FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, January 17, 2023
CONTACT Gina Taylor, Phone: 503-568-6970; Email: ggeswho@comcast.net
Ninety-nine girlfriends Awards $425,000 to Ten Portland Area Non-Profits Working to Dismantle Systemic Racism
Beaverton, OR (December, 2022) – Ninety-nine girlfriends, a collective philanthropic giving circle in the Portland metro area, hosted its 6th Annual Awards Celebration at Greatroom in Beaverton. The event celebrated ten local BIPOC-led nonprofits that will receive financial awards to actively dismantle systemic racism in inspiring, innovative, and life-changing ways in the region.
Five organizations will each receive a $70,000 Impact Award from ninety-nine girlfriends:
PSU/KSMoCa: It connects public school students with internationally renowned contemporary artists through collaborative workshops, exhibitions, artists lectures and site-specific commissions.
Wisdom of the Elders: It records, preserves, and shares oral history, cultural arts, language concepts, and traditional ecological knowledge of exemplary Native American elders, storytellers, and scientists in collaboration with diverse institutions, agencies, and organizations.
WomenFirst Transition & Referral Center: It provides nourishing environments where women can rebuild their lives and self-worth through peer mentorship, life skills, trainings, empowerment groups, and essential community support
Black Food Sovereignty Coalition: It is a member-based organization working in solidarity with Black, Indigenous, and POC (BIPOC) growers, policy makers, advocates, and educators to stabilize food systems infrastructure for marginalized communities in the Pacific Northwest.
Voz Workers’ Rights Education: It is a worker-led organization that empowers diverse day laborers and immigrants to improve their working conditions and protect civil rights through leadership development, organizing, education and economic opportunity.
During the celebration, non-profit leaders accepted their awards.
“What we want you all to know is how impactful the award is going to be for us to continue to serve the day laborer community as the only worker center in the state,” said Co-Executive Director Mary Chapparo of Voz Workers’ Rights Education.
Five other nonprofits will receive $15,000 Finalist Awards: Friends of Noise, Freedom to Thrive, Wild Diversity, The Rosewood Initiative, and Northwest Instituto Latino.
Pictured above (left to right): Co-Executive Director Mary Chapparo of Voz Workers’ Rights Education, Executive Assistant Sha Malla Tu Daugherty of Wisdom of the Elders, and Associate Director of Development Ally Cleasby of PSU/KSMoCA. More photos available here and upon request. If using, please credit Andrea Lonas for photography.
In 2022, ninety-nine girlfriends decided its grantmaking focus would be to fund organizations working to dismantle systemic racism, advance anti-racism, and move our region towards racial equity as defined and experienced by BIPOC communities (Black, Indigenous, and people of color).
"These outstanding organizations are working to dismantle systemic racism, advance anti-racism and are moving our region towards racial equity as defined and experienced by BIPOC communities. They work in collaboration with the BIPOC communities they serve, through leadership, staff and board members,” wrote the ninety-nine girlfriends in a statement from the organization.
In addition to celebrating nonprofits, the event also kicked off ninety-nine girlfriends’ membership drive for 2023-2024. The giving circle is seeking members who want to make a positive impact, learn about the needs in the community, and give financial awards to local organizations making a difference. The membership deadline is May 1, 2023. To learn more about becoming a member, please visit https://ninetyninegirlfriends.com/join-or-renew-2023.
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ABOUT NINETY-NINE GIRLFRIENDS
Ninety-nine girlfriends engages women* of Portland Metro/SW Washington (Clackamas, Clark, Multnomah and Washington counties) to invest in the community through collective action. They learn about the needs in our community and come together, pooling funds and resources, to make large impact gifts which can help address local issues in a big way.
Since it was founded in 2016, hundreds of women in the region have invested over 2.7 million dollars in 60 partner organizations that serve the Portland metropolitan and SW Washington areas through ninety-nine girlfriends. To learn more, visit https://ninetyninegirlfriends.com/.
* Ninety-nine girlfriends is a women’s organization. We recognize the complexities of gender identity and gender expression, and welcome cisgender women, transgender women, and gender non-binary, gender non-conforming, or gender queer persons.