Best Grants for Minorities in New York

The Gerald D. Peet Scholarship honors the legacy of Gerald D. Peet by providing financial assistance to eligible American Indian and Alaska Native graduate or professional students pursuing degrees in Medicine at accredited institutions. This need-based award, administered by Native Forward, offers varying amounts from $100 to $30,000 per academic year, based on financial aid information from the institution's Financial Aid Office.

Native Voices Rising (NVR) offers grants to empower Native-led grassroots organizations in the U.S. With over $16 million awarded since inception, NVR focuses on enhancing lives through collective action and advocacy. Eligible organizations must be Native-led and engage community members in policy improvement efforts. NVR supports initiatives addressing environmental justice, health, and youth involvement, with a commitment to fostering leadership and social change within Native communities.

The Mary L. Fenker Scholarship, established in memory of a dedicated educator, supports graduating seniors from Erie County, Ohio, pursuing undergraduate degrees. Since 1995, the Erie County Community Foundation has prioritized community needs, offering this scholarship to enhance the quality of life in the region. Preference is given to African American students from Sandusky High School, with financial need considered. Renewable for up to three years, the scholarship aims to empower students to achieve their educational goals.

The Funding the Future of Finance in Indian Country/Johnson Scholarship offers financial support to eligible American Indian and Alaska Native undergraduate students pursuing full-time degrees in business, accounting, or finance. The program aims to enhance diversity in these fields and provides awards of up to $10,000 per academic year based on need. Applicants must demonstrate Tribal affiliation through a Tribal Eligibility Certificate.

The Frederick Douglass Scholarship, offered by the Erie Community Foundation, provides financial support to deserving students of African-American descent graduating from Erie High School or NW PA Collegiate Academy. Applicants must have a minimum GPA of 3.0. In 2023, over $800,000 was awarded to help more than 500 students pursue their post-secondary education. This scholarship aims to empower young individuals in their educational journeys and promote diversity in higher education.

The Quad Cities Mexican American Organization Scholarship, administered by the Quad Cities Community Foundation, offers up to $1,000 to students of Hispanic descent pursuing post-secondary education. Applicants must maintain a GPA of at least 2.0 and can apply for renewal. This scholarship aims to support educational advancement in the Quad Cities region, reflecting a commitment to fostering academic success among underrepresented communities.

The BIE Internship Funding for STEM Students, offered by the Native Forward Scholars Fund, provides financial assistance to Native students for approved internships related to STEM. This initiative helps cover costs such as travel, living expenses, and daily commuting, facilitating valuable professional experiences. By supporting these students, the program aims to enhance Native representation in STEM fields and empower future leaders within their communities, contributing positively to society's growth and diversity.

The TMCF | JPMorgan Chase Hardship Scholarship provides financial support to exemplary students from TMCF member schools, which include 57 historically Black colleges and universities. Up to 121 students can receive need-based awards of up to $2,500 for the 2025-2026 academic year. Eligible candidates must demonstrate financial need, maintain a GPA of 2.5 or higher, and be U.S. citizens or legal residents, ensuring that this scholarship fosters educational opportunities for deserving individuals.

The BIE Professional Development Funding for STEM Educators and Students, offered by the Native Forward Scholars Fund, supports training opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) for TCU faculty, staff, and students. This funding assists with costs related to professional development including continuing education, conferences, and certifications. Eligible applicants include educators at BIE-funded or controlled schools, as well as those at institutions with significant Native American populations, fostering increased representation and support for Native scholars.

The BIE Professional Examination Funding, provided by Native Forward Scholars Fund in partnership with BIE, offers financial assistance to support Native students in taking professional examinations, including Bar Examination funding. This award covers registration fees, preparatory course costs, and other exam-related expenses. Applicants must have graduated within one year and can only receive assistance for one exam. This initiative aims to empower Native scholars and enhance their professional visibility and opportunities.

The Creative Native Call for Art invites Indigenous artists aged 5 to 24 to showcase their talents through diverse artistic expressions. Participants can submit works inspired by the theme of what is sacred to them and their community, with opportunities for national recognition and awards, including a grand prize of $1,000. This initiative aims to celebrate and support young artists in their creative journeys while honoring cultural significance and community values.

The Miller Indigenous Economic Development Fellowship, established by the Native Forward Scholars Fund, provides financial assistance to American Indian and Alaska Native doctoral candidates engaged in economic research impacting Native communities. This fellowship supports costs associated with data collection, analysis, and travel. It aims to enhance the representation of Native scholars in economics, addressing the current underrepresentation in the field. Eligible candidates are encouraged to apply to further their research and contribute to their communities.

The Native Forward Community Impact Research Funding supports doctoral candidates conducting research that addresses issues affecting Indian Country. This initiative provides essential financial assistance for data collection, analysis, and research travel, ensuring that Native perspectives are included in academic discourse. By fostering the next generation of Native leaders, this funding aims to empower scholars and enhance community impact through education and advocacy, ultimately preserving and enriching Native cultures.

The Eash-Potter Scholarship supports LGBTQ youth in central Pennsylvania, honoring Melinda Eash and Sharon Potter's legacy. It is available to graduating high school seniors from specific counties who demonstrate commitment to enhancing the community climate for LGBTQ+ individuals. Financial need is a consideration, and the scholarship is a one-time award. Students of color, transgender individuals, and children of LGBTQ+ parents are particularly encouraged to apply, promoting diversity and inclusion within the scholarship program.

This funding opportunity by the FDA aims to enhance education and public awareness regarding the risks associated with skin lightening products, such as hydroquinone. The initiative encourages innovative, community-based strategies that engage stakeholders in promoting health equity. Proposals should focus on outreach activities that strengthen the scientific understanding of these products while addressing public health concerns. This is a vital step in ensuring safer use and informed consumer choices.

The REACHing Communities (REACH) Consortium (U01) Clinical Trials Optional grant aims to advance health equity among racial and ethnic minorities through cooperative agreements. It focuses on research, outreach, and mentoring diverse students and researchers. Although the grant information has not been updated in over six months, it remains under observation for potential updates. The initiative is part of the FDA Office of Minority Health and Health Equity's commitment to improving minority health.

The Life Comes From It Grant, funded by the Tides Foundation, supports grassroots initiatives focused on restorative, transformative, and indigenous justice. It prioritizes projects led by communities of color, emphasizing alternatives to incarceration and community-led solutions. Applicants must be 501c3 organizations based in the United States. This grant fosters a collaborative approach to healing and justice, aiming to shift power dynamics and promote inclusive practices across generations.

Steve's Foundation Grant is a small private funding opportunity providing grants between $500 and $5,000, averaging $2,600. It supports organizations that empower disadvantaged individuals, focusing on cost-effective programs that yield significant impacts. The foundation prioritizes proposals from non-profits that directly assist those in need, especially children and marginalized communities. Applications are evaluated annually in May or June, but due to high demand, the foundation cannot respond to every inquiry.

The Bebu Scholarship, offered by The Community Foundation for the Greater Capital Region, aims to support underrepresented and economically disadvantaged students intending to attend SUNY Adirondack. Established in 1968, the foundation focuses on enhancing the quality of life in the region by providing accessible education opportunities. Eligible students must demonstrate academic excellence and financial need to qualify for this scholarship, which helps pave the way for a brighter future.

The Trinity Grants: Racial Justice Initiative, spearheaded by Trinity Church Wall Street, aims to foster equitable justice systems through community-driven approaches. Focused on mental health, safety, and reducing incarceration, this initiative emphasizes support for marginalized groups, particularly people of color. It addresses the need for restorative justice, legislative reforms, and comprehensive support for those impacted by the criminal legal system, aiming to transform communities and enhance public safety.

The AWG Geoscience Idea Scholarship supports women from under-served communities to pursue careers in Earth Sciences, a field known for its lack of diversity. It offers $2,500 to three upper-division and $500 to one lower-division undergraduate student, along with a one-year AWG membership. Recipients can also be matched with mentors, enhancing their educational journey and career prospects in geoscience disciplines. This initiative aims to promote inclusion and diversity in the geoscience workforce.

The Department of Defense Research and Education Program aims to support Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions by enhancing defense-related research and educational capabilities. This initiative encourages collaboration with other educational institutions and government organizations to increase STEM graduates and strengthen national defense. Eligible applicants include accredited minority institutions and community colleges. The program is open until July 31, 2029, providing a significant opportunity for institutions meeting the defined criteria.

The Spotlight Fund Grants aim to enhance racial equity in K-12 education by providing flexible funding to BIPOC educators. With grants ranging from $500 to $1,000 per educator, these funds are essential for sourcing tools and materials that support diverse student needs. As schools face budget cuts exacerbated by COVID-19, this initiative focuses on proven strategies that foster an inclusive learning environment for students of color, ensuring they have equal opportunities to thrive.

Seeding Research, Networking, and Capacity Building at Minority-Serving Institutions

Introduction & Purpose

RWJF is committed to ensuring everyone has a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible. To achieve this goal, we support research that examines the historical and systemic factors that cause health inequities. Some of those determinants are poverty, discrimination, and limited access to quality education, housing, safe environments, and healthcare. As attacks on data and academic freedom and ongoing funding cuts to federal health equity research and programs continue, philanthropy’s work to achieve fair and equitable health, including a more equitable research funding ecosystem, is more important than ever. While philanthropic support for Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) has increased in recent years, there is more to be done to rectify historical disparities in funding. 

This call for proposals (CFP) provides support to health equity research centers at MSIs to strengthen research infrastructure and capacity-building. Capacity-building will help develop staff, skills, culture, resources, and systems that enable research to happen effectively. Specific work that RWJF may fund under this CFP includes specific skill or methodology training; faculty release time; support for research assistants, advisors, and project staffing; mentoring, professional development and collaboration, and more.

Through this CFP, RWJF will expand its efforts to transform deeply rooted beliefs about which data and research methods are valued, whose perspectives are prioritized, and which populations deserve resources. By supporting the infrastructure and capacity-building needs of MSIs, this opportunity strengthens their ability to generate critical evidence and to cultivate transformative, actionable solutions toward health equity. 

RWJF believes in health equity research that is grounded in systems thinking; supports and disseminates evidence identifying and implementing structural solutions to racial and health inequities. This CFP seeks mission-aligned institutions to participate in cohort-style peer learning to advance their ability to engage in health equity research and apply for competitive funding opportunities in the future.

Although no single philanthropy can fill the gap left by federal funding cuts, this CFP demonstrates strong support for research, historically underrepresented researchers, and research centers that are positioned to pave the way toward a future where health is not a privilege, but a right.

Grant Guidelines

To advance its mission to build a responsible and equitable technology ecosystem, the Kapor Foundation makes strategic grants across three focus areas: (1) Computing Education, (2) Innovation, and (3) Governance.

Within each focus area, we fund research on critical topics at the intersection of racial equity and tech, capacity-building that strengthens coalitions and movement-building infrastructure, and policy advocacy that drives systemic change.

Funding Priorities

We fund organizations and initiatives aligned with our core focus areas:

Given advances in Al, a new vision of education is urgently needed — one that ensures students are equipped with the technical skills to build emerging technologies and the critical skills to navigate their socio-technical implications. We fund computing education initiatives across K-12, postsecondary, and alternative pathways that expand computing participation at scale, shift policy to ensure equitable access, and expand the pipeline of educators prepared to teach computing.

2. 

Al is being designed, developed, and deployed rapidly, yet the communities most affected by its impacts are largely excluded from its creation and subsequent economic benefits. We support organizations and individuals that build responsible Al technologies, leverage technology to close gaps in access and opportunity, and invest in initiatives and coalitions that advance responsible Al in the entrepreneurship and venture capital ecosystems.

3.

As Al adoption accelerates, bolder approaches to regulation are necessary to protect marginalized communities from technological harm, expand economic opportunity, and ensure the benefits of technology reach everyone. We support efforts that build awareness of key policy issues, develop policy agendas, and mobilize coalitions.

For 2026, our priority advocacy areas are: 1) computing education, 2) algorithmic bias, 3) Al safeguards for children, 4) data center development, and 5) surveillance and civil rights.

The Innovations for Healthy Living program invites eligible U.S. small businesses to apply for SBIR grants aimed at improving minority health and eliminating health disparities. The initiative encourages innovative proposals for effective, affordable, and culturally acceptable solutions. Key deadlines for applications span from June 2024 to December 2026, with optional Letters of Intent recommended 30 days prior to submission. This funding opportunity supports projects that address health challenges faced by underserved populations.

The Technologies for Improving Minority Health and Eliminating Health Disparities (R41/R42) program invites small business concerns to develop innovative technologies aimed at enhancing minority health and addressing health disparities. This initiative emphasizes the creation of effective, affordable, and culturally acceptable solutions for NIH-defined populations. Key deadlines for applications span from June 2024 to December 2026, with optional Letters of Intent encouraged 30 days prior to submission.