MINNEAPOLIS — The next generation of Black leaders were in the spotlight during the 34th Annual Martin Luther Kind Jr. Holiday Breakfast in Minneapolis, and a record crowd was there to cheer them on.
It also made for the ideal setting to announcement another huge investment in the people and organizations who help lift those young voices.
"We've awarded more than $2 million in community grants across the state, in true partnership with members of our community," said Lulete Mola, one of the founders of the Black Collective Foundation. "Today we're announcing another $1 million investment in the genius of Black-led change across the state."
Mola - along with co-founders Chanda Smith Baker and Repa Mekha - created the Black Collective Foundation following George Floyd's murder in 2020.
"Amid the uprising for racial justice, we said, 'What is the closest proximity to power that we hold to truly influence a change in the community?'" she said. "Not just for the moment, but for generations to come."
Their answer is to offer support to individuals and groups like Black Storytellers Alliance, Be Their Voices and the Project DIVA International.
"We are a personal and professional development organization for Black girls in middle school and high school," said Neda Kellogg, who founded Project DIVA in 2007. "Our goal is to ensure that girls have an adult transition plan as they walk into adulthood. We tell our girls in Project DIVA that they are not our future leaders, they are our right now leaders."
Kellogg is one of the latest leaders to accept a $60,000 grant from Minnesota's Black Collective Foundation, but she joins many more.
Another recipient, KNOWN MPLS, took the stage to kick off the MLK Jr. Holiday Breakfast.
"Their musical director invested his own money to engage the youth before it became official and before they got this big stage," Mola said. "It's really is a reflection of how Black-led change occurs every day.
"It's not always a 501c3 nonprofit that you can find on a website, and we make sure that we go above and beyond to find those individuals, and to make sure they know that we believe in them and that we want to support them."
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