The San Francisco Standard published an article about the Dream Keeper Initiative funds rescinded by the City of San Francisco.

“City cancels $10M in Dream Keeper funds, hitting trans and senior programs”
Published April 7, 2025

Read the article: https://sfstandard.com/2025/04/07/dream-keeper-scandal-grants-rescinded-trans-black-nonprofits/

“Queer Women of Color Media Arts lost $500,000 in promised grants. Kebo Drew, managing director of the nonprofit, said Dream Keeper previously funded the pilot of its critical juncture program, which paid queer and transgender Black filmmakers to tell community stories.

One of those films, “Belly of the World,” a documentary by April September, explores systemic racism faced by people seeking reproductive justice. It tells the stories of two Black trans men navigating pregnancy and parenthood and features a San Francisco doctor and a Mississippi midwife who pioneered economic support for pregnant Black people.

“That film is going to be a standout once it’s finished,” Drew said.

While it isn’t in a “crisis,” the arts nonprofit won’t be able to fund an apprenticeship program to train community filmmakers to get top-tier industry jobs. The funding also could have had a “multiplier effect,” Drew said, helping the organization raise even more. The Human Rights Commission hasn’t said what will happen to the grant money originally awarded to the group. The uncertainty forced the nonprofit to dip into its reserve funding.

“We didn’t get contacted for months,” Drew said. “Then we found out our contract was being rescinded for absolutely nothing we did. They didn’t explain why they made that choice.”