All the things that truly matter: love, kindness, creativity, beauty, joy.
We are Proud to Introduce Our 2019 KABF Grant Recipients!
“It’s more important than ever that we show up to vote, not just this year, but every year and in every election. Every vote must be heard and every vote must be counted.” — Michelle Obama
In 2019, the Kelly Ann Brown Foundation continued the work we started in 2018 by focusing on supporting efforts to increase voter turnout. The board especially wanted to support communities whose right to vote has long been suppressed and whom the current administration is actively working to keep from the polls on November 3, 2020.
Blueprint North Carolina
Blueprint North Carolina is committed to building an anti-racist, inclusive democracy. By “inclusive democracy,” Blueprint means an open, reflective and responsive government, which recognizes structural racism and economic inequality. Their goal is to tackle issues of racial and economic justice so American democracy works for all of us.
Click here for more info on Blueprint North Carolina. Hometown Action
Hometown Action got their start by engaging over 5,000 voters in rural communities just one week before the December 2017 special Alabama Senate election. Since then, Hometown Action has participated in community building, leadership development, and voter education in small towns and rural communities across the state.
Click here to read more about Hometown Action. 
A Montana Voices volunteer.
"Remember this in the darkest moments, when the work doesn't seem worth it, and change seems just out of reach: Out of our willingness to push through comes a tremendous power...use it."
— Stacey Abrams |
From We The People – Michigan
Indivisible
In 2018, KABF gave grants to several nonprofits to get out the vote, including the powerhouse Indivisible. The goal of Indivisible is to set a progressive agenda that politicians and candidates running for political office can adopt as their own. They have hired salaried organizers in almost all 50 states who educate and work with their many volunteers. They provide them with the tools for canvassing, texting, calling, talking to the press, and keeping the progressive issues, including DACA, Obamacare and fair tax bills, front and center. Click here to read more about Indivisible.
Kentucky Civic Engagement Table
KABF gave Kentucky Civic Engagement Table (KCET) a 2019 grant for the purpose of supporting their concerted efforts in providing civic engagement infrastructure and capacity growth in Kentucky. KCET is a coordinated umbrella organization that provides the tools to help smaller progressive grassroots’ nonprofits succeed. Click here to read more about KCET.
Maine People's Alliance
For over 30 years, Maine People’s Alliance (MPA) has built a statewide grassroots movement for progressive social change. With more than 32,000 members, MPA has become Maine’s largest community action organization.They have led state campaigns to expand health care access, affordable housing, racial justice, immigrant rights, and clean elections reform. Click here to see more information on Maine People's Alliance.
Montana Voices
Montana Voices is a coordinated civic engagement table that works with seven organizations doing grassroots voter engagement. They are committed to making sure all Montanans are able to participate in our democracy. Their mission is “to collaborate on programs related to civic access, voting rights, voter modernization efforts, civic engagement and leadership development.”
Click here to read more about Montana Voices. |
PA Stands Up
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In 2016, Donald Trump won Pennsylvania by 44,292 votes. In the wake of that election, thousands of Pennsylvanians came together, forming resistance groups in every one of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties. After the midterms and with the lead-up to the 2020 election, several of the most game-changing organizations and campaigns joined forces to form a new statewide organization: Pennsylvania Stands Up.
Click here to read more about Pennsylvania Stands Up. RAZE
Rural Arizona Engagement (RAZE) is an Arizona nonprofit started in 2017 by two committed activists, Pablo Correa and Natali Fierros Bock. As political candidates, Pablo and Natali went door-to-door, interacting with voters whom they found angry, disheartened, and disengaged. Pablo and Natali both came to understand that their rural community had been left behind, and no groups were working to reach out and follow up on their issues after campaigning was over. They decided they would have to find a way to do that themselves.
Click here to read more about RAZE. |
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Rural Utah Project
The Rural Utah Project caught the attention of the Kelly Ann Brown Foundation with the great work they were doing to engage voters in Utah. As their executive director TJ Ellerbeck told us, “The Rural Utah Project (RUP) was founded in 2017 with a goal of long-term organizing in often-ignored parts of rural Utah and increased representation for disenfranchised groups in rural Utah.”
Click here to read more about The Rural Utah Project.
Click here to read more about The Rural Utah Project.
We The People – Michigan
We The People launched in the summer of 2017. In many ways, Michigan is a convergence of the challenges facing American democracy today. It’s home to the most segregated metropolitan area in the US as well as a range of urban, rural and suburban communities who have endured multi-generational economic devastation. We The People believes that a politics of fear has successfully exploited identity divides across the state and driven wedges between low-income and working-class voters and their communities. That said, We The People sees an opportunity to build a “strong, durable, long-term multi-racial movement” in Michigan. In 2018, Michiganders voted in record numbers to pass ballot initiatives for fair redistricting and voting rights, as well as electing progressive candidates. We The People hopes to see progressives retaining power in Michigan so that long-term change oriented toward social justice can be implemented throughout the state.
Click here to read more about We The People – Michigan. |
Blueprint North Carolina -- Supporting the USPS
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Maine People's Alliance – BLM Protest
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Wisconsin Voices
Wisconsin Voices envisions “a Wisconsin where every person has the means, motivation and freedom to fully participate in a just democracy that provides opportunities for all people to thrive.” They unify progressive nonprofits in Wisconsin around achieving shared goals to build a better democracy. Wisconsin Voices amplifies their partners’ capacity and impact by nurturing leadership, promoting racial equity and fostering engagement so everyone has an equal voice.
Click here for more information on Wisconsin Voices. |
Artist Lilli Lanier
“I grew up folding origami with my grandma, aunts and great grandma and I enjoy continuing our family traditions. I like the geometric patterns and limitless possibilities origami offers. I also find it meditative and relaxing to fold origami." — Lilli Lanier
Kelly Ann Brown’s passion for the arts was lifelong. She majored in art history in college and her bookshelves were always lined with the works of master artists like Mary Cassatt. Her godmother, Janice Lowry, was a talented artist whose work adorned Kelly’s walls and whose journals were acquired in July 2009 by The Smithsonian Archives of American Art. With that in mind, Kelly Ann Brown Foundation (KABF) director/chair, Debra Hannula, met with Lilli Lanier and Lola Herrera in February of 2019. Lilli Lanier was born and raised in the Noe Valley neighborhood of San Francisco. She is the granddaughter of renowned artist, Ruth Asawa, who is known for her elaborate wire sculptures, which can be seen in the permanent collection of the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park. Ruth’s beautiful fountains, including The Mermaid in Ghirardelli Square, are found throughout the city, earning her the nickname “The Fountain Lady of San Francisco.” Lilli grew up in a house across the street from Ruth and began assisting her grandmother on projects and workshops as a teenager. For the past fifteen years, in addition to her art, Lilli has been working as a teaching artist in the San Francisco Unified School District as well as for Alameda County’s Juvenile Justice Center and its Office of Education. Lilli works in a variety of mediums including origami, paint, wood, clay and metal. Lilli still lives in Noe Valley with her two children and counts her parents, aunts, uncles and cousins among her neighbors. Lilli wanted to showcase her art in her family’s neighborhood and chose Lola’s art gallery. Lola Herrera, dubbed the “Textile Queen of Noe Valley,” is a local artist as well as gallery owner. Each piece Lola creates is a wearable work of art, many of them hand painted and all made from luxurious textiles. Lola was thrilled to co-curate Lilli’s show at her art gallery with the Kelly Ann Brown Foundation. Click here to read more about Lilli Lanier. |
Artist Lilli Lanier with her origami portrait of Frida Kahlo
Lilli's grandmother, artist Ruth Asawa
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Living Design Foundation
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“I've learned how to prepare a beautiful meal for people I love, and I'm slowly learning how to communicate honestly and compassionately with my mentors, friends, and family. I've learned that there is nothing more rich than that—nothing. This class taught me about the importance of good communication everywhere in life; at home, in class, with friends, with mentors, and in the kitchen.”
— Marissa (former Living Design student) One of the tenets of the Kelly Ann Brown Foundation mission statement is supporting creative education. KABF is happy to support a nonprofit on Whidbey Island, Washington—Living Design Foundation—whose sole mission is about creative education for teens and young adults. The mission of the Living Design Foundation is “to fund robust self- sufficiency life-skill development through educational programs and organizations which teach, encourage, and support people in creating healthy and productive lives so they may be contributors back to their families and society.” Click here to read more about Living Design Foundation. |
UMO School
"You can't use up creativity. The more you use the more you have." -- Maya Angelou
UMO’s mission is to “stir the human spirit and incite the imagination by providing awe, challenge and inspiration through the original and compelling art that is UMO.” This critically-acclaimed performance company both inspires and fosters creativity by providing students with a variety of tools and a safe place to learn.
KABF was happy to continue to support the work of UMO in 2019. We were thrilled to learn from their Executive Director, Elizabeth Klob, that UMO was able to serve a record number of scholarship students over this past year.
Click here to read more about UMO.
KABF was happy to continue to support the work of UMO in 2019. We were thrilled to learn from their Executive Director, Elizabeth Klob, that UMO was able to serve a record number of scholarship students over this past year.
Click here to read more about UMO.
Vashon Wilderness Program
"The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness." — John Muir Since 2014, KABF has supported the wonderful work of the Vashon Wilderness Program. In 2019 we gave another grant in honor of our beloved board member, Steven Eugene Paschall. Click here to read more about Vashon Wilderness Program. |
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Louisiana-Mississippi Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (LMHPCO)
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"My mom always says that everyone is connected. Whatever happens anywhere affects us all, even with people that are never getting out of prison." — David Brown Steward Kelly’s brother and beloved KABF board member David Brown Steward introduced us to prison hospice in 2014. We made another grant in David’s name in the fall of 2019.
Click here to read more about LMHPCO. |
March of Dimes
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“Seven weeks ago our little babe made her entrance into this world. At just 26 weeks and five days, she had a lot of growing left to do. She weighed just 1 lb 15 oz. But the first words that met her ears were my wife yelling "She's perfect!" Then I yelled "Happy Birthday!" It was a celebration. With lots of yelling.” — Rob, Holden’s dad
KABF gave a grant in 2019 to the March of Dimes Los Angeles in honor of a little girl named Holden. Holden spent her first four months of life living in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) at Cedar-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. Due to the wonderful care she received there and the love of her devoted parents—Holly and Rob—Holden is thriving. KABF learned about the March of Dimes (MOD) program that partners with Cedar-Sinai Hospital through Holden’s parents. Holden’s mom Holly was involved with the March of Dimes even before Holden came into the world. While working at NBC, Holly was one of the emcees for their annual March for Babies charity walk, an event which draws more than 20,000 people each year. MOD’s mission is to “help moms and families through every stage of pregnancy and throughout the NICU journey. When a baby needs NICU care, the NICU Family Support program is there to empower, educate and support their families.” Click here for more info on the March of Dimes. |
Holden dressed up as Ruth Bader Ginsburg
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Pink Smoke Over the Vatican
“It's time to end male supremacy in the Catholic Church.” — Father Roy Bourgeois
Roy Bourgeois and Director/Producer Jules Hart
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In 2012, KABF supported the documentary Pink Smoke Over the Vatican, an amazing teaching tool in support of the ordination of women in the Roman Catholic Church. On May 17, 2012, KABF, along with Judy Liteky, Cecilia Wambach, and Sophia in Trinity (the Roman Catholic Women Priests community), showed Pink Smoke in San Francisco with director/producer Jules Hart and Father Roy Bourgeois speaking. The night was magical.
Jules Hart is excited to update her film with the help and support of donors like KABF. Click here to read more about Pink Smoke Over the Vatican. |