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10 Black-Led Organizations Championing the Fight Against Poverty

10 Black-Led Organizations Championing the Fight Against Poverty

700 million people remain trapped in deprivation worldwide


Annually, on Oct. 17, the world marks the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, a day meant to spotlight the grip of poverty on poor communities and to call for action. Yet in 2025, about 700 million people remain trapped in deprivation worldwide. The chasm of inequality looms large even in affluent societies. Closing that gap calls for leadership that sprouts from the communities it seeks to uplift. Black‑led organizations, often operating on limited resources, are stepping forward, championing solutions that are both sustainable and give dignity. This list shines a spotlight on 10 groups.

Realizing the Dream

Realizing the Dream, the brainchild of Martin Luther King III, operates as a nonprofit committed to eradicating poverty, strengthening community ties, and nurturing peace through means. Headquartered in Atlanta, its initiatives span the United States. Founded in 2006, the organization blends domestic poverty‑reduction efforts with peace‑building projects guided by a framework that echoes Dr. King’s enduring legacy.

Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for a Moral Revival

People’s Campaign, co‑led by Rev. William Barber II and Rev. Liz Theoharis, is a grassroots movement that presses for both economic and racial equity in a swath of U.S. policies: healthcare, a living wage and voting rights among them. It weaves together a coalition of groups across the country, having taken shape in 2018‑2019 as an outgrowth of King’s 1968 Poor People’s Campaign. By casting poverty as an emergency, it calls for deep‑seated reforms that go far beyond charity, striving to lift the voices of those who are poor.

The Youth Café (TYC)

The Youth Café (TYC), a youth‑driven pan‑African nonprofit based in Kenya, strives to empower youth across arenas of education, entrepreneurship, governance, and health. Since its launch in 2012, it has operated in 22 nations, holding fast to the view that sustainable poverty alleviation demands the participation of emerging leaders. 

Pistis Foundation

Pistis Foundation, established by pastor Godman Akinlabi, functions as a Black‑led enterprise that brings wealth‑creation initiatives, shelter, health services, and educational aid to Nigerians struggling with poverty in underserved locales. Since its inception in 2018, the foundation has pursued a strategy pairing assistance with economic empowerment to confront the many layers of poverty.

Ripples Foundation

Ripples Foundation is a Black‑led nonprofit, officially registered in the United States, that now runs programs across Africa. Its mission focuses on women’s empowerment, achieved through village-level women’s enterprise initiatives, community-development projects, micro-business support, and a fair-trade branding model. Founded in 2005, the organization planted its roots in 2011. Ever since, it has been helping women in some of the continent’s most impoverished communities to launch their own enterprises and reclaim economic agency.

PeP Africa International (PEP)

PeP Africa International (PEP) is a Black‑focused development nonprofit accredited by the United Nations, and its footprint now stretches across more than 45 countries worldwide. The organization runs development programs, offers skills‑training workshops, and advocates on behalf of young people both in Africa and throughout the diaspora. PEP holds that genuine youth engagement is the key to breaking poverty cycles and shaping a global future.

Black Futures Lab

Black Futures Lab, the brainchild of Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, aims to advocate for and channel resources into Black constituencies. With a footprint and a network of state and local outposts, the Lab works to reroute funding streams and policy decisions toward Black communities, grounded in the conviction that economic security is inseparable from political power.

Until Freedom

Until Freedom, an intersectional social‑justice collective, directs its resources toward people who feel the weight of poverty, systemic inequality, and state‑inflicted violence. Led by people of color, the organization is headquartered in the United States and builds campaigns and partnerships within marginalized neighborhoods. Since its emergence in the mid‑2010s, Until Freedom has woven anti‑poverty work into the fabric of justice and change in reparative systems. 

WISE Fund (Women Invested to Save Earth)

WISE Fund (Women Invested to Save Earth), founded by Dr. Jackie Bouvier Copeland, operates as a Black‑led philanthropic vehicle that dispenses grants, coaching, and support to Black-, Indigenous-, and women‑of‑color‑led organizations worldwide, with attention to climate‑vulnerable low‑income settings. The fund has become active, aiming to confront the intertwined challenges of climate change and poverty by channeling resources into communities steered by marginalized women.

IAMSK (I Am My Sister’s Keeper)

IAMSK — short for I Am My Sister’s Keeper is a Black‑led nonprofit operating in Memphis’ Shelby County in Tennessee. It provides a blend of housing, childcare assistance, tutoring, nutritious meals, and comprehensive wrap‑around services to mothers and families facing vulnerability. Founded in 2018, IAMSK works to bridge the gaps that often leave mothers on the margins of aid, offering dignity‑centered support right within their community.

Consider elevating and funding groups like these.

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