$10K - $50K grants. The Power of Food in School Deadline: August 15, 2022

New Grant: The Power of Food in School Newman’s Own Foundation, with equity and strategic support from FoodCorps, is launching a new grant program! The Power of Food in School grants offer up to $50,000 to state and district-reaching organizations working to increase access to food education and nourishing meals in school. Who can apply: Any 501(c)(3) organization operating within one of these locations: AR, CA, CT, DC, GA, IA, ME, MA, MI, MS, NJ, NM, NY, or OR. Priority will be given to Black, Indigenous, Multiracial and People of Color (BIMPOC)-led organizations and those that honor the grassroots wisdom and expertise of local communities.  Funding amount: Grants will range from $10,000-$50,000, with Newman’s Own Foundation awarding up to $450,000 total. Funding can be used for general operations or program support.  Key dates: Proposals will be accepted through August 15. Funding will be distributed in October.  More information: All grant program information and RFP instructions are available on the Newman’s Own Foundation website. Have more questions? A live Q&A session will be held on June 30. Registration information will be available soon on the website and the session will be recorded.    Learn more and apply »   Know of an organization that could benefit? Please forward this email and encourage them to apply! Thanks for helping spread the word.   FoodCorps is a non-partisan, non-profit organization. FoodCorps staff and FoodCorps AmeriCorps members may not participate in any partisan or seemingly partisan activities during work time charged to an AmeriCorps funded grant or while earning AmeriCorps service hours. No federal funds were used to prepare or distribute advocacy actions.

Debt Relief Guide for Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) June 27, 2022 5pm ET / 4pm CT / 3pm MT, 2pm PT

 

Join Us Monday, June 27th on Debt Relief Guide for Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) Producers under the American Rescue Plan (ARP) 5pm ET, 4pm CT, 3pm MT, 2pm PT     Greetings Farmers and Ranchers and Member and Allied Organizations, Farmers and ranchers continue to be impacted by the halt in Debt Repayments for BIPOC Farmers and Ranchers under the American Rescue Plan (ARP). If you or members of your organization remain stuck lacking this critical relief - still frozen in the courts - without clarity on what they should do to keep their loans current or to access additional credit they may need to keep farming, we are working to provide the most current information and answer any questions possible. Please join us for an important zoom call for farmers and ranchers who were informed they were eligible to receive debt payments under ARP, on Monday, June 27th at 5pm ET. We will be joined by attorneys Stephen Carpenter and his colleagues from the Farmers’ Legal Action Group (FLAG) who will provide information on the status of the frozen ARP debt payments. They will also present guidance on what happens next with the loans that farmers and ranchers have with USDA.  We are working closely with FLAG on a Comprehensive Guide for Farmers and Ranchers with relevant information on the lawsuits that have halted payments, on the rights farmers and ranchers have as they navigate options to keep loans current, and what options they have to protect their rights. We ask that you come prepared to share any questions, concerns, or comments you might have, which will also help to inform the Guide. If you have any questions to share before the zoom call, please email them to Dr. Kenesha Reynolds at Kenesha@ruralco.org. We urge the organizations and producers receiving this message to share this invitation and the meeting link with other farmers and ranchers who need this information.   Zoom Information June 27, 2022 05:00 PM ET   Join Zoom Meeting Meeting ID: 878 7749 9906   Dial by your location     +1 646 558 8656 US (New York)     +1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)     +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)     +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)     +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)     +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)   Find your local number   In Solidarity, Rural Coalition           Rural Coalition | 202-628-7160 | E-mail | Website

 

Grants . Los Angeles-area organizations Deadline: August 1, 2022

 

RFP alert

Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation invites applications from local nonprofit organizations

Posted: June 17, 2022
Deadline: August 1, 2022
Grants will be awarded to Los Angeles-area organizations working in education, health care, homelessness, and social justice....

Success or Systems Failure. Africa Must Produce Its Own Vaccines June 2022

 

The unwillingness to try is worse than any failure.   Nikki Giovanni

 

Has any improvements occurred from 2016 to 2022 to reach even 5% of the goals for the continent producing its own vaccines?

 

“As of 2019, the continent possessed roughly 375 pharmaceutical manufacturers, as compared to….”

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/africa-in-focus/2021/12/09/figure-of-the-week-africas-trade-in-pharmaceuticals/

 

 

True Size of Africa

Africa Must Produce Its Own Vaccines Sep 1, 2021 LANDRY SIGNÉ   During the COVID-19 pandemic, Africa has relied on bilateral agreements and multilateral platforms like COVAX to deliver vaccine doses. But these have proved far from adequate, demonstrating just how important it is for the continent to develop its pharmaceutical industry. WASHINGTON, DC – During the pandemic, wealthy countries led the way in rapidly developing and producing COVID-19 vaccines. The same countries then bought up and administered those vaccines to their own populations, and have even ordered boosters for already-vaccinated people. Meanwhile, many developing countries have not been able to deliver even one dose to most of their populations. Africa, in particular, is struggling with limited access to COVID-19 vaccines. As of August 31, African countries had administered 94 million doses to the continent’s population of nearly 1.4 billion, with a total supply of 134.5 million. By contrast, the United States – with a total population of 332 million – has administered over 375 million vaccine doses. This disparity partly reflects the fact that most African countries are not able to produce the vaccines needed to protect their populations against not only COVID-19, but also the myriad other diseases that plague the continent. Africa is home to only four local drug substance vaccine manufacturers – two more are in development – and two “fill-and-finish” facilities that rely on imported vaccine substances to produce distributable doses. Supply-chain disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic showed just how risky this dependence on imports of critical medical supplies can be. Africa is almost totally dependent on vaccine imports, producing just 1% of the vaccines it administers. So far during the pandemic, African countries have received most of their COVID-19 vaccine doses through either bilateral agreements or the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) facility, an initiative launched last year by the World Health Organization and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. COVAX aims to provide vaccines for 20% of people in low- and middle-income countries. But while initiatives like COVAX are clearly needed to fulfill Africa’s short-term needs, they will do little to improve the continent’s capacity to provide crucial vaccines for itself in the future. That is why the Mastercard Foundation has pledged $1.3 billion to support local manufacturing and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, through a partnership with the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The program, which will include a focus on human-capital development, aligns with the African Union (AU) and the Africa CDC’s Partnerships for African Vaccine Manufacturing (PAVM) initiative. Launched this past April, PAVM aims to establish five vaccine research and manufacturing hubs on the continent over the next 10-15 years, and increase the share of vaccines produced locally for use on the continent to as much as 60% within the next 20 years. The European Union, in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation, France, Germany, and the United States, has announced plans to invest €1 billion ($1.2 billion) in the hub-development proje Developing Africa’s vaccine-manufacturing capabilities will not only help the continent to cope with future unexpected crises; it will also enable countries to improve the provision of existing vaccines. According to the Anadolu Agency, in 2019 an estimated 19.8 million children worldwide did not receive the measles vaccine through routine immunization coverage; the majority of those children live in Africa. Moreover, these efforts will place Africa on a much stronger footing to meet demand for future public-health solutions. For example, vaccines for Lassa fever – an acute viral hemorrhagic illness that is endemic in eight countries in West Africa – are currently in the development phase. Researchers are also getting closer to developing an effective and affordable vaccine for malaria. In 2019, 94% of malaria cases and deaths occurred in Sub-Saharan Africa. Yet vaccines are only one part of a long list of pharmaceutical products to which African countries often struggle to secure access. In 2015, 1.6 million Africans died from malaria, tuberculosis, or HIV/AIDS – all preventable or treatable diseases – because of chronic drug shortages. Fortunately, there are also initiatives focused on dismantling barriers to pharmaceutical manufacturing in Africa. In 2012, the AU Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) published the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plan for Africa (PMPA), which proposes technical solutions to many of the challenges facing the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry. The implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), by enabling the creation of economies of scale, should support progress on realizing the PMPA. As the PMPA notes, the African Medicines Regulatory Harmonization (AMRH) program, established by AUDA-NEPAD in 2009 to address regulatory weaknesses affecting Africa’s pharmaceutical industry, is also critical to its success. The program’s achievements so far include the AU Model Law on Medical Products Regulation, the African Medical Devices Forum, and progress toward an African Medicines Agency. The AMRH program is supported by a number of international organizations, including the AU, the WHO, Gavi, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Multilateral institutions like the AU and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization are also working with the Federation of African Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations, which was launched in 2013 by a group of regional associations to advance the AMRH’s mission. Multilateral institutions and initiatives must do even more to close the implementation gap and accelerate the development of Africa’s pharmaceutical industry. This means, for example, supporting capacity-building, knowledge transfer, and cross-sector coordination; backing rigorous implementation of the AfCFTA; mobilizing financial resources from international financial institutions and development banks; and cross-country collaboration to strengthen human capital. Such efforts received a boost during the pandemic. African leaders and multilateral organizations alike must make the most of this momentum to ensure that when the next crisis arrives, Africa is ready.

 

 

Black Emergency Managers Association International Washington, D.C.
bEMA International Cooperation, Collaboration, Communication, Coordination, Community engagement, and  Partnering (C5&P)   A 501 (c) 3 organization   The unwillingness to try is worse than any failure.   Nikki Giovanni