DA Kicks Off 2023 "Bend the Arc” grants for groups fighting racial injustice
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For release on April 5, 2023
CONTACT:
Hugo Meza
Deputy District Attorney
Community Prosecution Unit
(408) 792-2456
DA Kicks Off 2023 "Bend the Arc” grants for groups fighting racial injustice
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office will give out $60,000 in “Bend the Arc” grants this year to local organizations who are working towards racial equity.
Groups are eligible to receive up to $5,000 in grants to help them work against racial discrimination and disproportionality in Santa Clara County. District Attorney Jeff Rosen, who began offering the community grants in 2021, increased the total by $10,000 this year.
“This money belongs back in our neighborhoods working for both justice and fairness,” DA Rosen said. “Like all of our communities, one cannot exist without the other.”
One of the grants given out last year was awarded to Chopsticks Alley Art, an organization that promotes Southeast Asian cultural heritage through the arts to foster greater understanding and to connect communities. The funds were used to create Asian American Healing Convenings, which are safe places to address mental health challenges that their community faced in times of COVID-19 and systemic racism towards Asian Americans.
Another grant went towards Empowering Our Community for Success to facilitate a co-ed flag football league for youth in under-served neighborhoods in San Jose. Another grant was awarded to a group who offered financial literacy education to marginalized communities.
Grants were awarded to groups of all sizes, including several neighborhood associations like Guadalupe-Washington and Hoffman Via Monte.
The grants come from the DA’s Asset Forfeiture Fund, which is money seized from gangs, drug traffickers, and criminal organizations. As a way to help repair the harm caused by those criminals, the DA’s Office invests the funds back into the community.
DA Rosen announced a series of 26 social justice reforms in 2020, including the Racial Justice Grant Program. All of 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.
The application deadline is Friday, May 12, 2023. For more information, please visit the Bend the Arc Grant Application Eligibility and Requirements webpage.
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