MOZAIK Philanthropy Announces NEW ECONOMY Social Enterprise Grantees and Flow Funders

LOS ANGELES, March 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- MOZAIK Philanthropy, a national foundation committed to democratizing philanthropy, has announced ten winning social enterprise grantees as the award recipients of the NEW ECONOMY Flow Fund. The $70,000 fund issued grant support to groundbreaking for-profit / for-purpose social enterprise organizations and individual changemakers committed to providing services and products that advance a more just, sustainable, and equitable economy across communities, causes, markets, and movements.

During the open call for proposals between October 27th, 2020 and January 20th, 2021, NEW ECONOMY received over 100 proposals from a diverse range of social enterprise organizations and entrepreneurs working to bring their innovative social enterprise ideas to life. Ultimately, 10 social enterprise grantees were selected by the fund's Flow Funders to receive grants for their enterprise models that balance a for-purpose mission with a for-profit margin goal, while also demonstrating a spirit of innovation and creativity, and an unwavering commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and access.

NEW ECONOMY's winning grantees include social enterprise Alma Backyard Farms, an organization working to reclaim lives of the formerly incarcerated by repurposing urban land into productive urban farm plots and re-imagining disenfranchised communities as hubs for transformation. Ethos Innovation Lab also received a grant to elevate, accelerate, and sustain existing BIPOC-owned businesses and provide recent BIPOC graduates with job experiences that will jump-start their careers. Radical Womxn received funding for its education platform, project incubator, and creative studio designed for nonprofits, grassroots initiatives, community leaders, and purpose-driven brands.

Other winners include Meztli Projects, an Indigenous based arts & culture collaborative centering Indigeneity into the creative practice of Los Angeles, to highlight Native/Indigenous Artists and systems-impacted youth; Originals Nation, a business organizing Black America for economic progress; and SÜPRMARKT LA, a low-cost organic grocery store servicing low-income communities in Los Angeles.

Prosperity Market also took home a grant for its farmer's market on wheels and a food truck in one, featuring black farmers, food producers, and chefs throughout Los Angeles. Additional grantees include: Future City Pantry, an in-progress Social Enterprise Grocery Market and Community Space, aiming to shift  the narrative within the food industry by addressing food insecurity in Downtown LA; Lost Angels Children's Project (LACP), serving disadvantaged youth, young adults, families, and distressed communities through innovative vocational training, social enterprise, and traditional outreach programs; and Educate U, a social enterprise building capacity for the youth of color to obtain sustainable careers in industry sectors, including media, public office, investing, entrepreneurship, academia, and tech.

The NEW ECONOMY Flow Fund was designed to be an active experience in new ways of giving through the emerging philanthropic model of Flow Funding. Flow Funding is a grantmaking approach that empowers social visionaries outside the typical philanthropic institutions with funds to re-allocate to the communities and organizations of their choice; thereby, democratizing access to a foundation's philanthropic resources while ensuring diversity, equity, and inclusion within the funding process.

Arianne Shaffer, NEW ECONOMY's Flow Fund facilitator through New Mexico-based organization, Kindle Project, describes flow funding as "...one of the most impactful forms of participatory grantmaking that we have used. It not only allows the movement of resources to those that get traditionally overlooked by foundations but it also allows for deep healing, transformation and leadership opportunities for community leaders who are all too often left out of decision-making processes in the philanthropic sector."

"Having the opportunity to work with other mission-aligned nonprofit professionals who understand the intersectionality within our work was a rewarding experience," said Rosalyn Reed, Executive Director of United Roots and a NEW ECONOMY Flow Funder. "A noteworthy takeaway was having the opportunity to review the applications of powerful grassroots organizations, exploring the potential of their mission and vision and awarding them with a financial grant to support their work - which ultimately will impact and improve the greater community that has traditionally been overlooked and underserved. I am forever changed by this experience."

NEW ECONOMY Flow Funders include Arlin Crane, Vice President of Social Enterprise for Homeboy Industries, Cindy Montañez, CEO of TreePeople, Dawn Mendelson, Executive Director of Piece by Piece, Hermon Farahi, Founder & Executive Director of Cause Affects, Rosalyn Reed, Executive Director of United Roots Oakland, and Steve Glenn, Founder & CEO of Plant Prefab.

To read more about the NEW ECONOMY grantees and flow funders, please visit: https://bit.ly/NewEconomyGrantees

About MOZAIK Philanthropy

MOZAIK's mission is to explore and model new practices in philanthropy with disruptive, creative, and catalytic potential. In 2020, the organization invited communities to help govern its grant-making decisions, democratizing access to the foundation's philanthropic equity, while exploring new modes of participatory, inclusionary, and socially innovative grantmaking.

MEDIA INQUIRIES
Keely Badger
Executive Director
MOZAIK Philanthropy
keely@mozaikphilanthropy.org  
https://mozaikphilanthropy.org

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SOURCE MOZAIK Philanthropy