Akonadi Foundation

03/01/2022

Join Justice Reinvestment Coalition of Alameda County and Urban Peace Movement for Safety and Justice: Alameda District Attorney Virtual Candidate Forum

The election this year for our new District Attorney is an important one. The DA holds immense power in deciding the future of an individual, their family, loved ones, and larger community.

Learn more about the candidates for District Attorney in Alameda County. Attending candidates include: Pamela Price, Seth Steward, Terry Wiley, and Jimmie Wilson.

Date and time: Wednesday, March 23rd, 6 p.m. - 8 p.m.

Register at:
http://tinyurl.com/JRCACDAForum

02/28/2022

Big Love: A New Kind of Tough Love | KQED

Listen to #LeadingEdgeFellow Krea Gomez-Jones and Pendarvis Harshaw on KQED's #Rightnowish discuss a new kind of tough love that can heal intergenerational wounds.

Check it out: https://bit.ly/3JRyM93

Krea Gomez is redefining tough love with support and patience.

02/25/2022

Join the Oscar Grant Foundation tomorrow February 26th for Oscar Grant Day from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Oscar Grant Plaza.

This is a family-friendly event with a community resource fair.
Learn more at oscargrantfoundation.org

02/25/2022

Our #SoLoveCanWin grantee partner Black Joy Parade is holding their parade this Sunday, February 27 at 12:30 pm in #Oakland!

Now in its 5th year, the parade is back to show love, spread joy, and celebrate the Black experience: past, present, and future.

Learn more and join the fun: https://t.co/5SsUUllBu5

02/24/2022

After seven wonderful years as a program officer at Akonadi Foundation, Iris Garcia will be joining the Kataly Foundation to lead their Mindfulness and Healing Justice work, supporting Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color-led efforts to heal from intergenerational trauma, and build collective resilience, power and liberation.

Among her many contributions, Iris was instrumental in launching Akonadi’s So Love Can Win fund in 2016 to support collective healing from racial trauma. She also co-led the development of All in for Oakland, a grant program supporting movement-building organizations committed to ending the criminalization of youth of color in Alameda County.

Please join us in thanking Iris for her partnership, brilliance and emphasis on healing in our approach to grantmaking. We wish her well in her next chapter!

02/17/2022

Akonadi grantee partner Hip Hop for Change is hosting their 4th Annual Women’s Empowerment Summit on Saturday, March 12th, where they put allyship into action to amplify the voices of women!

It's going to be a legendary day filled with live performances, dance, education, and empowerment. Come out to an event that's all about connecting with the community to actively support women, exploring their power, and advancing their equity within the Hip Hop Community and the world at large.

Get tickets at bit.ly/hh4c-wes22 to join!

02/16/2022

Icons Among Us — Black Joy Parade

Congratulations to all! We're especially proud to see #SoLoveCanWin grantee partner Socorro "Cori" Moreland of Brotherhood named as a finalist!

  MEET OUR 2022 FINALISTS!  Featured FOUNDING EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - SELF ESTEM PASTOR, ST. STEPHEN CME CHURCH CULTURAL PRACTITIONER CNM, MS, MANAGER, MIDWIFERY SERVICES, HIGHLAND HOSPITAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PERALTA COLLEGES FOUNDATION EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY SERVICE AGENCY F...

02/15/2022

Are you a cultural artist interested in working in philanthropy?

Check out World Arts West's Philanthropy Roundtable on February 22nd!

Akonadi Foundation's Program Officer
Vanessa Camarena-Arredondo will be on the panel along Denise Pate (San Francisco Arts Commission), Dr. Esailama G. A. Diouf (San Francisco Foundation) and Lily Kharrazi (Alliance for California Traditional Arts) as they share their experiences of how they came to work in the field of philanthropy as artists, and how they continue to uplift the cultural communities through grantmaking.

Learn about these amazing BIPOC cultural artists' road maps to philanthropy, and what's it like to work at different philanthropic institutions:

https://facebook.com/events/s/career-pathways-series-philant/1047564059126777/

02/11/2022

Check out all these opportunities to plug in to community, service and action with our grantee partner, West Oakland Mural Project!

02/11/2022

Becoming Abolitionists – A History of Failed Police Reforms & Vision for True Public Safety

Watch this enlightening Marguerite Casey Foundation conversation with #BecomingAbolitionists author Derecka Purnell and 2021 Freedom Scholar Dr. Robin D. G. Kelley that explores how the promise of police reform has failed us and offers new perspectives on prison abolition : https://bit.ly/34F2D5c

In partnership with Seattle Arts & Lectures, Marguerite Casey Foundation will host a conversation with Becoming Abolitionists author, lawyer and organizer De...

02/11/2022

“Music has always been part of my equation of surviving, of not losing my voice.” — @karegabailey, @soldevelopment

#WhenTheWatersRunDeep premieres on YouTube this Thursday, Feb 10, 6pm PST at youtube.com/kqedarts.

#BlackHistoryMonth
#Oakland
@beimaginativecollective

STREAM award-winning KQED Arts's documentary #WhenTheWatersGetDeep, a musical journey through grief, love and hope with Akonadi's #SoLoveCanWin grantees SOL Development and BE-IMAGINATIVE premieres on YouTube Feb 10 today at 6pm PST.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CZsbXX9PH-m/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

02/10/2022

In 2020, the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others at the hands of police led many to demand that we radically re-imagine how we achieve healing and safety in our communities. Here in the Bay Area, calls to defund the police led some local government officials to invest in policing alternatives. Yet, as the pandemic has worn on and the spotlight on crime has intensified, we’ve seen a retreat from 2020’s racial justice “reckoning.”

Join Black Funders Network of the Bay Area on Feb. 15th for an important conversation on how to build healthy, safe communities and secure lasting change.

Panelists:
- Cat Brooks, Executive Director, Justice Teams Network
- Nikki Jones, Chair, African American Studies Department, UC Berkeley
- Tyfahra Milele, Commissioner, City of Oakland Police Commission

Moderator:
Raquiba LaBrie, Program Director, Evelyn & Walter Haas Jr. Fund

Register now to attend: https://bit.ly/3rHvOxX

02/09/2022

The East Oakland Collective's food and supply distribution program reopens this week! In need of hot catered meals, fresh groceries and household supplies? Stop by their distribution hub at 7800 MacArthur Blvd. on Tuesday or Thursday, 11 AM.

Onsite registration. First come, first served.

02/08/2022

How can you intentionally honor #BlackHistoryMonth? Here are some suggestions from Alliance for Boys and Men of Color.

Share more ways you celebrate and engage with Black History this month and all year round!

02/04/2022

Black Women Lead: Stories From the Bay Area

Come celebrate #BlackHistoryMonth by honoring the leadership of Black women in the Bay Area.

This is a free, online-only program. Register here to attend BLACK WOMEN LEAD: STORIES FROM THE BAY AREA on February 22nd: https://bit.ly/32T2St8

As we celebrate Black History Month, we honor the leadership of Black women from the Bay Area, including congresswoman Barbara Lee and Vice President Kamala Harris. Today, a historic number of Black women are serving on school boards, transit agencies, and city councils—and blazing the trail for t...

02/03/2022

Arts & Culture: Community Action Grants

Silicon Valley Community Foundation's Arts & Culture Fund is accepting applications for Community Action Grants!

Through this fund, SVCF primarily supports BIPOC-led arts and cultural organizations and allied organizations that prioritize nurturing artistic and cultural expressions, building community, partnering to create community-driven solutions and catalyzing social change in communities of color.

Apply by February 11, 2022. Learn more:

PayPal Donation Donate Now SVCF Funders Donate Now Contribute to SVCF’s Arts & Culture Fund Learn more about the recent grantees here. Nonprofits: SVCF is accepting applications from Monday, January 24, 2022 through Friday, February 11, 2022. Apply Now If you are interested in applying, please joi...

02/02/2022

As a proud funding partner of the #LeadingEdgeFund with the Rosenberg Foundation, Akonadi Foundation congratulates the new 2022-2024 fellows as they work to bring to life their vision for justice, fairness and opportunity for all Californians!

With support from the Leading Edge Fund, the fellows will work to end and replace the incarceration and criminalization of young people of color, build economic hubs led by and for transgender people, create alternatives to police response, end child poverty, and much more.

We also want to give a special shoutout to the fellows from our grantee partner organizations: Jackie Byers, Nicole Lee, Cat Brooks and Christina "Krea" Gomez.

Learn more about the Leading Edge Fellows: https://leadingedge.rosenbergfound.org/

02/01/2022

Happy Lunar New Year from Akonadi Foundation! We wish you a year of good health and prosperity.

Art credit: Justine Ma Design
#lunarnewyear #yearofthetiger

01/28/2022

The Cascade Society | DHC

The Cascade Society is an intensive training program for thirteen emerging Black, Indigenous, Latinx/e, Asian, and Pacific Islander organizers who want to sharpen their political analysis, deepen their leadership capacity, hone their organizing practice, and join a grove of organizers committed to ushering in social justice and liberation.

Learn more and apply for the program by March 15th!

https://www.dancingheartsconsulting.org/thecascadesociety

The Cascade Society is an intensive training program for thirteen new and newish Black, Indigenous, Latinx/e, Asian, and Pacific Islander organizers who want to sharpen their political analysis and join a grove of organizers committed to ushering in social justice and liberation. This program is des...

01/26/2022

Starting this month, we will be welcoming Lateefah Simon to the Akonadi Foundation Board of Directors as she transitions from her role as President of Akonadi.

In the five years Lateefah has led Akonadi, she has made an incredible mark on racial justice in Oakland and in the philanthropic sector nationwide. We are so grateful for her visionary work, commitment and passion.

Lateefah will continue to serve as President of Akonadi Foundation through the end of June 2022. Please join us in showing gratitude for her service and wish her well on her next adventure!

01/24/2022

The Oakland Fund for Children and Youth just released its Request for Proposals for $18M in grant funding for the funding cycle FY 2022-25. Proposals are due February 22, 2022.

Learn more at ofcy.org/funding/rfp!

Contact [email protected] with any questions.

01/21/2022

Oakland Youth Artist Daria Belle Shares Her Artistic Process

Check out this profile of talented, socially conscious young artist Daria Belle, published in Oakland Voices.

The 16-year old high school sophomore lives in Oakland and has her art on display in Artivate’s “Feminism Now" exhibit. You can see the exhibit at the Haight Street Art Center until January 23.

https://bit.ly/3tEnaBy

Daria Belle exhibits her social justice and politically-themed art around the Bay Area, such as her recent participation with Artiv