*As Congress continues to drag its feet regarding the next COVID relief package, the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation quietly launched a $3 million financial relief fund to help folks who are struggling to make ends meet during the pandemic.
The foundation, which branched out from the Black Lives Matter movement created nearly eight years ago, said Thursday that it plans to make up to 3,000 microgrants of $1,000 each to people who it believes need it most. The foundation has already begun asking recipients to apply for the Survival Fund grants as it builds out its philanthropic arm.
If approved, the money is deposited directly into recipients’ bank accounts or made available on prepaid debit cards, the foundation said — no strings attached.
“This came from a collective conversation with BLM leadership that Black folks are being hurt the most financially during the pandemic,” BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors told The Associated Press.
Cullors, also the foundation’s executive director, said that so far the Survival Fund’s first recipients have included the families of people killed by police or who died while incarcerated, grassroots community organizers, people who identify as transgender, single parents and formerly incarcerated individuals.
Before Thursday, at least 300 people had been approved for grants. The fund is being administered through UpTogether, a project of the Family Independence Initiative, which works to disrupt the cycle of poverty through direct investment to low-income families and budding entrepreneurs.
Watch a video about the BLM Survival Fund below:
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