Black Philanthropy Initiative Announces Impact Grant Recipients during Black History Month

The Black Philanthropy Initiative (BPI) announces $8,000 in grants awarded through its Impact Grants program. BPI’s Impact Grants are investments in programs, projects, and initiatives supporting Forsyth County’s Black communities, and the grantees are local groups and organizations with annual budgets under $150,000.

During its February 2023 grant cycle, BPI requested video proposals from organizations/groups working in one of the four critical areas in its Rethinking Philanthropy report (education, jobs and wages, poverty, and civic engagement,) or on criminal justice reform or racial justice efforts. BPI prioritized Black-led organizations and programs working within predominately Black neighborhoods (including 27101, 27105, and 27107).

Grants were awarded to:  

• Dream The Impossible: $1,000 to provide services on mental-health awareness and resources for student athletes
• Beyond Basic Enterprise: $1,000 to provide free after-school programming, mentoring, and other support for students and families  
• The National Birth Coalition: $1,000 to support sessions for BIPOC birth workers and advocates to eliminate birth and health disparities
• Tre 4 Center of Fine Arts: $1,000 to provide youth education and programming for children impacted by incarceration  
• Monica & Jerome's International Dance "Experience" (MJIDE) - $1,000 to fund costume purchase and travel and registration fees for conservatory dance
• Smiley's Sweets: $1,000 to support health and nutrition education and programming for children in Piedmont Circle
• Konnoak Community Freedom School: $1,000 for a field trip for Freedom School scholars to Discovery Place in Charlotte
• Tori's House of Choice: $1,000 to help families and children impacted by gun violence

BPI’s grants are made possible by the collective pooling of resources from the generous people of Forsyth County to invest in Black-led organizations and support the local Black community. In 2022 BPI provided $241,000 in grants to local programs and initiatives, investing 93% of those funds into Black-led organizations supporting the local Black community.    

Currently, BPI offers three grant programs: Impact Grants, Building an Inclusive Economy, and Advancing Equity in Education Grants (both are focus areas of The Winston-Salem Foundation). To learn more about these grant programs and find ways to contribute to this work, please visit bpiws.org.

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