Racial Justice Grantees 2024/25

Racial Justice Grants Committee: 2024 Grant Recommendations Totaling $35,000

Approved by FUMCSD Church Council on 11/20/2024

In our fifth annual grant cycle, after reviewing 21 applications, the Racial Justice Grants Committee recommends to the Church Council the following three grants, totaling $35,000.

The organizations were chosen 4 in alignment with the 2024 Racial Justice Grant Focus Areas of: Health care equity and mental health services.

$11,000 for Detangle Your Thoughts

Detangle Your Thoughts creates a safe space for black women to discuss mental health and to expose them to vital selfcare, using hair salons and barber shops as informal neighborhood community hubs. Since their inception in September 2019, Detangle Your Thoughts has hosted over 50 therapeutic group meetings for the African American community that focus on mental health and collective evolving through various therapeutic modalities such as volunteer work and day retreats. Grant funding will allow Detangle Your Thoughts to broaden their impact within the Black community with additional wellness retreats, an annual community health and wellness fair, and continued monthly mental health education sessions.

$11,000 for San Diego Community Birth Center

San Diego Community Birth Center is to fill a need in the San Diego community by providing inclusive, sensitive and compassionate wholistic reproductive health care. The services provided by the team at San Diego Community Birth Center are comprehensive, inclusive, and holistic reproductive health care support with thoughtfulness, empathy and compassion. SD Community Birth Center is led by one of only a few certified Black midwives in the county and works to reduce the maternal mortality rate for Black women, which is currently around four times higher than any other racial/ethnic group in the county. Grant funds will support ongoing operations, including community baby showers that provide free baby supplies to any new parents in the community, post-partum education and support groups for both mothers and fathers.

$8,000 for PHATCAMP

Pushing Hard Advocate Team (PHATCAMP) provides programs in Southeast San Diego that foster inclusivity and promote mental, physical, and social wellness. PHATCAMP’s goal is to decrease intimate partner violence in Southeast San Diego by 25% in the next five years. PHATCAMP has already trained 98-women in Mental Health 101. 45 women have been referred to employment or education, and 60 women have completed listening sessions on peacebuilding. They have been in operation for over 17-years and became an established 501(c)3 in 2023. Grant funds will be used to establish a rapid response, women-led coalition to support victims of intimate partner violence, and to continue weekly support groups throughout the Southeast San Diego community.

$5,000 for Racial Justice Coalition of San Diego 

The Racial Justice Coalition of San Diego provides a unified front for advocacy and action against all forms of discrimination and unequal treatment, particularly in our underrepresented and underserved communities. They specifically strive to challenge and transform the abusive law enforcement practices used in communities of color and to work to change the laws, policies and unlawful police practices that allow for such abuses and inequities. The RJCSD has been advocating most recently to reduce the number of in-custody deaths in our local jails and prisons, and has also been pushing for more Mobile Crisis Response Teams, who are staffed with trained mental health practitioners and respond to mental health crises instead of armed police officers. Grant funds would support their ongoing “Let’s Talk Black Health” film and discussion series, which brings healthcare and mental health practitioners to educate community members and connect them with important healthcare services. First Church members are always welcome to join at events and rallies, and RJCSD would be happy to explore other volunteer opportunities with our congregation.

Respectfully submitted by the 2024 Racial Justice Grants Committee: Dione Tayler (Chair), Francine Dewitt-Haynes (St. Paul UMC), Susan Ladrido, Maggie Hundley, Lyn Hayes (St. Paul UMC), Marian Hart.

Visit our Racial Justice Grant page to learn more about this program.