Pioneer Valley Community Advised Fund Supports Local Grassroots Organizing

The Peace Development Fund (PDF) is a national, public foundation based in Amherst that works to build the capacity of community-based organizations through grants, training and other resources as partners in human rights and social justice movements.  

PDF’s local grant-making arm, the Pioneer Valley Community Advised Fund (PVCAF), supports grassroots organizing efforts of communities working towards social justice in Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties, with focused attention given to organizations led by people of color.

PDF is thrilled to share the missions and stories of our 2021 PVCAF grant partners, who day after day are organizing to make concrete changes here in the Pioneer Valley. 

Our 2021 PVCAF grant partners include: 

• All Farmers (Springfield, MA), which supports autonomous groups of refugee and immigrant farmers in accessing the land, training, and resources they need to succeed. Staff work with each group to define their goals, assess their needs, and develop a strategy unique to each situation. To date, All Farmers supports over sixty family’s ability to farm, including the Bhutanese Vegetable Farmers of West Springfield, Wakulima, a group of East African farmers who previously farmed together at New Lands Farm, and New Families Community Farm Partnership Association, led by members of the Somali Bantu community.

• A Knee is Not Enough (Easthampton, MA), is a BIPOC led, community-based, grassroots group that was founded after the Easthampton Police Department and public officials took a knee for eight and a half minutes to acknowledge the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police, but did not follow up with further action. We demand that the city of Easthampton commits to more than just a symbolic protest on behalf of Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color in our city.

• Decarcerate Western Mass (Easthampton, MA), is a coalition of people and organizations across Western Massachusetts, that came together at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic with the purpose of supporting incarcerated folks and getting people released. 

• Springfield No One Leaves (Springfield, MA), is a member-led community organization whose mission is to organize residents most directly impacted by the housing crisis and economic inequality to build collective power, defend against displacement, and win long-term community ownership and control over land and housing. 

• The Performance Project (Springfield, MA) is an arts community of many ages and ancestries that engages young people in intensive artistic training, inter-generational mentoring, leadership development, and community building through the arts.  

These grants are made possible thanks to the generous support of individual contributors, with decisions determined by an advisory board made up of community members, youth leaders and donors. Applications for these grants will open in December. Please visit PDF’s website if you’d like to get more involved with this local grantmaking initiative.