New $2.5M RIF fund serves R.I.’s African-American community

THE MERGER of the Black Philanthropy Initiative and Bannister House at the Rhode Island Foundation have created a $2.5 million endowment to support scholarships and programs serving Rhode Island’s African-American community. Members of the new Black Philanthropy Bannister Fund advisory committee include, from left to right, Beverly Ledbetter, Jason Fowler, Brendan Kane, Jane Hayward, Edward Clifton and Linda Newton. / COURTESY RHODE ISLAND FOUNDATION
THE MERGER of the Black Philanthropy Initiative and Bannister House at the Rhode Island Foundation have created a $2.5 million endowment to support scholarships and programs serving Rhode Island’s African-American community. Members of the new Black Philanthropy Bannister Fund advisory committee include, from left to right, Beverly Ledbetter, Jason Fowler, Brendan Kane, Jane Hayward, Edward Clifton and Linda Newton. / COURTESY RHODE ISLAND FOUNDATION

PROVIDENCE – A new $2.5 million scholarship, youth mentoring and services fund dedicated to the state’s African-American community and established through a collaboration between the Rhode Island Foundation’s Black Philanthropy Initiative and Bannister House was announced by the foundation Monday.

In 2015, Bannister House, which was founded in 1890 as a nursing home for retired African-American domestic workers, experienced severe financial challenges and twice went into receivership. After paying its debts, the organization donated $2.2 million to the Black Philanthropy Bannister Fund at the Rhode Island Foundation.

The foundation’s initiative was chosen because of its mission to address issues faced by African-American Rhode Islanders, said Jane Hayward, president of the Bannister House board at the time of the sale.

In recognition, Linda Newton, co-chair of the Black Philanthropy Initiative’s advisory committee, said: “Since Day One, our goal has been to support positive and systemic change for the black community. But, real change requires sustained resources. With this new partnership, our role as a perpetual source of support for the black community grows even stronger.”

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More than $125,000 has been awarded through the fund to organizations including the R.I. Black Business Association, the Rhode Island chapter of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women and the Urban League of Rhode Island, since 2012.

Carol Golden, the Rhode Island Foundation’s senior philanthropic adviser who will oversee the new fund, said this initiative, in particular, focuses on educating the community about financial empowerment.

“This new partnership increases the size of the fund by a factor of almost 10, and that gives us the potential to really scale up its impact,” she added.

The Black Philanthropy Bannister Fund will honor the original focus of Bannister House and the Black Philanthropy Initiative by continuing to serve the African-American community in three core areas: post-secondary scholarship assistance for black students pursuing a career in health care, financial support of community-based organizations targeting urban African American youth, and organizations that promote the history, culture and achievements of African Americans in Rhode Island.

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