By Parnia Mazhar
Executive Opinion Editor
A committee is currently in the process of reviewing applications for the Clinton family’s first-ever Social Inclusion Grant that consists of $33,000 in various grants for the purpose of promoting nondiscriminatory environments for all individuals.
The Clinton family, which is from Manhattan Beach, decided to create the grant after an unknown individual(s) fire bombed its house in February 2015. After an investigation, officials believe it was a hate crime rooted in racism, donor and co-founder of the Social Inclusion Grant Malissia Clinton said.
Within several days of the fire bombing, the community raised thousands of dollars to provide a reward for anyone providing information regarding the case. The Clintons have allocated all of the donations from the community to a number of grants advocating for racial equality and inclusion, especially within the school system in Manhattan Beach, Malissia Clinton said.
“Over 700 of my peers and neighbors came together to exude sorrow for our struggle,” Black Scholars Union treasurer and Clinton family member Michai Clinton said. “Knowing my family had so much support made the whole experience a lot easier to handle.”
Over 20 students, teachers and district officials applied for the three separate grants available. Students proposed student-led initiatives or projects; teachers proposed teacher-led initiatives; and district employees proposed ideas for teacher and parent education on racial discrimination and diversity.
“This is a great response, as this is the first time we are doing something about inclusion and racial bias in our community,” Manhattan Beach Education Foundation Executive Director Farnaz Flechner said. “I want to find a way to continue this important work.”
The family will grant a maximum of $5,000 to the student winner, $15,000 to the teacher winner and $8,000 to District-level programming for parent and teacher education.
“I hope parents and teachers will learn how to uncover their hidden biases, which we all have, and work to remediate any negative assumptions associated therewith,” Malissia Clinton said.
Those interested had to submit an application that the committee judged based on the project’s mission and goals, the relevance and significance the project had to the applicant and the amount of creativity it showed. Applications were due by Oct. 12.
The Inclusion Grant Committee has received the applications anonymously and will meet one to two times to select the three grant winners next month.
The Grant Committee is made up of three MBEF members, three non-MBEF or district-affiliated advisors and one or more Clinton family members.
“The projects should have creativity and courage,” Malissia Clinton said.
The committee will notify the winners through the MBEF website and newsletters next month. All recipients will pursue their initiatives with the grants by July 2017.
“After being informed by the grant committee, winners will follow their proposed program plan,” Flechner said. “They will use the MBUSD expense process, and MBEF will grant the funding to MBUSD.”
The Clintons will donate the remainder of the funds to Costa’s Black Scholars Union and to Manhattan Beach Middle School to establish a new club supporting diversity.
“The grant gives individuals the opportunity to help spread awareness about race and other characteristics that are integral to the identity of an individual,” Michai Clinton said.
Leave a Reply