WGS Hinda Marcus Micro Grants for Social Change, Social Justice, and Healing
Following the brutal murders of George Floyd, Breonna Tayler, Daunte Wright, and Ma'Khia Bryant, among many others, students expressed a desire to channel their grief and anger into creative projects, leading to the creation of the first WGS Micro Grants for Social Justice. We recognize that our students continue to engage in impactful work that is uncompensated, unsupported, and often invisible during intersecting crises that we have witnessed recently.
The new WGS Hinda Marcus Micro Grants for Social Change, Social Justice, and Healing will support projects that may include, but are not limited to, educational services (e.g., book groups, book purchases, consciousness-raising activities, creation of syllabi, reading lists, etc.), creative articulations of advocacy (art, music, film, blogs, social media), grassroots organizing for social causes (e.g., reproductive rights), and more. The projects must be broadly related to feminisms, gender, sexuality, and their intersections with race, class, abelism, and more.
Recent grants:
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“Ode to the African Daughter”: a photograph series that aimed to uplift African young women and place them in spaces of modernity, disrupting stereotypical understandings of African women and agency. The work focused on Ghanaian women living in Worcester, Massachusetts and their work to build utopian communities.
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Six-Week Summer Project with Children (ages 4-6) and Campers (3rd-5th grade) on Feminist Pedagogy, Community, and Self-Awareness: camp activities included reading picture books about sexisim in the sciences such as Dinosaur Lady: The Daring Discoveries of Mary Anning, the First Paleontologist, creating a mural of famous women, and more.
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Black Women in Collegiate Leadership: meetings that brought together student leaders to examine how the unappreciated and extensive labor of Black women on college campuses reflect broader patterns of bridgemaking in the workplace. The goal was to create a support network of student leaders and to discuss remedies.
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Voice Unheard: Justice for Black and Indigenous Women: a consciousness-raising event to examine violence against Black and Indigenous missing and murdered women with a speaker and musician, followed by a community discussion.
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Feminist Killjoy Survival Kit: the reclamation of a military ammunition crate (on a smaller scale) to transform a violent, patriarchal object and construct a feminist killjoy survival kit with books, objects, etc. that support a feminist agenda, based on Sara Ahmed’s book, Living a Feminist Life.
Application Requirements:
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A brief description of your project (150-250 words)
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A detailed budget (e.g., stipends/honorariums, art supplies, books, food for events). The grants can fund up to $1000 depending on available resources.
Required Final Report:
A final report, which may be a video, presentation, or written text, is required to receive the grant.
Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis and are open to all currently enrolled Brandeis students.