A $5.7 million funder collaborative has been launched in support of Black, Indigenous, and people of color-led grassroots organizations in Detroit.

With support from the Ford, W.K. Kellogg, Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family, and Skillman foundations, as well as the Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency, which will serve as fund administrator, the Detroit Resident First Fund aims to "transform neighborhoods in Detroit with the least access to power and social capital." The Detroit News reports that the Community Development Advocates of Detroit also has signed on and that the collaborative plans to raise additional funds and award $10 million in grants over the next five years.

According to the DRFF website, the fund is guided by four community-focused objectives: to create opportunities for leadership development and ensure that leaders are equipped, cared for, and have time and space to think strategically about their work; to support networks and organizations led by native Detroiters and/or people of color in their efforts to identify priorities and advocate for policies that support the social, economic, and environmental sustainability of their communities; to raise the visibility of resident engagement, resident power, and movement building as essential elements of sustainable transformation; and to enable foundations, community leaders, and residents to identify and implement innovative strategies together — through participatory grantmaking.

To date, the fund has committed a total of $1.4 million to fifteen organizations, which will each receive unrestricted grants of $50,000 a year for up to three years. Recipients include the Avalon Village, Community Movement Builders Detroit, the Georgia Street Community Collective, and Detroit Southwest Pride. While the public launch of DRFF, originally planned for 2020, was delayed by COVID-19, the fund disbursed $175,000 in technology stipends, capacity building support, and self-care stipends to sixty community leaders during the pandemic.

"We're all at the table together," Daija Butler, assistant director of planning for the Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency, told the Detroit News. "We're sharing decision power. Residents are at the core of all the decisions we make....They have the freedom and the flexibility to invest the money in the projects that are specific to their particular neighborhood."

(Photo credit: Georgia Street Community Collective)