Gone Too Soon Fund

Gone Too soon fund…

“While the Black community saw an increase in deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic, the health disparities for our community are far from new.  Biz Markie’s fight with Type II diabetes, Chadwick Boseman’s four-year-long cancer battle, and Michael K. Williams’s struggle with drugs—these tragic deaths are a reminder of the great importance of prioritizing mental and physical health for myself, our team, and greater BIPOC communities. 

Eighty percent (80%) of The Residency’s staff, board, and teaching artists identify as BIPOC. Our communities and the youth we serve have been historically and deeply harmed by systemic racism, discrimination in healthcare, wealth gaps, poverty, police brutality, a vast number of social inequities, and as of March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic.

As our lives become even more inundated with daily trauma, joy can help us heal. Joy and wellness to The Residency means giving our staff, teaching artists, and board members dedicated time and resources to heal, rest, and invest in themselves. By helping to ensure the well-being of our internal team, we can help support the health of our greater community. The Residency’s 2022 Gone Too Soon Fund will provide flexible, dedicated resources to our BIPOC staff, teaching artists, and leadership to increase their joy and wellness.”

- Amir Islam, Executive Director of The Residency

We applaud Jonathan Cunningham and the Seattle Foundation for their work creating the Black-led Joy & Wellness Fund grant, an important and rare funding opportunity that allows The Residency and other Black-led and -serving organizations in Greater Seattle to offer the flexible and personalized support we wish we could extend to our Black and POC staff, teaching artists, and board members throughout the year, but which we are often unable to do to the best of our ability because of our limited capacity.

To our team of artists, educators, advocates, and leaders who have sacrificed and given so much to our young people, to the ongoing fight for justice, to the rap and hip-hop sector, and to our greater community: we see the work you do every day, we appreciate you, and we hope you accept this funding to tend to what brings you joy.