The Weingart Foundation is proud to announce our December 2025 funding round, totaling $15.5M to nonprofits across Southern California advancing racial and economic justice and strengthening the pillars of our multiracial democracy. This funding includes $6.9 million in longer-term unrestricted operating support for anchor organizations building civic engagement infrastructure and community power, along with $3.7 million to strengthen mutual aid and immigrant and refugee legal infrastructure in response to heightened ICE enforcement across our five-county region; for the second year in a row, the Foundation’s Board approved grantmaking above our budgeted payout to meet the urgency of this moment. Together, these investments reflect Weingart’s commitment to trust-based philanthropy, long-term movement building, and meeting urgent community needs.
“This moment requires us to act with clarity and courage—standing in solidarity with organizations on the frontlines while continuing to invest for the long term. At the Weingart Foundation, we remain steadfast in our commitment to organizations and campaigns rooted in shared power, justice, and dignity for all,” said Joanna S. Jackson, President and C.E.O. “Through strategic investments that strengthen immigration legal aid resources, deepen movement solidarity, and advance narrative change we are helping build a multiracial democracy that works for everyone, not just a few.”
ADVANCING IMMIGRANT JUSTICE
Photo Credit: @amoriphotography
In addition, support for mutual aid programs in this cycle is expected to benefit an estimated 3,140 households impacted by immigration enforcement across Southern California. Together, these investments address critical gaps in immigrant justice infrastructure while providing immediate relief and long-term stability for families and communities navigating extraordinary uncertainty.
SUPPORTING ECONOMIC JUSTICE BY STRENGTHENING WORKER CENTERS
Economic justice is inseparable from Weingart’s vision for a thriving multiracial democracy. That is why we continue to provide unrestricted operating support to worker centers—essential institutions that protect and empower workers most impacted by cuts to workforce programs, weakened labor protections, and attacks on immigrant communities.
This funding cycle includes support for the Los Angeles Worker Center Network (LAWCN), a coalition that coordinates strategy, shares resources, and builds collective power across the region. Supported members include UCLA Labor Center, CLEAN Carwash Worker Center (CLEAN), Garment Worker Center (GWC), Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance (KIWA), Pilipino Workers Center (PWC), Warehouse Worker Resource Center (WWRC), and the Los Angeles Black Worker Center (LABWC).
As a core organization in the worker justice ecosystem, LABWC is expanding worker organizing, civic engagement, and cross-center solidarity, while leading coordinated responses to wage theft, workplace raids, and employer retaliation. LABWC is also extending its reach to regions with growing Black worker populations, including Lancaster and the Inland Empire, reflecting the long-term, coalition-driven movement building Weingart seeks to support.
“The Los Angeles Black Worker Center is a vital anchor in our city, creating the conditions for Black workers to thrive in workplaces and industries that have historically shut us out,” said La Tonya Harris, LABWC’s Co-Chair. “Our space brings Black Angelenos together to build skills, develop leadership, and take collective action that shifts policies, opens pathways to high-paying careers, and strengthens families and communities. At the LABWC, we believe economic justice is a cornerstone of racial justice, and we work every day to make that real.”
This cycle also includes support for the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative, an organization that, while not a member of LAWCN, plays a critical role in the broader worker justice ecosystem by advancing health, safety, and labor protections for low-wage, immigrant women workers across California.
BOLSTERING OUR MULTIRACIAL DEMOCRACY THROUGH NARRATIVE CHANGE
The Weingart Foundation continues to learn and deepen our investment in narrative change and storytelling, recognizing that sustainable systems change requires shifting the narratives that shape public understanding, policy, and belonging. Our grantmaking is focused on building the narrative-change infrastructure in our region by supporting research-based and values-driven campaigns that advance inclusion, immigrant justice, and a democracy that serves everyone.
This funding includes support for The Angeleno Project’s LA Represent Campaign, a cross-sector initiative that builds cultural power, restores civic hope, strengthens movement infrastructure, organizing, and collaboration. By advancing intersectional strategies across issues such as immigrant inclusion, voter engagement, and equitable wildfire recovery, the campaign demonstrates how coordinated narrative change can support movement collaboration, shape public understanding, and drive systems-level change—helping move Southern California toward a more just and inclusive future.