Accountable Futures Fund
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The Accountable Futures Fund supports communities, organizations, and movements led by young BIPOC cis and trans women, and queer, trans, and gender non conforming people to navigate conflict and harm in ways that decrease the power of carceral and state systems. This fund specifically aims to resource Black people, trans people, sex workers, and youth who are on the frontlines and at the forefront of both visioning and practicing transformative justice, restorative justice, and community accountability.*
Fund Status
Currently, the Accountable Futures Fund gives out grants on an annual, invite-only basis. Invitations are given to groups who are recommended through other Third Wave Fund grantmaking programs, Accountable Futures Fund grantees, Third Wave Fund staff, and our Advisory Committee Members. Groups/organizations do not need to be an existing Third Wave Fund grantee to be eligible for this fund.
FAQ
Who is this fund for?
The Accountable Futures Fund provides general operating support grants up to $21,000 to grassroots organizations who are developing the fields of transformative justice, restorative justice, and community accountability. This means funding organizations whose work is building up the skills and capacity of their communities to respond to harm and violence in ways that create sustainable alternatives to the police, prison, and other carceral systems.
What can the grant be used for?
This fund is committed to providing flexible funding through general operating support grants; offering an accessible, low barrier application and reporting process; centering relationship building; and moving philanthropy to better resource the fields of transformative justice, restorative justice, and community accountability with responsibility, responsiveness, and care. Funds can be used for training and leadership development, resource sharing, research, public education, and more.
Are there any restrictions on the use of these funds?
While this fund is not meant to resource specific accountability processes, funds may be used to support facilitators in this work.
What is the grant criteria?
My group/organization fits this criteria! How do we get an invite?
If your group/organization fits the criteria listed above and you would like to share your work with us, please reach out to mai@thirdwavefund.org. We welcome calls with current and former Third Wave Fund grantees, as well as groups/organizations who have not yet received a Third Wave Fund grant.
The Accountable Futures Fund provides general operating support grants up to $21,000 to grassroots organizations who are developing the fields of transformative justice, restorative justice, and community accountability. This means funding organizations whose work is building up the skills and capacity of their communities to respond to harm and violence in ways that create sustainable alternatives to the police, prison, and other carceral systems.
What can the grant be used for?
This fund is committed to providing flexible funding through general operating support grants; offering an accessible, low barrier application and reporting process; centering relationship building; and moving philanthropy to better resource the fields of transformative justice, restorative justice, and community accountability with responsibility, responsiveness, and care. Funds can be used for training and leadership development, resource sharing, research, public education, and more.
Are there any restrictions on the use of these funds?
While this fund is not meant to resource specific accountability processes, funds may be used to support facilitators in this work.
What is the grant criteria?
- Youth and / or intergenerational leadership: young BIPOC cis and trans women, and queer, trans, and gender non conforming people are in leadership, facilitation, and decision-making roles
- Gender justice: an analysis of gender-based violence is embedded within the practice of the group/organization. Ending patriarchy, transphobia, homophobia, gender inequity, or gender-based violence is central to the group/organization’s work.
- Transformative justice, restorative justice, and community accountability: groups/organizations are developing infrastructure, resources, and practices that build and strengthen the fields of transformative justice, restorative justice, and community accountability
- Organizational need: group/organization has a budget under $500,000
- Tax status: groups must have 501c3 or fiscal sponsor status to receive grants through this fund
My group/organization fits this criteria! How do we get an invite?
If your group/organization fits the criteria listed above and you would like to share your work with us, please reach out to mai@thirdwavefund.org. We welcome calls with current and former Third Wave Fund grantees, as well as groups/organizations who have not yet received a Third Wave Fund grant.
History
Third Wave Fund has learned through decades of grantee partnerships that reproductive and gender justice organizations, like any institutions, will experience conflict and those involved, like all people, will intentionally and unintentionally perpetuate harm. When young people - especially young trans and cis women of color and trans, intersex, queer, and gender non-conforming youth of color and low-income communities - have the resources and opportunities to navigate conflict and transform the conditions under which conflict occurs - they have the opportunity to build stronger organizations and movements for social change.
In response to emerging trends in rapid response applications and grantee discussions that spoke to an increased need to resolve conflict and prevent harm, Third Wave Fund launched a series of exploratory interviews with women, trans, and queer people of color with experience in community accountability, restorative justice, and transformative justice processes. They included emerging and established facilitators, practitioners, organizers, grantees, adults, and youth with and without organizational affiliations from the Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, Midwest, and West Coast. The insight shared was rich and nuanced and led to two years of making pilot grants to organizations who have deep history developing frameworks and practices for transforming harm and conflict. Through conversations with grantees across these two years, we learned that resourcing this work in ways that are accessible, prevent co-optation, and shift philanthropy away from punitive, top-down responses to conflict and harm is not only necessary but possible.
With a commitment to providing truly flexible funding that is responsive to and aligned with the needs of transformative justice, restorative justice, and community accountability practitioners, we have developed the Accountable Futures Fund.
In response to emerging trends in rapid response applications and grantee discussions that spoke to an increased need to resolve conflict and prevent harm, Third Wave Fund launched a series of exploratory interviews with women, trans, and queer people of color with experience in community accountability, restorative justice, and transformative justice processes. They included emerging and established facilitators, practitioners, organizers, grantees, adults, and youth with and without organizational affiliations from the Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, Midwest, and West Coast. The insight shared was rich and nuanced and led to two years of making pilot grants to organizations who have deep history developing frameworks and practices for transforming harm and conflict. Through conversations with grantees across these two years, we learned that resourcing this work in ways that are accessible, prevent co-optation, and shift philanthropy away from punitive, top-down responses to conflict and harm is not only necessary but possible.
With a commitment to providing truly flexible funding that is responsive to and aligned with the needs of transformative justice, restorative justice, and community accountability practitioners, we have developed the Accountable Futures Fund.
Past & Current Grantees
2022
2021
2020
- 400+1, Austin, TX
- Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective, Oakland, CA
- Collective Action for Safe Spaces, Washington, D.C
- Fanm Saj, Miami, FL
- Just Practice Collaborative, National
- Safer Movements Collective, National
- Street Youth Rise Up, Chicago, IL
- The devi coop, Atlanta, GA
- Unity Circles, Cambridge, MA
2021
- 400+1, Austin, TX
- Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective, Oakland, CA
- Carolina Youth Action Project, Hanahan, SC
- Collective Action for Safe Spaces, Washington, D.C.
- Fanm Saj, Miami, FL
- Just Practice Collaborative, National
- Mirror Memoirs, National
- Street Youth Rise Up, Chicago, IL
- Survived and Punished, National
- Safer Movements Collective, National
2020
- Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective, Oakland, CA
- Collective Action for Safe Spaces, Washington, D.C.
- Fanm Saj, Miami, FL
- Just Practice Collaborative, National
- Street Youth Rise Up, Chicago, IL
- Survived and Punished, National
- Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective, Oakland, CA
- Just Practice Collaborative, National
- Survived and Punished, National
Advisory Committee
In 2022, we launched the Accountable Futures Fund Advisory Council, made up of transformative justice, restorative justice, and community accountability practitioners and organizers. This Advisory Council works to ensure that this fund is responsive and accountable to frontline transformative justice, restorative justice, and community accountability practitioners, networks, and organizers who are centering youth leadership and intersectional gender justice.
Current Members (2022 - 2024):
Current Members (2022 - 2024):
Ana Mercado (she/her) has been practicing Restorative and Transformative Justice skills for more than 15 years. They cofounded Just Practice Collaborative, providing Transformative Justice and Community Accountability support for movement groups. Ana developed a successful coaching model for school staff and students to be restorative practitioners and organized campaigns with young people of color on Chicago’s West Side for policies and practices that interrupt the school-to-prison nexus.
Che Johnson-Long (she/her) is a Community Organizer with fifteen years of experience in movement work spanning from prison abolition to building safety strategies outside of the state. She currently serves as the Community Safety Education Coordinator with Vision Change Win where she designs community safety and security curriculum, provides one-on-one and organizational support, and coordinates VCW’s safety and security programmatic offerings. As a trained Generative Somatics Teacher, Che offers support to movement organizations on identifying and addressing the impacts of trauma on movement work.
Hyejin Shim (she/her) is an abolitionist organizer with over a decade's experience in supporting survivors of domestic and sexual violence, particularly immigrant, refugee, and criminalized survivors of abuse. Hyejin is a co-founder of Survived and Punished, a national organization that supports criminalized and incarcerated survivors of gender-based violence, and organizes with Survived and Punished CA.
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Stas Schmiedt (they/them) is a nonbinary BlaQ-Italian storyteller, transformative justice practitioner, abolitionist organizer, healer, and survivor based on Ute, Arapahoe, and Cheyenne lands (also called Denver, Colorado). They are a co-founder, vision keeper, and imaginatrix at Spring Up and bluelight academy of the liberatory arts.
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Woods Ervin is a black non-binary trans-femme organizer that has been working for over a decade in movements both for trans self-determination as well as prison industrial complex (PIC) abolition. Woods has most recently worked with TGI Justice Project in the Bay Area. They engaged in research on the PIC at Interrupting Criminalization, a recently launched abolitionist research project. They are currently staff at Critical Resistance, an organization dedicated to prison-industrial complex abolition.
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*Please visit the links below to access working definitions (as well as articles and resources) for each of these terms as compiled by transformingharm.org:
For questions or more information, please reach out to mai doan at mai@thirdwavefund.org.
For questions or more information, please reach out to mai doan at mai@thirdwavefund.org.
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Accountable Futures Fund logo/illustrations created by Cristy C. Road, a first generation Cuban-American artist and musician who uses illustration, writing, and punk rock music as her preferred mediums. Cristy is the creator of the Next World Tarot, an illustrated tarot deck depicting resilience and revolution. Her illustrations have been featured in New York Magazine, The Advocate, The New York Times, Bitch magazine, and many more.
Image Description (top): An illustrative logo with the words "Accountable Futures Fund" below a collage of people modeling modes of care and resilience, such as a young person with black curly hair blowing petals in the air, two elderly people laughing and working with plants, another person sitting in a wheelchair smiling, and more people in the background tending to the land. The word "accountable" is in seafoam green cursive script and the words "Futures Fund" are below in grey capital lettering and vines and flowers wrapping around the letters. Image Description (right side): A young person of color with black curly hair and a yellow shirt blowing petals in the air. |
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