns.
Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en la Lucha (CTUL) ($25,000)
CTUL organizes low-wage workers from across the Twin Cities to develop leadership and educate one another to build power and lead the struggle for fair wages, better working conditions, basic respect, and a voice in their workplaces. CTUL is an organization of workers and for workers, committed to securing fair working conditions for present and future generations.
Comunidades Organizando el Poder y la Accion Latina (COPAL) ($20,500)
COPAL works to unite Latinxs in Minnesota in active grassroots communal democracy that builds racial, gender, social, and economic justice across community lines. Voqal’s grant will in part support COPAL’s electoral organizing work to provide voter education and turnout activities to young Latinx voters in Minnesota.
Minnesota Healing Justice Network ($25,000)
The Minnesota Healing Justice Network provides a supportive professional community and mutual aid network for wellness and healing justice practitioners who also identify as IBPOC (Indigenous, Black, or people of color). In order to reduce racial health disparities, the Minnesota Healing Justice Network recognizes the call for community care and collectivist cultural practices, for its members, its patients and students, and all Minnesotans.
Minnesota Holistic Black-Led Fund ($50,000)
The Minnesota Holistic Black-Led Fund works to harness the power, leadership, and brilliance of Minnesota’s Black communities and invest in innovative solutions across transformational justice, safety, economics, health, and well-being.
Nexus Community Partners ($75,000)
Nexus Community Partners supports strong, equitable, and just communities in which all residents are engaged, are recognized as leaders and have pathways to opportunities. It believes the key to building more engaged and powerful communities of color lies in the dynamic relationship between authorship, leadership, and ownership.
Reviving the Islamic Sisterhood for Empowerment (RISE) ($25,000)
RISE amplifies the voice and power of Muslim women. RISE bridges the gap between faith and storytelling, leadership development, and advocacy. It has created a space — for Muslim women, by Muslim women — centering their voices and lived experiences in order to impact change in their communities.
Voices for Racial Justice ($25,000)
Voices for Racial Justice is a movement organization of leaders, organizers, and culture workers who envision a world without racism honoring the culture, knowledge, power, and healing of Black, Indigenous, and communities of color. It is committed to building power through collective cultural and healing strategies for racial justice across Minnesota using organizing, leadership training, community policy, and research.
Voqal is honored to support organizations like these that are working tirelessly to create a more racially and socially just world for all.
Learn more about our grantmaking efforts and our grantees on our grants page.