As most of you know, we have decided to mute our regular programming on all social media accounts and blog posts for this week, with the exception of this post. We want to give space for those that have been suppressed to share their voice and knowledge with us. We decided to release this post to share with you the different charities that we’ve found and are supporting this month with the earnings that we’ve raised through Cameo. If you missed what Cameo is and where we donated our earnings to last month make sure to check out the blog here. We’ve done our research and have found multiple charities that are extremely deserving and who we stand beside and want to support.
I am so proud to say that with YOUR help we were able to raise a total of $18,422.65 Canadian to donate to charity! With everything going on in the world right now we wanted to show our support to the Black community. We want to not only provide financial support but as a brand, we want to do better! We are dedicated to doing what we can to stand against racism and work toward refining our goals and values to represent an inclusive community. After a lot of research, we found 8 charities that we wanted to help! In order to give each of these organizations the opportunity to help as many people as possible during this time, we have decided to top up the donation up to $25,000 Canadian, these funds will go to the 8 charities listed below.
Image Source: © 2016 PACIFIC PRESS
We at this time are prioritizing our reparations and anti-racism efforts in focusing on how we can immediately use our resources and privilege to create effective support to Black folks in our communities here in Canada and in North America. So along with the journey of educational labour we are embarking on as a team (which we are excited to take you along with us as we learn), we have prioritized a list of front line organizations doing amazing work. All these organizations have a great hand in supporting the intersecting needs of the Black community at this time as we have learned from Black activists and educators who we are just starting to learn from.
1. NAACP: National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is an association that helps secure political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights for Black Americans in order to eliminate race-based discrimination and ensure the health and well-being of all persons.
2. ACLU Minnesota: The ACLU of Minnesota association continues to promote, protect, and extend the civil liberties and civil rights of people in Minnesota through litigation, lobbying, and community engagement. The Minnesota division demanded independent prosecution for the killing of George Floyd.
3. Black Women in Motion: Black Women in Motion is a Toronto-based, youth-led organization that empowers and supports the advancement of black women and survivors of sexual violence. They work within an anti-racist, intersectional feminist, trauma-informed and survivor-centered framework to create culturally-relevant content, educational tools, healing spaces and economic opportunities for black womxn.
4. BLM Vancouver: Black Lives Matter Vancouver is a cause that supports the work of black folks and allies working in solidarity with communities seeking justice from racialized violence.
5. The Come Up: The Come Up is a collective group focused on empowering Black youth in Edmonton through community events and organizations.
6. Canadian Black Life Youth Helpline: The Canadian Black Life Youth Helpline’s primary focus is the prevention of social, psychological breakdown in communities through a focus on education, health and community development.
7. George Floyd Memorial Fund: The George Floyd Memorial Fund is organized by the Floyd family and all of the funds collected on this website will be withdrawn to an established account for the benefit of my family. 100% of funds collected here will go to the Floyd family.
8. The Black Aids Institute: The Black Aids Institue is all about advocating and creating spaces in the United States for providing high-quality HIV services and linkage to care for Black people. They are fulfilling important work in addressing the health care crisis which disproportionately affects Black folks due to systematic racism. To quote them directly they “Invest in Black communities through resources and services that address the fullness, richness, potential and expertise of Black people and mitigate social and structural factors that worsen health outcomes in Black communities.” We see that as an integral front line cause and service.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your continued support in helping those in need! We had originally planned on donating this month’s earnings to the Fort Mcmurray flood relief, but we are still in the process of finding the right charity for this. We are SO happy to announce that we will be donating all of the Cameo funds raised in June to this very deserving community! For those of you who may not know, the residents of Fort McMurray were hit with a terrible forest fire in 2016 and recently just suffered from awful flooding that happened in May. Make sure to check back next month to find out how much we are able to raise for the residents of Fort McMurray!
I’d love to know if there are any other charities that you hold near and dear to your heart that you would like to see us donate to!
xo
Jilly
Amazing and commendable work Jillian! As a fellow Canadian I am very pleased to see that the donations were split between here and America, as our country’s racist violations are a severe problem that must stop now as well. Your solidarity (activism, donations and especially your considerations in your own brand!) is truly heartfelt; an incredible example I hope many more will follow.