NOTE: To apply to take part in the program, please complete a readiness assessment here so we can understand where you are on your journey to digital equity. If we think we can provide the support you need, we’ll invite you to move forward with the following steps:

• Conversation with our team
• Full application
• Both sides decide whether to continue
• Identify technical consultants
• Project kicks-off
• Project completed

Digital Equity Planning Grants 

Connect Humanity’s Digital Equity Planning Grants support communities to establish a holistic plan of action to achieve their digital equity goals.

As part of the Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act (IIJA), the US Government established Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) and the Digital Equity Act (DEA). Together these programs provide $45 billion+ to support unserved and underserved communities to access the broadband, devices, and skills they need to participate fully in our digital world. Many of these communities currently lack the time, resources, and technical know-how to design the broadband plans they need to receive this funding. 

That’s why Connect Humanity supports low-income communities and communities of color to create Digital Equity Connectivity Plans. This process will identify the community’s digital needs and create a robust plan to meet them. The broadband networks that result will provide families and businesses with the reliable, affordable connectivity they need, leading to economic development, social mobility, and healthier communities.

A plan for better broadband

Efforts to bring better broadband to a community must start with a clear plan. This program provides grantees with funding and expertise to establish a holistic Digital Equity Connectivity Plan which will help them secure the partnerships and financing they need to advance internet access in their communities — and will be critical whether or not they receive government funding. We’ll tailor our support to meet you where you are, but typically we’d expect to partner with you to:

• Assess your community’s digital needs: to understand the current broadband market, where the gaps are, and the barriers to digital equity that need to be addressed.
• Create a network design: to define the technical requirements, operating and ownership model of the network.
• Build a business plan: with a sustainable revenue model, clear funding options, and a community engagement strategy.

Funding

Planning grants are a partnership effort between the community, the connectivity provider, external consultants, and Connect Humanity. The resulting Digital Equity Connectivity Plans are meant to support a community to pursue further funding for their networks and digital skills. For communities that have not completed much or any planning, more resources will be needed.

The full scope of our planning grants range from $10,000 to $120,000. This is dependent on the needs of the community. For example, while some communities have allocated public funding to support this work, others will need support for the full planning process.

NOTE: New applicants are encouraged to contact Nikki Estes at 404-874-7244 x816 to discuss eligibility before applying.

Presentation Grants Program

Presentation Grants are an opportunity for organizations in South Arts' nine-state region to receive fee support to present Southern guest film directors, visual and performing artists, or writers from outside of the presenter's state. Artist fee support is awarded for:

• film (documentary, fiction, experimental, and animation),
• performing arts (theater, music, opera, musical theater, and dance),
• literary arts (fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry),
• traditional arts, and
• visual arts (crafts, drawing, experimental, painting, photography, sculpture, and mixed media).

Projects must include both a public presentation (film screening, performance, reading, or exhibition) and an educational/community engagement component. These grants are limited and very competitive. Based on the artist fee, the maximum request is $9,500 for modern dance and contemporary ballet or $7,500 for other artistic disciplines. 

South Arts is committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. We have prioritized this commitment to ensure that Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) led organizations, LGBTQIA+ led organizations, and organizations representing persons with disabilities are represented as both applicants and grantees. In addition, we encourage applications for projects that engage BIPOC artists, LGBTQIA+ artists, and artists with disabilities.

NOTE:  Round 1 applications are due March 3, 2023. Select applicants will be invited to join the second- and third round RFPs.

Background

The national housing shortage continues to make headlines. Estimates on the number of homes needed to close the gap run in the millions. But one thing is clear: without a stable, affordable place to call home, it’s impossible to thrive.

In an effort to scale needed housing solutions, Enterprise and the Wells Fargo Foundation have teamed up to launch a new $20 million competition. The Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge will identify and propel implementation-ready innovations that transform current practices and reimagine access to affordable homes.

Eligible applicants will compete for individual grants of $1 million, $2 million and $3 million to scale ideas that lay the groundwork for system-wide change. Winners also will receive two years of technical assistance to turn their ideas into real-world programs.

Focus Areas

The Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge aims to meet the nation’s affordable housing challenges across Native, rural, suburban, Tribal and urban communities.

Proposals must encompass one or more of three focus areas:

Construction

• Construction innovations must introduce transformative practices, processes or new materials that will create construction efficiency, streamline supply chains, bolster climate resiliency, or reduce building costs.
• Construction approaches can include but are not limited to:
  • Creation and use of innovative, environmentally sustainable materials 
  • Streamlining the construction supply chain (e.g., materials production, purchasing, delivery, assembly) 
  • Innovative development in the affordable housing construction workforce to accelerate production 
  • New economies of scale through efficiencies in building design
• Construction technologies can include but are not limited to deployment of enhanced building practices and new building technologies.

Financing

• Financing innovations must introduce new tools or strategies to transform or offer alternatives to current practices, broadening access to capital, unlocking or leveraging financial resources, and creating a more equitable housing market for renters and homebuyers.
• Financing approaches can include but are not limited to:
  • New investment strategies
  • New funding sources to support acquisition, development, or building operations
  • New financing mechanisms for acquisition, construction, or permanent financing
  • Improved efficiencies in financing and underwriting
  • Risk mitigation through new investment approaches
  • New credit enhancement strategies
  • Unique ownership structures
  • New approaches that reduce the cost of capital
• Financing technologies can include but are not limited to deployment of technology that accelerates the financing process, development of tools that reduce timelines for approval, and development of tools that facilitate efficient, equitable access to capital.

Access and Resident Support

• Access and Resident Support innovations must introduce new processes or models that improve the housing experience for residents, such as housing access, choice, and stability, advancing fair housing, promoting personal agency and creating pathways for upward mobility.
• Access and Resident Support approaches can include but are not limited to:
  • New models that increase housing choice for renters and homebuyers, such as:
    • Improved housing search process
    • Expanding acceptance of renter subsidies
    • Ensuring equitable access to capital to support homeownership
    • Identifying and addressing discrimination or differential treatment against protected classes
  • Services that connect residents with resources to support upward mobility
• Access and Resident Support technologies can include but are not limited to development and deployment of technology to improve access to housing options, resident experience and resident housing stability.

Innovations across all three focus areas must demonstrate how they center racial equity and, where applicable, integrate environmental sustainability.

About

The Southern HIV Impact Fund is a collaborative of funders seeking a greater collective impact against the disparities driving the HIV epidemic in marginalized communities in the South. iFORWARD, a special project of the Southern HIV Impact Fund, seeks to strengthen the technology infrastructure and digital capacity of HIV service organizations in the Southern United States. With funding from Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, AIDS United is pleased to announce the second year of funding for iFORWARD. Grants of up to $10,000 will be available for project-specific or general operating support.

Purpose

iFORWARD recognizes the barriers that Southern organizations face in accessing appropriate technology to carry out their services and achieve their mission. This initiative aims to reduce these disparities by directing funds to and building the capacity of grassroots organizations in the South to:

• Improve community access to health information.
• Enhance organizational communication systems.
• Help to maintain a sense of client social and emotional support.
• Establish and maintain a virtual community.
• Extend organizations' geographical reach.
• Reduce HIV-related stigma.

Types of Grants

• Project-specific grants to support a distinct project with clear goals, objectives, activities and measurable outcomes.
  • Project-specific grants aligned with iFORWARD will support projects such as:
    • Digital campaigns that promote linkage to HIV prevention services, HIV care and/or treatment as prevention.
    • Digital campaigns that address barriers to care.
    • Digital campaigns and/or hybrid events on addressing social and structural determinants of health.
    • Creation of digital health literacy materials.
    • Digital and hybrid advocacy events.
    • Digital and hybrid workshops/events with high-impact populations.
• General operating grants that provide financial resources to an organization in support of its mission and overall activities, including operating expenses and overhead, rather than providing support for specific projects or programs.
  • General operating requests aligned with iFORWARD will support activities such as:
    • Staffing support for social media, mass media or content creation.
    • Building infrastructure for Wi-Fi.
    • Expansion of telehealth services, including live video conferencing, mobile health (mHealth) apps, "store and forward" electronic transmission, remote patient observations and teletherapy, telemedicine, and telepharmacy.
    • Subscriptions to Zoom or other teleconferencing platforms.
    • Purchase of infrastructure building tools such as hotspots.

Funding

For the current cycle, $70,000 in funding is available through iFORWARD. AIDS United anticipates making approximately seven grants of up to $10,000 each to community-based organizations, racial and social justice organizations, AIDS service organizations, Federally Qualified Health Centers and/or networks of PLWH across the South. Grants will be 12-months in length.

NOTE: The 'pre proposal' deadline above is the priority deadline. It is not mandatory, but all applicants who submit by this date will receive feedback from the Outschool.org team.

Outschool.org Community Partner Grant Program

Are you an innovative microschool, homeschooling co-op, community-based organization, or K-12 district or charter school looking to provide high-quality, enriching, and learner-led education? 

Outschool.org is looking for at least eight organizations (“community partners”) aiming to close academic achievement and/or enrichment gaps for BIPOC and economically marginalized learners for our third cohort of community partners, sponsored by Walton Family Foundation. We co-design programs with community organizations and offer funding for program support, education design expertise, family navigation tools and programming, training, and access to technology resources. 

What Will Community Partners Receive?

Training & Support Valued at More Than $85,000

Throughout over the course of 1-2 years, Outschool.org will provide all community partners with support in educational programming co-design, marketing, family training and community building, and organizational stability and growth.

One $10,000 Grant to Support Program Implementation

All community partners will receive funding to pay caregivers to navigate educational options, or use towards stipends or salaries required for on-the-ground program support. For partner organizations that do not have direct-to-family public funds, Outschool.org will also provide $500/learner.

Free and Discounted Resources

Community partners will gain access to free and discounted resources, including but not limited to Outschool classes. Other high-quality content providers grantees can access include Reconstruction, CommonLit, Zearn, and Newsela.

Background

In 2020, the Southern Poverty Law Center, in partnership with the Community Foundation, launched the Vote Your Voice initiative with the goal of ensuring full voter participation and fair representation for communities of color in the Deep South.

This year, Field Strengthening Grants are offered to fund organizations that effectively engage communities of color year-round to encourage their participation in voting and other civic actions.

 In creating the initiative, the SPLC and the Community Foundation recognized that the United States is in a moment of unprecedented challenges to our democracy. At the national, state and local levels, there have been an onslaught of efforts designed to hamper citizens’ ability to vote, with a disproportionate impact in communities of color. New measures include criminal penalties for certain voter registration and assistance activities, barriers to register and vote (such as imposing new voter ID requirements), limited opportunities to participate in elections (by curbing vote-by-mail, early voting, and other practices designed for voting accessibility), and the periodic purging of voter rolls.

Vote Your Voice is supporting groups based in communities of color to galvanize people to exercise their right to vote, advocate for voting access, and encourage full civic participation, so people, particularly communities of color, can make their voices heard and shape their own future. Vote Your Voice supports organizations working in the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi.

NOTE: Applicants have three options to submit responses to this proposal:

• Live 60-minute Zoom call (First full proposal date)
• Written applications (Second full proposal date)
• Pre-recorded video (Second full proposal date)

Applicants submitting their responses to the Application Narrative Questions via Zoom call or pre-recorded video must submit all required attachments and responses by second full proposal date.

Southern HIV Impact Fund

The Southern HIV Impact Fund (the Southern Fund) supports organizations across intersecting movements to enhance and coordinate HIV prevention, care and support services, and advocacy and movement-building across the South.

The Southern HIV Impact Fund recognizes the historical inequities that Southern organizations face when it comes to implementing and growing when it comes to the global mission of ending the HIV epidemic.

The grants aim to address these inequities by directing funds to and building the capacity of Southern organizations to:

• Increase collaborative efforts across the South to end HIV and reduce health disparities.
• Catalyze a demonstrable increase in leadership in the U.S. South that is more reflective of the regional HIV epidemic, while also providing support to current leaders.
• Increase resources to the South, both through technical assistance and grant making.

$1.2 million in funding is available through the Southern HIV Impact Fund. AIDS United anticipates awarding up to $60,000 in grants to Southern racial, social justice and community based organizations that serve people living with HIV or the communities most impacted by HIV, federally qualified health centers, historically Black colleges and university and other minority-serving institutes, Black Greek lettered and civil and social service organizations, and Southern-based networks of people living with HIV.

The Southern HIV Impact Fund will award 20-25 grants to organizations in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas for to support general operations expenditures and implementation of special projects.

About the Greater New Orleans Foundation

With roots extending 100 years, the Greater New Orleans Foundation connects generous people to the causes that spark their passion. As one of the most trusted philanthropic organizations in the region, we work every day to drive positive impact through philanthropy, leadership and action in our thirteen-parish region. In addition to grantmaking, we convene people, resources, and ideas to create intelligent strategies and solutions to meet our region’s greatest challenges. We are proud to serve as a vocal civic leader with our partners to ensure a vibrant, sustainable, and just region for all.

About Hancock Whitney

Since the late 1800s, Hancock Whitney has embodied core values of Honor & Integrity, Strength & Stability, and Commitment to Service, Teamwork, and Personal Responsibility. Hancock Whitney offices and financial centers in Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas offer comprehensive financial products and services, including traditional and online banking; commercial and small business banking; private banking; trust and investment services; healthcare banking; and mortgage services. The company also operates combined loan and deposit production offices in the greater metropolitan areas of Nashville, Tennessee and Atlanta, Georgia.

Hancock Whitney Opportunity Grant

Competitive grant opportunities to help nonprofits broaden community development efforts across the five Gulf South states the bank serves.

Ms. Foundation for Women

The mission of the Ms. Foundation for Women is to build women’s collective power in the U.S. to advance equity and justice for all. We achieve our mission by investing in, and strengthening, the capacity of women-led movements to advance meaningful social, cultural and economic change in the lives of women. Ms. has six grantmaking initiatives, one of which is the Birth Justice Initiative.

Birth Justice Initiative

Our Birth Justice Initiative aims to:

• advance equitable birth outcomes and experiences;
• strengthen the capacity, organizational infrastructure, and financial stability of grassroots Black, Indigenous and women of color-led birth justice organizations; and
• expand the frame of birth justice to support intersectional movements and strategies that recognize the full spectrum of experiences and identities in birthing, parenting, and family building.

We believe that Black, Indigenous, and women of color (including trans women and non-binary people) are key experts and should be decision-makers in shaping policy and culture change around birth justice. By investing directly into organizations led by and for women and girls of color, we are ensuring that the movement to address racial based disparities in healthcare, including birth outcomes and experiences, is led by those who are impacted most. Strengthening the collective power of communities of color is critical to addressing the root causes of these disparities and advancing birth justice for all.

The U.S. has one of the highest maternal mortality rates of all developed nations and Black women die at three to four times the rate of white women in birth – one of the widest racial disparities in women’s health. Systemic racism, implicit bias, and anti-Blackness all contribute to the significant disparities in birth outcomes among Black, Indigenous and birthing people of color. Moreover, the spectrum of intersectional issues that comprise birth justice and the ability to have children and parent with dignity, are not only limited to the birth process.

As such, the Ms. Foundation’s Birth Justice Initiative invests in organizations who represent the full spectrum of birth experiences including–but not limited to–preconception health, mental health and wellness, infertility, abortion access and abortion care, comprehensive sex and sexuality education, non-racist culturally affirming and gender expansive healthcare, access to birth workers of color, access to lactation support and services, postpartum health and wellness, grief and loss care and support, and sexual assault prevention and survivor support services. Organizations supported collectively utilize a range of movement building strategies to advance birth justice—such as narrative change, policy and systems change, advocacy, leadership development, direct service among others. And finally, they work at the intersection of birth justice and other movements, such as disability justice, youth justice, LGBTQIA+ justice, environmental justice, economic justice, and criminal legal reform.

Funding

During this cycle, Ms. will provide one-time grants ranging from $50,000 to $100,000 to selected organizations not currently receiving funding from Ms.’ Birth Justice Initiative. The grant period will comprise two years.