Thanks to our generous customers (our Aerie REAL fam), the Aerie Real Foundation™ is proud to share that we are making over $100,000 in Aerie Real Foundation™ Community Grants to organizations across the country who are building confidence, fostering inclusion and protecting our planet.
The BKSteppers is a vibrant New York City-based organization dedicated to enriching young lives through music and dance education. Focused on underserved communities, we provide transformative in-school and after-school residencies, offering students hands-on experiences in diverse musical traditions. Our programs emphasize not just skill development but also values like teamwork, discipline, and creative expression. By fostering an inclusive community, we enable students from varied backgrounds to flourish, building confidence and cultural awareness. Through performances and community engagement, the BKSteppers celebrates the power of the arts to unite and inspire.
Capitol Movement’s mission is to “build better lives through dance.” We provide programs and opportunities for all dancers, regardless of socioeconomic barriers, through studio classes, workshops, outreach, scholarships, and a variety of community engagements. We are Women, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+ dancers of all shapes and sizes who have built Capitol Movement (CMI) on the foundation of inclusivity, equity, and access within the field of dance. Through high-quality instruction and performance opportunities, we connect those who love dance and believe in its power to create change with purpose and community.
Concrete Queenz is a nonprofit that brings skateboarding and community to underserved girls in South LA. We believe that skateboarding can be a powerful tool for empowering girls to be strong, independent, and confident. Our mission is to create a safe and inclusive space for girls to learn and practice skateboarding, while also building valuable life skills. Our organization is dedicated to empowering girls through weekly skateboarding programs, confidence-building workshops, travel opportunities to various skateparks across LA, and strategic collaborations with other organizations to deliver workshops on essential topics such as college preparedness, career development, and healthy living.
Disability EmpowHer Network is a non-profit run by and for women with disabilities that connects, motivates, and guides disabled girls and women to grow to their highest potential and have the confidence to lead. The Aerie Real Change Community Grant will support EmpowHer Camp, a year-long skill-building, empowerment, and mentoring program for disabled teenage girls. With the support of disabled women mentors, participants camp in the wilderness learning independence and survival skills, complete a year-long community project focused on emergency preparedness, and travel to D.C. at the year’s conclusion to practice their leadershipskills and reconnect with each other.
Diversability is an entirely disabled-run and disabled-led community business with over 80,000 in our ecosystem to elevate disability pride, build disability power, and advance disability leadership. Our programmatic work includes our signature Diversability Unplugged events, the Diversability Leadership Collective membership community, and the D-30 Disability Impact List honoring 30 disabled leaders annually. We’re not just creating communities; we’re pushing for representation, intersectionality, and disability justice. We are excited to bring Diversability Unplugged to the Los Angeles community for a hybrid event on uplifting disabled women.
Foster Love Project shows love in action to children impacted by foster and kinship care through the provision of goods, services & support. Funding from the Aerie Real Foundation helped make possible Foster Love Project’s annual Bag Drive, which provides at least 2,000 youth in transition each year with a new backpack or duffel bag stuffed with essential transtition items to call their own. Support rom the Aerie Real Foundation also benefits programming for children impacted by foster and kinship care, including those that have been adopted. Those other programs include: Teen Connections (receive support of the AEO Foundation), Family Support Weekend, Back 2 School Bash, Angel Tree, Excellent Hair Care and the free Shopping Center.
GIFT – The Aerie Foundation’s support goes beyond empowering university students, emphasizing well-being through intergenerational connections. Studies confirm positive impacts, increasing life satisfaction and reducing isolation. Engaging and assisting older mentors provides purpose and emotional support, fostering psychological resilience for both young and senior women. Allocated funds will secure healthy food components curated by University students, ensuring the senior community enjoys festive cheer. This underscores our commitment to comprehensive support, empowering both young women and the young at heart.
The National Aviary inspires respect for nature through an appreciation of birds. With Aerie Real Foundation’s support, our Girls Take Flight program will give young women from Pittsburgh’s organizations serving under-resourced girls confidence to join the fight to save our planet! This program teaches conservation and science concepts, and how we care for birds at the Aviary. It also opens the door to potential career paths in STEAM and gives young women a chance to meet other women working in these fields who work at the Aviary. Girls Take Flight celebrates a world with true gender equality.
Northwest Center Against Sexual Assault (NWCASA) is committed to empowering survivors and ending sexual violence. Our free services include: individual, family, and group counseling for survivors and their loved ones; medical advocacy at hospital emergency room; legal advocacy at local police departments and courthouses; 24/7 confidential crisis intervention hotline; and professional training, sexual abuse prevention education, and community activism. Medical advocacy and crisis hotline are available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and may services offered are available in both English and Spanish.
One House at a Time’s (OHAAT’s) mission is to help families establish self-sufficient lives by providing them with the necessities of a functional home environment. Our focus is ending child bedlessness in Greater Philadelphia. This funding will provide over 20 girls with new beds, bedding, books, stuffed animals, and sleep educational material. Well-rested girls are more likely to excel in school, to dream big, and to break free from cycles of poverty. More than a bed, we are offering a chance for a brighter future, and an affirmation of the inherent worth and potential within each girl we serve.
Project Libertad empowers newcomer immigrant youth and their families by providing essential, youth-led, and youth-centered legal and social services. We envision a world where all newcomer immigrant youth have access to the legal services, social services, academic support, and leadership opportunities needed to thrive.
Our mission is RAD – Rising Above Disabilities! We offer awesome programs and overnight summer camps for adults and children with developmental disabilities, much-deserved respite for their caregivers, and a life-changing volunteer experience for the community. We serve all ethnicities and developmental disabilities, including Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, and more. The Aerie Real Foundation Grant will allow us to continue providing a safe place of celebration and inclusion where everyone is welcome, where joy runs wild, and where we focus on each camper’s ability – not disability.
Sexual violence disproportionately affects women and girls across the country. For 29 years, RAINN has delivered bold and innovative national programming to prevent sexual violence, help survivors, and ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice. RAINN’s 24/7 National Sexual Assault Hotline offers visitors trauma-informed intervention and support, which can prevent the long-term mental health issues that so often arise after sexual assault. RAINN also tirelessly advocates for passing state and federal legislation that makes a difference for survivors and ensures safer communities. RAINN is committed to serving survivors whenever they need us and providing the justice they need to heal.
White Pine Center for Healing mission is to educate, advocate for, prevent the onset of and treat people with eating disorders, unhealthy relationships with food, body image and weight stigma issues and trauma through outpatient individual and group services. This grant will support their Eat, Breathe, Thrive workshop for 150 individuals, where they’ll learn skills and resources for mindful eating, emotional resilience, and positive embodiment to prevent negative body image and eating disorders.
Vikara Village® offers trauma-informed mind-body discovery through movement and the arts. We help our participants develop a healthy sense of self, community, and belonging. We offer tools and practices for a healthy mind and body to help you find peace and strength.
Through the YWCA’s Unstoppable Young Women for Change program, girls are given the space, knowledge, and freedom to explore their passions and make a difference in their communities. Standing at the intersection of racism and sexism, we elevate investment in young women of color and amplify their voices in the community. Support from Aerie Real helps introduce students to leadership, educational, and entrepreneurial experiences, and build relationships with visionary mentors. This program mixes data-driven social experiments, collaborative programming, cooperative economics, and innovation strategies designed to invest in the aspirations, ambition, and wellness of Black and Brown girls.
Are you making change in your community?
Apply for an Aerie Real Foundation™ Community Grant HERE! Applications for this cycle are due by 6.28.2024.
Aerie Real Change Community Grants are open for consideration for registered United States 501(c)(3) organizations that are focused on confidence, inclusivity or sustainability.
Hello! I would love to speak to your program manager about your grant opportunities. I work for Operation Warm, a national nonprofit providing warmth, confidence, and hope through basic need programs that connect underserved children to community resources they need to thrive. Our core programs include brand new coats and shoes for children pre-K through 5th grade. In addition to coats and shoes, we recently launched a program with the Philadelphia Eagles to provide sports bras to young athletes. We are looking for foundational partners to join us as we spread this program throughout the U.S.
I wanted to reach out to have a discussion related to your community grant, but also hope we can discuss a broader partnership. I appreciate your time in sharing this email with the right person.
https://www.operationwarm.org/flyfwd/flyfwd.html