Gucci Reveals 2023 Gucci North America Changemakers Impact Fund and Scholarship Winners
Gucci has revealed the fourth round of recipients for its Gucci North America Changemakers Impact Fund and Scholars Program, recognizing 12 nonprofit organizations and 12 scholars.
The brand launched Gucci Changemakers North America in 2019 in order to help drive solutions for a better future through creativity and impact. Since its founding more than 2,100 organizations and 4,000 students have applied to the program with Gucci awarding more than 50 nonprofit organizations with grants and 70-plus students with scholarships totaling more than $5.5 million invested. The Changemakers community continues to expand, allowing nonprofit organizations to make grassroots impact within their communities and offering students the opportunity to pursue their careers within the design and fashion industries.
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The 12 awarded nonprofit recipients will each receive a one-year grant of $50,000, which can be used to create new programs or scale existing initiatives. The newest cohort of grantees spans organizations across arts and culture, education, social justice and equity, and health equity and wellness. Some of their grant projects include mindfulness programming and yoga for Black, Indigenous and people of color men and youth in Chicago; a poetry convening and programming for Detroit area youth; emerging artists fellowships for Black transgender creatives in New York; youth development programming for at-risk youth in Philadelphia, and support for Canada’s largest Indigenous youth performance in Toronto.
The 12 grantees are: Black Girl Environmentalist (Wawa Gatheru), Washington, D.C.; Humbl Hustlr (Lorenzo Gordon), Atlanta; InsideOut Literary Arts (Suma Rosen), Detroit; United We Dream (Greisa Martinez Rosas), Houston; Marsha P. Johnson Institute (Elle Moxley), New York City; Mighty Writers (Tim Whitaker), Philadelphia; Outside Looking In (Tracee Smith), Toronto; Ruth’s Table (Katie Wade), San Francisco; Son of a Saint (Sonny Lee), New Orleans; The Fund for Women’s Equality (Zakiya Thomas), Los Angeles; The Healing Chicago (Andrew Smith), and Zero Hour (Zanagee Artis), Miami.
The selected grantees will have the opportunity to engage in volunteer activities with Gucci employees, town hall conversations with Gucci leadership, and additional programming with Gucci’s North American brand and Culture Engagement team.
The 12 scholarship recipients will each receive an academic scholarship for up to $20,000. This group of scholars is pursuing various paths within fashion and design at undergraduate colleges and universities. The scholarship program provides funding to undergraduate students with unmet financial needs and focuses on students from diverse backgrounds who live or study in one of the 12 Gucci North America Changemakers cities (including Atlanta, Detroit, Los Angeles, Houston, New York, Miami, Chicago, New Orleans, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Toronto and Washington, D.C.) or plan to attend or currently attend a Historically Black College and University.
The recipients are: Cleo Williams, George Brown College; DaNae Harrison, Spelman College; Elizabeth Lawson, The Savannah College of Art and Design; India Williams, Kent State University; Isabella Hanson, Cornell University; Jamesly Saint Louis, Rhode Island School of Design; John Davillier, University of Southern California; MaiTae Preece, Otis College of Art & Design; Maya Silva, California College of the Arts; Miles Richards, College of Creative Studies; Nikol Rafailova, Fashion Institute of Technology, and Rafael Diaz, School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
In addition, Gucci Changemakers will provide the fourth year of scholarship funding to the Gucci Changemakers x CFDA Scholar by Design Awardees: Ajai Kasim, Parsons School of Design, and Kaya Ugorji, Fashion Institute of Technology.
As part of the program, Gucci offers mentorship opportunities for scholarship recipients. This year, all awardees will have the chance to participate in the Gucci Program for Scholars, a six-week virtual summer program that helps to educate students on the various paths available within the fashion industry. The program includes fashion industry education, engagement with all departments across Gucci North America, Gucci corporate mentor assignment and skill building workshops.
Gucci’s North America Changemakers Council consists of Bethann Hardison, Brittany Packnett Cunningham, Cleo Wade, Dapper Dan, Dawinder S. Sidhu, DeRay McKesson, Eric Avila, Ivy McGregor, June Ambrose, Kimberly Blackwell, Michaela Angela Davis, Robert Carter, Yaseem Eldik, Yasmeen Hassan, and Yvette Noel-Schure.
Gucci Changemakers North America will celebrate with its Changemakers community later this fall and will reveal the next chapter of applications and new programs for its fifth anniversary later this year.
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