DA gives $50,000 in Bend the Arc Grants to community groups fighting racial injustice
For release on June 1, 2022
CONTACT:
Hugo Meza
Community Prosecutor
(408) 792-2456
DA gives $50,000 in Bend the Arc Grants to community groups fighting racial injustice
Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen today awarded $50,000 in grants to community groups confronting racial discrimination in various ways, including organizing sports leagues for at risk youth, creating podcasts for non-English speakers to navigate government services, and painting an inspiring new mural.
This year, the DA awarded the grants to 13 local organizations ranging from the Guadalupe Washington Neighborhood Association to the Vietnamese American Roundtable.
The grants come from the DA’s Asset Forfeiture Fund, which is money seized from gangs, drug traffickers, and criminal organizations. To help repair some of the harm caused by those criminal enterprises, the DA’s Office invests the funds back into the communities that were preyed upon.
“Racial injustice is not someone else’s problem,” DA Rosen said. “It is mine. It is all of ours. And we – as a community – will stand together in solidarity against hate.”
DA Rosen announced a series of 26 social justice reforms in 2020, including the Racial Justice Grant Program. All the reforms are intended to address racial discrimination and promote equity within the criminal justice system. The implementation of the reforms began in the wake of the murder of George Floyd.
This year’s grant awardees are:
Building Peaceful Families
To allow the opportunity to expand the 15th Annual Fatherhood/Justice Involved Families Conference to woman and children involved in the justice system.
Capitol Park Goss Neighborhood Association
To hire a local artist to beautify as many utility boxes as they can afford with the grant
Chopsticks Alley Art
To hold Asian-American healing meetings for the Asian artists community.
Downtown College Prep El Camino Middle School
To continue to run a successful sports program.
Empowering Our Community for Success (ECOS)
To fund a free, co-ed flag football league for youth in under-served neighborhoods in San Jose.
Guadalupe Washington Neighborhood Association (GWNA)
To create a new mural in the neighborhood to deter gang violence and inspire youth.
Hoffman Via Monte Neighborhood Association
To host a resource fair for low-income residents and provide information regarding housing, legal aide, immigration/citizenship services, counseling services, and more.
Housing Arts N Development Services
To teach concepts in money management, credit, budgeting, financial planning, and estate planning.
Karat School Project
To address two areas of persistent disparity for the at-risk youth: (1) help youth graduating from high school to access community college or other higher education and (2) help youth in middle and high school participate in sports and other extracurricular activities by paying for their athletic shoes and other equipment.
Mayfair Neighborhood Advisory Council
To create a partnership between the children and senior citizens of the neighborhood.
Only in San Jose
To create civic education podcasts for City and County services.
Seven Trees Community Center
To keep equipment up-to-date in the Seven Trees Recording Arts Program and continue to offer this program to under-served youth.
Vietnamese American Roundtable (VAR)
To host regular bilingual community conversations, work with youth mentorship program participants to produce training materials to educate community members on issues of systemic oppression and marginalization, and organize a regional Vietnamese American Community Empowerment Symposium - featuring expert speakers - to strategize best intervention practices with community leaders to address AAPI hate and violence and to build cross-racial collaborations.
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