The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office is seeking applications for its annual “Bend the Arc” program, which provides grants to help battle racial discrimination in the county.
Since the program’s inception, the DA’s office has successfully distributed more than $280,000 in grants to almost 60 local organizations increasing opportunities for everyone and making Santa Clara County better and more fair.
Groups are eligible to receive up to $5,000 in grant funds to help them work against racial discrimination and disproportionality in Santa Clara County. District Attorney Jeff Rosen began offering the community grants in 2021. The application deadline is Aug. 14.
“All of us have a responsibility to make our neighborhoods safe and welcoming,” Rosen said in a statement. “Join us in our work to keep Santa Clara County a community that values diversity and demands fairness.”
Last year, the DA’s Office awarded the Bay Area Tutoring Association a grant to provide academic support to foster and justice-impacted youth. Another recipient, the Silicon Valley Urban Debate League, used their award to fund a speech and debate program at Andrew P. Hill High School in San Jose.
The program enrolled over 300 students, primarily low-income students of color, including many English language learners. Grant funding also supported Local Color’s youth-led mural arts project in San Jose that combined creative expression with social justice education.
An artist taught 20 students about the history of murals – including local murals of San Jose, color theory, shades and tones, composition, painting techniques, design processes, mural grid options, and more. The students then designed and completed a 5’x9’ mural that is now displayed in Sacred Heart Nativity School’s main hallway.
The grants come from the DA’s Asset Forfeiture Fund, which is money seized from gangs, drug traffickers and criminal organizations. The DA’s Office invests the funds back into the community to help repair the harm caused by those criminalsDA Rosen announced a series of 26 social justice reforms in 2020, including the Racial Justice Grant Program.
All of the reforms are intended to address racial discrimination and promote fairness in the criminal justice system. The implementation of the reforms began in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
For more information, visit the Bend the Arc Grant Application Eligibility and Requirements webpage.