Help Bonafide Sisterhood continue its work!

Nina Carter has been a beacon of hope for families in Antioch besieged by trauma, violence, and grief. Her nonprofit foundation, Bonafide Sisterhood, has worked tirelessly in Antioch to provide grief counseling, lead sister circles, offer financial support for families that are victims of homicide to pay for funeral and burial costs, connect victims of domestic violence with advocates, facilitate life coaching for women, help conflict mediation with our youth, and run workshops to teach skills for entrepreneurship. Her heart is drawn to be a Violence Interrupter, which means preventing violence through community advocacy and opportunities. Nina's expertise and knowledge come from lived experiences and from working for a non-profit in Oakland, where she is the Senior Violence Interrupter. Her work in her career has also given her insight into the CalVIP program, a grant offered by the Board of State and Community Corrections to provide funding for cities and community-based organizations with the goal of reducing violence in the city and adjacent areas. In January, Nina applied for a CalVIP grant of $155,000 for Bonafide Sisterhood to fund the Neighborhood Hero Project. Instead of completing this grant application, she was asked by a city employee and a council member to revoke the application and reapply in collaboration with the city of Antioch. Nina agreed and rewrote a grant proposal. In July, Antioch was informed it was awarded $1.7million, and Bonafide Sisterhood would be a sub-recipient and receive $693,000. However, Nina did not receive the official award letter until August 5th and only after submitting multiple emails to the city was she sent confirmation of her portion of the grant. Then on November 10th, the City of Antioch rescinded its partnership and decided it would not give any financial support to Bonafide Sisterhood.

The promise of this grant allowed Nina to plan out the next 18 months and would have provided our youth, their parents, and the community at large a consistent location for practicing music therapy, releasing trauma, rebuilding their lives through career planning, connecting them with opportunities to give back through community service, and have round the clock mentorship. Now that the grant has been rescinded, Bonafide Sisterhood is in dire need of funds to continue with all the work that needs to be done. Please open your hearts to help keep this much-needed service in Antioch.