Deadline: 15 February 2017
The Open Society Foundations seeks applications for its Rapid Response Grants initiative for communities against hate with an aim to support, protect, and empower those who are targets of hateful acts and rhetoric. The initiative is designed to bolster communities’ ability to resist the spread of hate and strengthen protections for their most vulnerable neighbors.
This is a rapid response fund that will support local communities and organizations in the U.S. in their efforts to de-escalate and head off future incidents of hate based on race, religion, national origin, gender and sexual orientation. For the purposes of this fund, incidents of hate include bullying, intimidation, bigoted slurs, assaults, desecration of houses of worship, and other acts. Open Society hopes these rapid response grants will promote the values of inclusion, diversity, fairness, and equal protection, and empower and equip individuals, institutions, organizations, and local communities across the social, racial, ethnic, and faith spectrum to stand together against hate. We also want to ensure that incidents are included, tracked and aggregated in local and national databases and increase public awareness and solidarity.
Objectives
The objectives of this program are to:
- support that aims to develop a national referral network that will channel Communities Against Hate requests for legal and social services to those who have experienced acts of hate;
- support new efforts to document and aggregate incidents of hate as they happen, and categorize them by type of offense, targeted community, and geographic location; and
- support efforts to increase public awareness of the scale and scope of hate incidents, with the goal of encouraging investigation of these offenses by state and local authorities as well as the Department of Justice.
Grant Information
In solidarity with and support of communities and vulnerable populations across the country that are dealing with the fallout from hate incidents, Open Society has made an initial allocation of $3 million available through this open call for applications.
Eligibility Criteria
Projects must be:
- responsive to a specific incident, threat or risk and benefit frequently persecuted populations; and
- timely, urgent, and concrete—the event or situation you are responding to requires immediate action that is well thought out with a clear set of goals and outcomes that can be achieved within six months.
Applicants’ organizational strengths must include the following:
- positioning in their community as a trusted resource, led by the communities they serve and, responsive and accountable to those communities
- commitment to serving persecuted populations and the values of inclusion, diversity, fairness, and equal protection
- longstanding track record of serving persecuted populations, protecting civil rights, and/or fighting against racism and discrimination
Individuals and single-person LLCs are not eligible.
How to Apply
The eligible entities must register online via given website to apply for the rapid response grant initiative.
Eligible Country: United States
For more information, please visit Communities Against Hate.