Cleveland Foundation Launches Cleveland Black Futures Fund

The Cleveland Foundation is committing $2.5 million for the creation of the Cleveland Black Futures Fund, an effort that will invest in and strengthen Black-led and Black-serving social change organizations. 

According to 2018 research from The Center for Community Solutions, Black residents in Cleveland are more likely to experience socioeconomic boundaries, and In 2019, it was found to be the worst city in the country for Black women when measuring factors related to education, income and health. 

Due to COVID-19 and historic protests happening nationally and locally, there’s been a bolder call to action to address systemic racism and its devastating effects in the Greater Cleveland community. 

While Cleveland is home to a dynamic network of Black leaders working on solutions to these problems, The Association of Black Foundation Executives (ABFE) has reported that significant inequities exist within the national philanthropic field at a time when outcomes and disparities for Black children, families and neighborhoods in many areas have widened. 

Inspired by community foundation peers in Seattle, Cincinnati, Rhode Island, Central New York and Minneapolis, among others, the overarching goal of the Cleveland Black Futures Fund is to strengthen the ecosystem of Black leaders and Black-serving organizations in Greater Cleveland by providing intentional resources to help grow organizational infrastructure and capacity. 

Long term, the foundation aims to deepen the field of leaders working to dismantle systemic racism and advance the community towards racial equity. 

“The ongoing national reckoning with systemic racism in America in recent months cannot be separated from the COVID-19 crisis, which has disproportionally ravaged Black communities,” said Courtenay Barton, Cleveland Foundation program director for arts & culture and racial equity initiatives. “Similar to our community’s response to COVID-19, now is the time for philanthropy to show a sense of urgency to address systemic racism. Black-led and Black-serving social change organizations are the frontline workers in this effort, and we must invest in them just as we have invested in the workers on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic.” 

The Cleveland Black Futures Fund builds on the work of the African American Philanthropy Committee of the Cleveland Foundation, which has promoted awareness and education about the benefits of wealth and community preservation through philanthropy since 1993.