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OPPORTUNITY FUND PROVIDES $1,447,000 IN GRANTS TO THE ARTS AND SOCIAL & ECONOMIC JUSTICE

OPPORTUNITY FUND PROVIDES $1,447,000 IN GRANTS TO THE ARTS AND SOCIAL & ECONOMIC JUSTICE

CONTACT: Jake Goodman, Executive Director, jgoodman [at] theopportunityfund.org

PITTSBURGH, PA, December 7, 2022 — The Opportunity Fund announces support totaling $1,447,000 in the second half of its eighth year of grantmaking. The Board of Directors, along with two community panels, funded 79 out of 145 requests that were seeking a total of $2,350,536. The majority of this funding, 77%, is for unrestricted general operating support that can be used flexibly as needed. 64% of grant partners are BIPOC-led organizations or organizations with multi-racial leadership teams; 50% are Black-led organizations. A complete list of awarded grants can be found below.

Since its inception in 2015, the foundation has awarded 914 grants totaling over $12.8 million. Grant cycles take place twice a year. Letter of Inquiry deadlines are January 15 and July 15 each year. Full information about applying for grants is available in the “For Applicants” area of our website.

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Respite for Black Women: A New Opportunity Fund Initiative

Respite for Black Women: A New Opportunity Fund Initiative

“I believe that shifting culture is necessary for systems change. Rest results in strength. Healing creates energy. Joy sparks creativity. Connection creates community. Dreaming leads to transformation. This is where the potential lies.”

Maria De La Cruz

Respite for Black Women (#r4Blw), a new Opportunity Fund initiative, has been underway since spring of 2022.  Inspired by local activists, Opportunity Fund board and staff invited a multiracial, multicultural, intergenerational group of local, national, and international individuals to ask questions, explore, and dream with Opportunity Fund about what it could mean for philanthropy to provide resources that fund the “right to rest” to Black women, in the full gender expression of that term. A flurry of questions emerged—from what does it mean for Black women to be funded to create a way of being that is accessible and considers the whole person? What does it mean to rest? Where does one go to rest? How do we in all of our complexities begin to visualize spaces for Black women and their families to simply rest and just be in their bodies? 

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