The first fund of its kind in the United States, the NYC Fund for Girls and Young Women of Color (GYWOC) is a collaborative effort that brings together a growing group of diverse philanthropic funders to promote the progress of young women of color whose ambitions, voice, capacities and identities have long been dismissed or derailed. Started in 2015, The Fund envisions a creating a city that offers every opportunity for all girls and young women of color, to succeed economically and socially by offering meaningful and holistic support to organizations and programs led by and for young women and TGNC youth of color.
When this Fund was created in 2015, we did not imagine the changes which would shake the United States and the rest of the world. Over the past decade the world experienced some dramatic events that included the election of a conservative government, racial reckonings, and the COVID-19 pandemic. During all these events, this overlooked population needed support and investment more than ever. Having The Fund meant, the ability to agilely support the organizations that provided strong leadership opportunities for girls, young women and youth of color and those which had a focus on collective advocacy for policy change. Moreover, the New York Women’s Foundation could use its participatory grantmaking approach to enable the Fund to create spaces for collaboration and shared learnings across organizations.
Photos by Gabriella Toth for LensFormative
It was in this spirit of collaborative learning that The New York Women’s Foundation recently evaluated the first seven years of the Fund. The evaluation asked grantee partners and members of the funding table about their experiences and reflections of the progress made during this first phase of the initiative (2015-2022). The results emphasized the need for continued trust-based philanthropy practices, flexibility during difficult times and the importance of deep relationship building among all members of The Fund.
Feedback from grantee partners over the past year highlighted the need to uplift the mental health of young people especially during these challenging times when continued racial and economic injustice are overlaid with instability created by political and environmental threats. Many grantee partners noted that the youth they work with felt isolated and stressed, and that holistic support for young people was seen as being a much-needed area of investment. Based on this guidance, the next phase of The Fund will focus on bolstering mental health through different mediums and perspectives.
The work of the grantee partners that The GYWOC Fund enabled provides an inspirational example for trust-based philanthropy. From the selection process of the Grantee partners, who were selected through a participatory approach to the convenings to enable grantee partners to networking and share learnings, this work also ignited similar efforts across the country, igniting a step change in the visibility of these often-overlooked voices.
On March 19 we gathered with The Ford Foundation for an in-person and virtual release of the findings from the first phase of The Fund and to welcome new grantee partners focused on supporting the mental health of girls, young women and gender expansive youth of color throughout New York City.