A year ago, we introduced our annual Community Investment Fund and the commitment of our staff task force to identify local organizations that are countering systemic injustice, racism, and white supremacy. This year, we invite you to join us in supporting the 2021 recipients of that Fund.

We are honored to point a spotlight on these following Bay Area community-based organizations (CBOs) that are engaged in this important work: 

• Black and Pink (Bay Area chapter), who works alongside incarcerated LGBTQI+ people and people living with HIV/AIDS toward prison abolition, through pen pal matching, mail processing, political education, advocacy campaigns, and visiting with inside members;
• Black Cultural Zone, a collaborative of Black residents, leaders, organizers, and advocates formed to build power, secure land, and channel funding to keep culture and place for Black folks in East Oakland;
• Sorgorea Te’ Land Trust, an urban Indigenous women-led land trust that facilitates rematriation – healing and transforming the legacies of colonization, genocide, and patriarchy – and returning Indigenous land to Indigenous people;
• Tech Exchange, an organization combating the digital divide in the Bay Area by providing free refurbished computers, digital literacy training, tech support, and assistance accessing affordable Internet to low-income families, schools, and community centers; 
• Urban Tilth, a Richmond-based organization inspiring, hiring, and training local residents to cultivate agriculture, restore relationships to land, and build a more sustainable food system and a healthier, more just community.

These organizations were chosen for their ongoing local and very specific support for righting the injustice and imbalance of power resulting from systemic racism. Community-based design efforts and housing efforts can only go so far, and PYATOK is committed to continuing support of CBOs like these, providing needed services in ways that our own work does not.