(CBM) – Last week, philanthropic organizations and other funders joined hands to launch the California Black Freedom Fund (CBFF), a new $100 million initiative that will provide resources to Black-led organizations in the state of California over the next five years. Co-created with Black leaders and organizers, the first-of-its-kind fund will ensure that California’s growing ecosystem of local grassroots, Black-led organizing groups have sustained investments that equip them with the resources they need to push back against entrenched forces of systemic and institutionalized racism. “Over the past year, we’ve seen Black communities across the country step up boldly as the conscience of our nation to challenge the status quo,” said Cathy Cha, president and chief executive officer of the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, a Bay Area philanthropic organization that tackles a broad range of social issues. “The California Black Freedom Fund represents a great opportunity to build on that momentum and support Black-led organizations and a movement that can keep racial justice front and center and reimagine a better future for all of us.”