Black-led Organizations in Arizona to Support
written by Trinity Miracle
Arizona is home to many thriving Black-led organizations. Whether you are looking to volunteer, donate, or are interested in more information about how to get involved, there is a Black-led organization somewhere in Arizona to support. Our embrace of non-profits does not stop at the Black organizations championing change.
Here are 11 organizations that are anchors in the Black community here in Arizona, providing political homes, deeper connections, resources, and empowerment:
Arizona Birthworkers of Color
Arizona Birthworkers of Color (AZBOC) is an organization dedicated to the growth, fellowship, and support of people of color within birth-related fields in Arizona. AZBOC, founded in 2016, is a collective group of people of color who offer services that support families before, during, and after childbirth. They provide space for the individual journeys and specific challenges of community-based Birthworkers who without organizations like AZBOC, would likely work alone in silos.
They provide opportunities for growth both personally and professionally, allowing Birth Workers to show up well and whole for the families they serve. Through hands-on skill-building workshops, professional development, leadership training, and self-regulation awareness, Birth Workers can sharpen their craft in a safe environment with love, respect, and dignity.
2. Arizona Coalition For Change / Our Voice, Our Vote Arizona
Arizona Coalition for Change (AZC4C) (C3) is a Black-led organization with a dynamic multicultural team that empowers everyday people to transform their community through building civic power, leadership development, and community collaboration. They advocate for lasting progressive public policies that change the dynamics for Arizona communities by putting people first and taking on our nation's most pressing issues.
Our Voice, Our Vote Arizona (OVOV) (C4) is an organization committed to advocating for sustainable progressive public policies that address the most pressing issues in Arizona communities. They build power by mobilizing voters, training the next generation of leaders, electing champions into office, and holding elected officials accountable. They organize around voter, economic, racial, and youth justice, and advocate for legislation that empowers and protects Black people from equity to the fight against policies that disenfranchise Arizona communities.
In 2020 alone, the organizers at AZC4C and OVOV registered 10,141 new voters, with the largest team of Black canvassers in the state.
3. Atabey Outdoors
Atabey Outdoors is the only BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) led organization providing outdoor adventures to BIPOC youth in the area. Atabey is unique in that currently, 100% of their Outdoor mentors and administrative team are Women of Color (WOC).
Historically, Women of Color lack representation in outdoor spaces. It has roughly been 60 years since the 1964 Civil Rights Act, meaning that BIPOC, specifically the Black community, has only been legally allowed to recreate in outdoor spaces with white people for 60 years. To combat this, they provide safe & fun outdoor adventures for BIPOC girls ages 8 to 12 by combining outdoor adventure with enrichment activities that encourage social, emotional, physical, and mental growth.
4. Black Phoenix Organizing Collective / Black Political Cultivation Arizona
Black Phoenix Organizing Collective (C3) is building Black power through political education, leadership development, and the creation of independent, self-reliant, and generative alternatives to systems of oppression. In addition to political education, they center reproductive and birth justice, disability justice, and mutual aid.
Black Phoenix Organizing Collective launched their campaign “Why I Didn’t Call”, to collect surveys, storytelling sessions, and interviews throughout Phoenix, Arizona to help build a shared understanding of why community members do not feel safe calling law enforcement.
Black Political Cultivation Arizona (C4) is an all-Black, queer, femme, and nonbinary-led grassroots political organization.
They are flexing their creativity and passion in elections, organizing, and public policy work to dismantle the systems that categorize our vibrant identities as targets and keep people poor and caged.
5. Black Lives Matter Phoenix Metro
Black Lives Matter Phoenix Metro is a Black, Queer, and Femme-led organization that works towards liberation by practicing abolition to seek true freedom of mind, body, and community. They do this through various ministries where they study decoloniality, provide community members with support and resources, foster community engagement, write blueprints for a new world, cultivate healing, and create art.
6. Council on American-Islamic Relations-Arizona
The Council on American-Islamic Relations Arizona (CAIR-AZ) is a grassroots civil rights and advocacy group that enhances the understanding of Islam, protects civil rights, promotes justice, and empowers American Muslims.
Through media relations, government relations, education, and advocacy, CAIR puts forth an Islamic perspective to ensure the Muslim voice is represented. In offering this perspective, CAIR seeks to empower the American Muslim community and encourage their participation in political and social activism.
7. Desert Star Institute For Family Planning
Desert Star Institute for Family Planning is a Black Woman founded and led organization that creates equitable access to reproductive health care for womb-bearing people while centering Black and Indigenous people of color. Founder and Board-Certified Gynecologist, Dr. DeShawn Taylor (she/her) provides clinical women’s health care, abortion services, gender-affirming care, and sexual health services.
Desert Star Institute for Family Planning was born out of an increasing demand for abortion training that Dr. Taylor was not able to meet within her clinical practice alone and has evolved into a Reproductive Justice Organization.
Although abortion is required learning in medical schools, there is no robust curriculum.
In 2017, Dr. Taylor, along with a dedicated team of reproductive rights advocates and medical students, began Desert Star Institute for Family Planning which is now among the few Black-led and community-centered institutes in Arizona.
8. Grassrootz Books and Juice Bar
Grassrootz Books and Juice Bar is a Black & worker-owned bookstore in the heart of Eastlake Park, one of Phoenix’s historically Black neighborhoods, which played a central role in the Civil Rights Movement in Arizona. The park was home to many civil rights rallies and visits from civil rights leaders, and was the starting point of many civil rights marches to the Arizona State Capitol. Given this, a bookstore centering activism, education, and economic development, alongside housing its many Black-authored titles, was the ideal location to honor both the area’s legacy and the mission of Grassrootz.
To browse their catalog, or check out their event calendar click HERE.
9. Mass Liberation Arizona
Mass Liberation Arizona is a community-centered organization seeking to decarcerate and divest from the criminal (in)justice system, believing all prisons, detention centers, and jails should be abolished and rather invest in solutions that strengthen our communities. As a movement, they are working to end mass incarceration by building a world that values people over property, healing over punishment, and liberation for everyone. They are led by those most impacted by the system and center Black liberation because they believe in doing so, everyone gets free.
The organizers at Mass Liberation Arizona are amazing in their accountability work, most recognizably in exposing anti-Black government officials that occupy space in offices like the Maricopa County Attorney, and the Phoenix Police Chief, both of which directly hold power over incarcerated people.
10. Tomorrow We Vote
Tomorrow We Vote is a non-partisan, issue-focused organization devoted to informing today’s youth about their voting rights, issues impacting their communities, and removing the stigma tied to engaging in the democratic process. Their program uses a customized education-based classroom curriculum to teach young people to become engaged and encourage them to vote.
As a Black and Brown-led Arizona organization, they reach out not only to the youngest-aged voters, but aim to educate those in marginalized communities who lack access to this historically gatekept information.
11. Shining Light Foundation
As a conduit for change, Shining Light Foundation brings together community, governmental, and private organizations to address community concerns. In collaboration, they provide solutions that positively impact, heal, and educate these communities for years to come. They stand out through community activism, community engagement, servant leadership, and advocacy.
The Black History Mural Project is one of the Shining Light Foundation’s most remarkable projects. This mural project was created to educate society about Black historical figures and their impact on shaping the United States as we know it. Their project illustrates that Black contributions to society are not limited to mainstream figures, by highlighting Black folks who have made breakthroughs and differences in a variety of fields, industries, and categories. In 2022, their goal was to paint 365 murals and 1,095 black figures across the country and work closely with school officials to facilitate the educational component of the project. They are continuing to expand this project in 2023, and beyond.
“Supporting Black-led organizations is a year-round act. The above listed organizations provide political homes, deeper connections, resources, and means of empowerment to Arizonans. Their work deserves to be invested in, supported, and further made visible, so that every community member in need knows that somewhere in Arizona, an organization has their back.”
