The $10 Million Fund Boosts the Power of the Unsung Heroes in Community-Rooted Organizations with Multi-Year General Operations Grants
WASHINGTON, DC., October 28, 2025 — The Early Childhood Power Equity Fund announced today that it has awarded grants intended to strengthen and stabilize organizations representing voices that are often marginalized. Twenty grantees will receive annual $100,000 grants for a period of five years.
The Power Equity Fund was born in 2023, when the Alliance for Early Success received an unrestricted $10-million grant from MacKenzie Scott. At that time, the Alliance was one of five national early childhood organizations who had come together as the Power Equity Council-—a group founded to build a more effective state advocacy voice for young children. The Council identified the expertise of parents and practitioners as an essential piece of policy advocacy, and the Alliance committed the $10 million to this cause. Additional operating support was provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for planning, grantee identification, and communications, allowing the full $10 million to pass through to the grantees.
The Power Equity Council organizations—the Alliance for Early Success, the National Black Child Development Institute, 9to5, United Parent Leaders Action Network, and the Early Childhood Funders Collaborative—represent deep experience in advocacy, grassroots organizing, elevating marginalized voices, and promoting new ways of philanthropy in state early childhood policy. They worked together to identify state organizations that represent the voices of those who have experienced unfair systems and unequal outcomes because the people closest to the problem create the best solutions. Their experiences and expertise will help ensure all children – regardless of where they live, the color of their skin, or the income of their parents – have what they need in the early years to lay the foundation for success.
“Communities know what communities need,” says Keami Harris, Chief of Equity and Strategy at the Early Childhood Funders Collaborative and a member of the Power Equity Council. “When funders trust and invest more in community-rooted organizations, they invest not just in resourceful leaders, but in entire communities.”
“These grantees are already doing inspiring and impactful work,” adds Helene Stebbins, Executive Director of the Alliance for Early Success. “This five-year investment is amplifying that impact and elevating the value of organizations like this because they are often overlooked by traditional philanthropy.”
The Power Equity Fund grantees were selected based on the strength of their existing work organizing parents of young children and the practitioners who support them. Each grantee builds power in their community to deliver change for young children and their families. The Power Equity Fund grantees are:
9to5 Georgia
All Nations Rise (Minnesota)
BCDI Miami
BEE Collective (South Carolina)
ECE on the Move (New York)
Family Forward Action (Oregon)
For Providers By Providers (Louisiana)
I Be Black Girl (Nebraska)
Faith in Minnesota
Mothering Justice Action Fund (Michigan)
Nollie Jenkins Family Center (Mississippi)
Oakland Forward (Michigan)
Ohio Organizing Collaborative
OLÉ (New Mexico)
Parent Voices Oakland (California)
Parents for Healthy Homes (Michigan)
Parents Leading for Educational Equity (Rhode Island)
Sacred Pipe Resource Center (North Dakota)
SPACEs in Action (District of Columbia)
Springboard to Opportunities (Mississippi)
More information about the Power Equity Fund and its grantees can be found at www.powerequityfund.org.
