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Apply to the Racial Healing + Justice Fund Community Governance Board

Overview | The Details | How to Apply

Application due: Monday, January 17th, 2022 at 11:00pm

If you have any additional questions about the Community Governance Board, or would like to request support for completing your application, please email: rhjf@forwardthroughferguson.org 

Click to Nominate:#OurFundOurFuture #HealingJusticeSTL

APPLICATION OVERVIEW

Purpose – Community Governance Body

The Racial Healing + Justice Fund is informed, designed, and led by community members and advocates directly impacted by racial oppression. The Community Governance Board is made up of St. Louis City, St. Louis County, and St. Clair County (Illinois) community members who oversee the Fund’s investment. This includes reviewing and selecting applications to receive funding, building on the Fund’s investment priorities based on community voice, and continuing to develop the Fund’s focus with community feedback.

About the Racial Healing + Justice Fund

The Racial Healing + Justice Fund was created to invest in racial healing as a core component of achieving Racial Equity and to make space for affected residents, Black and Brown St. Louisans, to have direct power over the distribution of resources for healing, justice, and transformation. Through these investments, the Racial Healing and Justice Fund aligns local and national philanthropy, community-set priorities, and community-led grantmaking that put racial equity and healing justice at the center, creating a future St. Louis where all residents have the opportunity to thrive. The fund currently has $1.6 million committed over a three year period.

The Healing focus of the Fund invests in:

  • Creating space to share truth narratives, communal grieving, and communal connection on race and systemic racism;
  • Enabling restoration, reverence, respect, and trust, at all levels of a community; 
  • Building and exercising individual power and resilience;
  • Providing support for the spiritual and emotional health of community organizers and advocates. 

The Justice focus of the Fund invests in:

  • Changing the conditions of racial inequities by continuously supporting current and future leaders of color; 
  • Centering, growing, and activating grassroots knowledge;
  • Broadening resident engagement to operationalize policy maker accountability structures and practices;
  • Uplifting communal mobilization for system change.

THE DETAILS

What Does the Board Do?

The Community Governance Board (CGB) is a voting body of 9-15 community members who receive a stipend for their time and insight. The Board will review and have decision-making power over how funding will be distributed to St. Louis Black and Brown communities’ healing efforts, programs, and initiatives. 

The CGB takes on key roles to ensure the sustainability of the fund. Forward Through Ferguson (FTF) serves as the project manager. Deaconess Foundation is the fiscal sponsor of the fund. Members of the CGB will have several duties including:

  • Grants and Allocation
    • Work in partnership with FTF and Deaconess to set the grant cycle schedule
    • Support interested applicants to navigate the grant process
    • Review grant applications and makes funding decisions
  • Community Voice & Learning
    • Activate on community engagement and voice
    • Collect, evaluate, and learn from process and granting outcomes
    • Continually improve and adapt from community feedback

What is the Time Commitment? 

The CGB is a working board that will meet twice a month to do its work. In the first month, there will be two mandatory orientation meetings for the Board to build relationships, receive training, and share knowledge.

March 25, 2022:  Community Governance Training + Orientation (Part 1)

  • Group Team/Culture Building

March 26, 2022:  Community Governance Training + Orientation (Part 2)

  • Fund Explainer 
  • Systems Change Training
  • Grants Training
  • Community Engagement Teach-in
  • Decision Making

Composition and Term Requirements

The membership of the Community Governance Body—selected by a Selection Committee made up of community organizers and healers—will be in alignment with the Prioritizing Inclusion and Humanizing EquityTM principles of the Fund. The body will be made up of individuals directly impacted by racialized oppression. Insights from the initial community design process and from ongoing community engagement will inform the selection of Community Governance members.  

The Community Governance Body shall be made up of 9-15 members. They will be approved by the Racial Healing + Justice Fund Selection Committee after an application and interview process. The term length will be 12 months from March 2022 to February 2023. Each Board member can serve up to two consecutive terms. Members are required to attend two orientation meetings held in March with monthly recurring meetings occurring afterward. The Board members will also participate in two Working Groups that focus on community input and the granting process.

Honorarium and Stipends

An honorarium of $1,500 will be provided to each Community Governance Board member in three payments across the 2022-23 membership term. A bank account is not a requirement for participation. An additional $25 stipend will be provided per meeting for childcare purposes as needed on an individual basis.

Conflict of Interest Clause

Members of the Community Governance Board will be required to regularly report any conflicts of interest with applicants as they make granting decisions for the fund. Members of the Board will not be permitted to apply for funding themselves. As long as a Board Member’s conflict of interest is reported and shared transparently, that conflict does not prevent the Member from serving on the Board. If the Member is receiving money from an applicant (employment, contracting, etc.), that member will recuse themselves from voting. 


Interested? Here’s How to Apply:

Your submission can take whatever form you feel expresses you best—it can be anything from a traditional cover letter, resume, and letters of recommendation to a video, manifesto, or artistic creation. Whatever the format, cover all the bases below and submit everything to: rhjf@forwardthroughferguson.org 

  • For question #2 (see below), please have your reference submit their thoughts to you to deliver with the rest of your answers, or have them send their nomination directly to us on your behalf at bit.ly/healingboardstl.

Lastly, if you would like to nominate someone for the Community Governance Board, please submit their contact information at bit.ly/healingboardstl.

Application

In the email please include all the following information:

  • Name
  • Gender Identity & Pronouns 
  • Age
  • Racial or Ethnic Identity (e.g., African-American/Black, East Asian, AfroLatinx, Middle Eastern, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Pacific Islander, South Asian, Southeast Asian, Mutliracial, etc.)
  • Address, Phone Number, and Email
  • Any accommodations needed (e.g., sign language, computer text-to-speech, etc.)

In your application, please answer the following questions:

  1. Why does racial healing and justice matter to you? Why do you want to join the Board?
  2. Who vouches for you as a great fit for this board and why (in their words)?
  3. What contributions (for example, skills, experiences, community relationships, passions, etc.) do you feel you can make to the Community Governance Board? 
  4. What other community-based commitments or engagements do you currently have?
  5. Have you been a part of any board or a collective decision making body before? If so, please give us a brief description of this body. If you hold or have previously held board and leadership experiences (though not required), please share some of the things you have learned through your participation. 
  6. We believe the core principles of this racial healing and justice work are (1) Prioritizing Inclusion & Community Voice, (2) Growing Community Awareness, Power, and Resilience, and (3) Humanizing Equity. What does each mean to you and/or in our region specifically?