Announcing 2019 Resilience Fund Grantees

Posted on by Hana Rubin

Seattle Foundation grants $550,000 to support the protections and resilience of marginalized residents in King County

Seattle Foundation recently made $550,000 in grants to 31 community-based organizations through our Resilience Fund. The 2019 round of investments support King County-based organizations directly impacted by changes in federal policies, and the negative effects stemming from the current political climate, including: countering anti-immigration policies, addressing Islamophobia, diverting youth of color from the criminal justice system, and changing unjust housing policies targeted at people from different cultures or national origins.

Since the Fund’s inception in 2017 – created to protect and advance the safety, security, legal and human rights of our region’s most marginalized residents – Seattle Foundation has distributed 133 grants totaling $2.178 million. To ensure an equitable selection process, Seattle Foundation staff partner with a larger community review panel comprised of nonprofit leaders of color to make grant determinations each year.

“The Resilience Fund acts in response to a broad range of issues and challenges our nonprofit partners are facing as a direct result of changing federal policies, repealing legal protections, declining funding, and growing hate crimes and violence,” says Jonathan Cunningham, Program Officer at Seattle Foundation. “Over the last three years, Seattle Foundation has been proud to continuously step up and provide timely, flexible funding to front-line organizations. This critical funding aims to strengthen the resilience of local residents facing increased risk and uncertainty.”

Several organizations selected for continued funding share more about what they will be able to accomplish with this grant support:

Legal Counsel for Youth and Children will support community education, develop and distribute safety plans for immigrant families, and provide direct legal services to youth and children facing possible deportation.

“Thank you Resilience Fund! This grant allows us to help provide safety planning to immigrant families so that they can have the peace of mind that they have a plan for their children, whether or not they are U.S. citizens, if parents are detained and/or deported. In these precarious times, a sense of safety is crucial to keep families together and for the well-being of our children. Additionally, the grant will allow us to provide direct legal services to young immigrants that are in the United States with little to no support. These children and youth are alone, scared and traumatized, yet hopeful. With our help we can provide legal services to stabilize their living situations. This grant allows us to stabilize the future generations of Americans. Thank you!”  — Chach Duarte White, Staff Attorney and Legal Supervisor, Legal Counsel for Youth and Children (LCYC)

Community Passageways works to keep youth of color out of the criminal legal system by diverting felony charges and incarceration, as well as obtaining trauma intervention treatment. 

“I am so grateful to be in partnership with the Seattle Foundation! Community Passageways is currently working on over 40+ cases and the referrals keep coming. We have over 170+ youth in our current program and that does not include the work we do in South King County schools or the work we do with youth and young adults re-entering back into community from incarceration. With the support of Seattle Foundation we are able to keep building our capacity to do this work for our communities!” — Dominique Davis, CEO & Co-Founder, Community Passageways

Mujer al Volante supports low-income Latina women and mothers by helping them get driving permits. This critical support promotes their personal independence, financial sustainability, community engagement, and leadership.

“Thanks to the Resilience Fund, 104 women were empowered and started the process to become independent in 2019, including a group of 26 Afghani women! Thank you Seattle Foundation for allowing us to continue Mujer al Volante’s mission of helping our communities during a very difficult time.”  — Jaqueline Garcia Castillo, Founder, Mujer al Volante

MAPS-AMEN (Muslim Association of Puget Sound – American Muslim Empowerment Network) will work to combat Islamophobia and anti-Muslim bigotry leading up to the 2020 elections.

“With funding support from the Resilience Fund, MAPS-AMEN collaborated with local and national partners to organize and launch the first Faith Over Fear conference at MAPS in January 2018. Since then the transformative change we witness on the ground as we change hearts and minds, and inspire people to overcome falsehoods with facts, hate with love, and fear with faith, is beautiful, powerful, and uplifting.

We are now preparing to launch a national video campaign to challenge anti-Muslim hate and violence. The timing is critical, as this is an important election year. Research shows that Islamophobia increases with election cycles. Thanks to the Resilience Fund, we are helping build resilient communities in the face of constant attacks, movements that inspire change, and a growing recognition of how our various struggles are interconnected.” — Aneelah Afzali, Executive Director, American Muslim Empowerment Network

Below is the complete list of our 2019 Resilience Fund grantees:

Resilience Fund applications are reviewed and granted on an annual basis. The 2020 grant cycle opens in the fall. Additional financial support to the Resilience Fund was provided by Emerald Fund, the fund for New Citizens at the New York Community Trust and individual philanthropists.

Additional Information
Please email Jonathan Cunningham at [email protected] with any questions.

Read more about all the grants made from the Resilience Fund: