PRESS RELEASE
For media inquiries, please contact:
Jennifer Lentfer, IDEX, 415-528-5398, [email protected]
Shanelle Matthews, BLM Network, 323-842-2136, [email protected]
September 6, 2016
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SAN FRANCISCO — International Development Exchange (IDEX)* and the Black Lives Matter Global Network (BLM) are pleased to announce a new partnership that reflects the global spread of the movement for Black lives.
IDEX and BLM will support one another with the goals of promoting social change within marginalized communities. A 30-year-old international grantmaking organization, IDEX provides fiduciary oversight, financial management, and other administrative services to BLM. As a 501(c)(3) public charity, IDEX can receive grants and tax-deductible donations and gifts on behalf of BLM.
Both organizations promote the empowerment of Black and African communities. A key aspect of the agreement is providing learning exchange and alliance-building opportunities for the BLM Network and IDEX’s grassroots partners in the Global South, especially Africa.
“We believe that people’s movements around the world have much to learn from each other and we value our role in connecting them,” explains Rajasvini Bhansali, IDEX Executive Director. “The struggles of indigenous peoples, women, and young people are shared around the world…There are proven and powerful strategies that are more than informative for people in the U.S. – they are edifying.”
With 37 chapters in the US and 5 chapters outside, #BlackLivesMatter has resonated all over the globe and is expanding. BLM approached IDEX to create this partnership because IDEX has the experience and skills to support BLM as they build solidarity with global organizations and movements. The organizations have developed a binding legal “agreement of coordination and cooperation” over the last year.
“We’ve connected people across the country working to end the various forms of injustice impacting Black people. We’ve created space for the celebration and humanization of Black lives,” says Alicia Garza, BLM Network co-founder. “We needed to partner with an organization who can support us as we build these connections on a global scale.”
IDEX was created to foster people-to-people grantmaking and solidarity. As part of the agreement between the two organizations, BLM and IDEX are working together to provide funding for IDEX partners in Africa. BLM has agreed to make a donation in support of IDEX’s grassroots partners in Zimbabwe and South Africa in lieu of an administrative fee for IDEX’s support.
Black Lives Matter’s focus on voice, inclusion, and systemic social transformation resonates deeply with IDEX’s staff, board, and partners. Both organizations are led primarily by people of color, queer/trans people, women, and/or people from the Global South. IDEX’s approach reflects the intersectionality of global struggles for social justice and sees BLM as a natural, necessary ally.
“At moments of crisis, we see so many systemic changes needed in the U.S. and around the world to struggle against anti-Black racism. The ways forward will have to be rooted in the most transformative vision possible for a world that is not race blind, nor race neutral,” says Bhansali.
“IDEX and BLM are building the collaborative capacity to heal the legacies of colonialism and slavery.”
/ends/
About Black Lives Matter Network:
Black Lives Matter Network is a chapter-based global organization working for the validity of Black life. Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi, and Alicia Garza created the infrastructure for this movement project—moving the hashtag from social media to the streets, working to organize communities and (re)build the Black liberation movement.
#BlackLivesMatter was created in 2012 after Trayvon Martin’s murderer, George Zimmerman, was acquitted for his crime, and dead 17-year old Trayvon was posthumously placed on trial for his own murder. Rooted in the experiences of Black people in the U.S. who actively resist our dehumanization, #BlackLivesMatter is a call to action and a response to the virulent anti-Black racism that permeates our society. It is an affirmation of Black folks’ contributions to this society, our humanity, and our resilience in the face of deadly oppression.
Learn more: blacklivesmatter.com
About International Development Exchange (IDEX):
International Development Exchange (IDEX) partners with donors and funders to support the visionary leaders and organizations advancing solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges around food, the economy, and climate. Since 1985, IDEX has funded more than 500 grassroots, community-led projects in 33 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America with multi-year, general support commitments. Annually, IDEX’s partners serve approximately 1.5 million people, enabling farmers to be agriculture sustainability innovators, helping families build income, equipping community members to fight against human-made climate threats, and much more.
Learn more: www.idex.org
*Thousand Currents changed its name from IDEX in 2016