Beloved Community Incubator ($10,000)
BCI provides support for cooperatives and other ‘solidarity economy’ groups in the DC area that are led by poor and working-class people of color striving to create living-wage jobs. BCI’s support includes business and leadership development, governance and conflict resolution training and legal, bookkeeping and administrative services.

Black Lives Matter DC ($10,000)
BLM-DC is a membership-based abolitionist coalition that centers Black people most at risk of state-authorized violence against Black people in Washington. Beckner’s grant supported a police reform campaign focused on the Metropolitan Police Department’s Gun Recovery Unit (GRU). BLM-DC’s approach included political education in the Black community to deepen understanding about the GRU and its tactics, and then highlighting how families and neighborhoods are being harmed. The ultimate goal was an engaged base of advocates, organizers and activists who use organizing, movement building and direct action to press for deep change in the way safety is understood and created in Black communities.

Fair Budget Coalition ($10,000)
FBC creates the space for advocacy groups, direct service organizations and members of the community to come together to advocate for budget and policy initiatives that address systemic racial, economic and social inequality in the District. Composed of more than 50 organizations and dozens of community members, FBC’s policy recommendations come directly from the concerns and needs of those impacted by the local policy and budgetary environment. Beckner’s grant supported the Coalition’s core work: supporting voices and building power among historically marginalized communities; building an annual budget platform that addresses inequities; and expanding the coalition so that impacted communities — particularly those in Wards 7 and 8 — are consistently centered.

Food Justice DMV ($10,000)
Food Justice DMV was founded in 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic by a group of volunteers who were concerned about their most economically vulnerable neighbors, who were losing their jobs and likely ineligible for government benefits. The volunteers quickly set up a brand new food distribution operation that soon served more than 6,000 families in the DMV, including 1,300 in the District. Mirroring the pandemic-generated food-delivery culture in the market economy, FJDMV established a volunteer-powered delivery system to families and apartment communities. Beckner’s support helped FJDMV continue to serve DC families as government subsidies for fresh food became less available.

Harriet’s Wildest Dreams ($10,000)
HWD is a Black-led abolitionist community defense hub centering all Black lives at risk for state-sanctioned violence in the Greater Washington area. The organization was founded in 2021 by Black female and nonbinary people with experience organizing in Black communities including the community of formerly incarcerated women. Beckner’s grant supported the Ida B. Free Court Watch and Participatory Defense initiateve, which has three interdependent parts: 1) court watch, to observe judges and prosecutors and collect data on systemic abuses (e.g., over-charging defendants); 2) court support, volunteers mobilized to show committed community support for those facing charges in court (in-person or virtual) during hearings and trials; and, 3) participatory defense, weekly clinics to inform and prepare community members who will walk beside those facing charges to help them wield their legal power and assert their human dignity.