Until Feb. 1, 2023, we were Group Health Foundation. This post was written under our former identity. To learn more about our new name, read our announcement here.
Across Washington State, many organizations are leading powerful work to create a just and equitable future. Group Health Foundation is excited to announce 21 such organizations and tribal nations that received the latest round of Community Learning Grants to help further their efforts.
Community Learning Grants are one way we support organizations who reflect and work closely with their communities. Through their work, we learn what equity means for people throughout the state and how we can support the solutions that different organizations are creating to dismantle systemic barriers and foster community well-being.
Grant recipients will receive three years of unrestricted, general operating support between $50,000 and $100,000 each year. With this flexible and multiyear funding, organizations can define and direct resources to respond to community needs and advance their community’s ideas for a healthy, vibrant Washington.
Many organizations are culturally specific, ranging from tribal nations to local chapters of the NAACP, and serving various population centers around Washington. They are working with children and families, people who are affected by incarceration, people with disabilities, survivors of domestic violence, and young people experiencing homelessness. All are led by people who reflect the identities and experiences of the communities and people they serve.
These grants embody our ongoing support of tribal sovereignty and of Black-led and anti-racist work. They also reflect our continuing commitment to support communities throughout the state, especially in small and medium-sized towns, rural areas, and other places with farther proximity and historically limited access to philanthropic resources.
Some grant recipients will use funding for advocacy to hold those in power accountable to end racism. Others will build cultural and community spaces, including remodeling a tribal longhouse and designing a community center in collaboration with people with disabilities. Several organizations will invest in staffing and programming to address the unique needs of the communities they serve, such as arts for youth healing from trauma, supporting Latino people for civic engagement, and strengthening leadership among migrant families.
We made our inaugural Community Learning Grants at the end of 2019 and since then have begun funding 144 organizations, including the latest 21 recipients. They represent 144 trusting relationships we are hoping to build over time. These grants have served as our entry point to understanding the transformative work happening across the state. Our connections with Community Learning grantees have led to other opportunities for these organizations, including sponsorships and Systems, Power, and Action grants.
Group Health Foundation is grateful to know and be part of the growth journey of these organizations. We anticipate opening another process this spring for Community Learning Grant applications. In the meantime, we hope you’ll get to know the latest grantees identified below and learn about past recipients on our Community Learning Grants page.
Community Learning Grant Recipients
| Organization | Description | Service area |
|---|---|---|
| Central Washington Disability Resources | Disability-led organization advancing the empowerment, inclusion, and wellness of all persons with disabilities through advocacy, community education, peer mentoring, and skill development. | Kittitas, Chelan, Douglas, Grant, and Yakima counties |
| Colectiva Legal del Pueblo | Non-hierarchical organization founded for and by undocumented immigrants working to build community leadership and power for migrant justice through legal advocacy and education. | King, Thurston, Chelan, Okanogan, Snohomish, and Pierce counties |
| Creative Justice | Creative Justice builds community with youth most impacted by the school-to-prison-(to-deportation) pipeline. Participants and mentor artists work together to examine the root causes of incarceration, like systemic racism and other forms of oppression, and creating art that articulates the power and potential of our communities. | King County |
| Duwamish Tribal Services | Nonprofit entity established to promote the social, cultural, and economic survival of the Duwamish Tribe, whose aboriginal territory includes Seattle, Burien, Tukwila, Renton, and Redmond. | King County |
| Foundation for Youth Resiliency and Engagement | FYRE advocates for equitable opportunities with and, on behalf of, traditionally underserved young people in Okanogan County. | Okanogan County |
| Inspire Development Centers | Inspire Development Centers focuses on serving those in need and providing quality early childhood education services, grounded in the belief that every child has the ability to succeed. | Yakima, Grant, Adams, Benton, Walla Walla, Skagit, Whatcom, and Franklin counties |
| Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe | Federally recognized tribe with a vision to preserve and enhance the Jamestown S’Klallam Nation’s historical and cultural identity as a strong, proud, and self-reliant community, while protecting and sustaining tribal sovereignty, self-governing authority, homelands, and treaty rights. | Olympic Peninsula |
| Latino Civic Alliance | Base-building organization that collaborates with the community to improve the public good on the local, state, and national level by strengthening communities of color through education, civic engagement, and social responsibility. | Yakima, statewide |
| NAACP Bremerton | NAACP Bremerton/Kitsap Unit 1134 is a Black-led civil rights organization ensuring the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and the elimination of race-based discrimination. | Bremerton, Kitsap, Mason, and Jefferson counties |
| NAACP Spokane | A much-recommended partner of other local organizations, NAACP Spokane works on a wide range of issues, including democracy, environmental justice, criminal justice, education, and youth engagement. | Spokane |
| NAACP Vancouver | The mission of NAACP Vancouver/Branch 1139 is to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination. | Vancouver, Clark County, Southwest Washington |
| Northwest Cooperative Development Center | NWCDC assists new and existing cooperative businesses across sectors with a special emphasis on resident-owned communities and home care agencies, and helps convert existing businesses into worker-owned or community-owned cooperatives. | Statewide |
| Open Doors for Multicultural Families | Open Doors for Multicultural Families is a nonprofit, grassroots organization serving individuals with developmental/intellectual disabilities and their families from immigrant, refugee, and BIPOC communities. | King, Pierce, and Thurston counties |
| Operation Healthy Family | Black-led organization rooted in the South Perry neighborhood and serving people experiencing poverty. Focus areas include oral health, youth mentorship, and developing employment opportunities for youth. | Spokane |
| Partners in Prevention Education | Queer-led, multi-racial organization serving houseless, street-dependent, and marginalized survivors with intersectional identities to reduce harm, provide opportunities to heal, fight systemic oppression, and build lasting connections. | Thurston County |
| Peace Community Center | Black-led youth development and education focused organization with a mission to create transformational educational experiences for Hilltop youth and families to empower future success in college, career, and community leadership. | Tacoma |
| Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe | Federally recognized tribe with a vision to achieve the full potential of the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribal sovereign nation to be self-sufficient, proud, strong, healthy, educated, and respected. | Western Jefferson and Clallam counties |
| Samish Indian Nation | The Samish Indian Nation is the successor to the large and powerful Samish Nation, and works to ensure the health, wealth, education, and security of the Samish Indian Nation membership, thus preserving, protecting, and promoting its culture and traditions for generations to come. | Guemes Island, Fidalgo Island, Anacortes, western Skagit County, and San Juan Islands |
| Spokane Community Against Racism | A cross-racial coalition that identifies and addresses racial disparities through education, advocacy, research, community engagement, policy impact, and challenging existing organizational structures. | Spokane and Spokane County |
| United Indians of All Tribes Foundation | Provides educational, cultural, and social services that reconnect Indigenous people in the Puget Sound region to their heritage by strengthening their sense of belonging and significance as Native people. | King, Skagit, Pierce, Thurston, and Snohomish counties |
| Village of Hope | The Village of Hope is rooted in a Black experience and committed to the well-being of the Black community while working with all people dedicated to ending racism and restoring humanity. | King County |
