Our mission is to help end racism and systemic biases through community engagement, direct mutual aid, education and curriculum reform, youth empowerment programming, and the arts.
We are a volunteer-run, grassroots community organization; a collective of youth, professionals, educators, mentors, and friends standing up for the rights of all the disparaged and marginalized in our communities.
We formed in June of 2020, as a response to the murder of George Floyd and in tandem with the growing movement for social justice in the United States. Our founder, Benjamin Bacote, is a high school humanities teacher, father of three, and Black. He followed the lead of his then 13-year old son, heading to the town common to march, and answered the plea of one of his former students, a graduate who wants to ensure that the students in his wake are taught an updated curriculum.
We stand peacefully within the Democratic principles and rights following the New England tradition of civil public discourse. We stand for representation, recognition, and education of all as we seek to correct historic and current inequities based on race, ethnicity, class, religious beliefs, sexuality, gender, gender representation, ability, and age. These inequities exist systemically throughout our country and its institutions, and here, in New Hampshire. We stand with the Black Lives Matter movement sweeping our country. And, we will continue to stand until the promise of our founding words are not just memorized but also realized.
In the spring of 2021 we conceived a project called the Black Excellence Fund & Storytelling Project (BEFSP). It is our goal to provide material support and a public storytelling platform directly to young (under 35) Black and BIPOC individuals across all disciplines who are striving to embody excellence against the tides of systemic oppression.
Portsmouth,NHPoetLaureateDiannelyAntiguachairedapanelfeaturingour incredibleawardeesatthefirstannualBlackExcellenceConferenceatUNHin February,2023,entited,"RediefiningBlackExcellence."
To support Black and Indigenous-led initiatives and individuals with unrestricted funds is to trust the leadership and vision of Black and Indigenous peoples. It is a tangible way to forsake power and privilege in the ongoing struggle to decolonize.
IN 2022, WE RAISED $15,000 & AWARDED IT IN THE FORM OF 3 X $5000 UNRESTRICTED COMMUNITY GRANTS
In February, our Black History Month social media campaign highlighted exceptional Black individuals
In March and April we were busy attending the local iteration of the Women’s March, putting together our first Annual Report, and researching and compiling a database of all the crisis pregnancy centers for partner RFFNH, and we opened the BEF to nominations!
In June we helped organize a “Bans off our Bodies” rally at the State House along with many local orgs and people, to protest the overturning of the Dobbs' decision/Roe v. Wade.
We also worked with Oyster River Equity & Justice to create a webinar training on “Social infrastructure, Youth, and the Rise of White Nationalism,” which was so successful it was held twice.
The rest of the summer was busy, with Director Ben Bacote guest speaking at the Plymouth Businessmens’ Books Club hosted by Steve Rand and hosting a Fireside Chat about Art and Activism at Scrimshaw Farm in Thornton for visiting WPI students. Ben and Elizabeth attended the SEAChange conference in Eliot, ME and met our future collaborator, Portsmouth Poet Laureate, Diannely Antigua!
We began our first solo fundraising endeavor, a Fall Fund Drive, with the goal of raising $15,000 grant dollars to redistribute to our three nominees. In September, we did free live screen printing at emerging art’s org Queerlective’s End of Summer Art Takeover, and then again at New England BIPOCfestand we will be at both again in 2023!
We announced our 2022 BEF recipients: Akon Nakdimo, Niamiah Perry, and Ronelle Tshiela.
In October we began distributing free Plan B in the Plymouth area for RFFNH (distribution map)
In the summer we held a private “Responding to Racism” art making event for youth served by Project STORY with Yaz from Kimball Jenkins, at Keech Park, followed up in November with a potluck, film screening, and screen printing workshop for the same group of kids at the Concord Community Center.
Ben helped organize and find guests for an after school Trans Social for kids at Manchester West high with teacher Richella Simard. We continue to support her efforts to highlight and uplift her diverse students.
October, November, and December were a whirlwind of fundraising, with the Krakoa fund coming through with an offer of $10,000 for two years in a row to help us establish ourselves!! We accepted and got ⅔ of the way to our grant dollars goal!
Elizabeth created a design and we had benefit tees printed to sell as a fundraiser.
In December, we did our final live printing for the year at the Wrong Brain Holidaze Bizarre, a tradition we love and hope to continue for years to come! We met our grant dollars goal and were able to distribute three $5000 unrestricted community grants to our recipients in late December!
After taking a much needed rest in January of 2023, in February, Black History Month, we organized a panel of our BEF grant awardees with panel chair Dinannely Antigua; it was the closing panel for the first annual Black Excellence Conference hosted by BLM Seacoast at UNH.
We also put on our first poetry event, “Love & Resistance: An Evening of Poetry & Conversation,” at Plymouth State University, with Portsmouth Poet Laureate, Diannely Antigua, in February. She recorded the event and it is now featured as an episode on her Bread & Poetry podcast. Look for more diverse poetry programming with her in the future, as we just received funding to continue our collaboration!
Krakoa Fund = $3,125 + $10,000 for the next two years
New Hampshire Charitable Foundation = $2,100 + mentorship
You Have OUr Trust fund = $2,500 Donor advised fund by kirsten scobie
T-Shirt Fundraiser & individual Donations $2,263.85
Community Builder Donations totaling $1561.80
Community Partners are individuals and organizations that we have met with, collaborated with, rallied or marched with; they are not just our network but our real community. These are the folks we turn to as our dayto-day advisors; these are the peers whose work we support, uplift, and find inspiration in. True liberation is collective liberation. Thank you to all of our community partners! Solidarity.
American Friends Service Committee - Concord
BLM Seacoast
Change For Concord
Insubordination Station
Kimball Jenkins School of Art
North Country Community Safety Project
New Hampshire Harm Reduction Coalition
New Hampshire Youth Movement
NH Mutual Aid Relief Fund
Project S.T.O.R.Y.
Queerlective
Reproductive Freedom Fund of New Hampshire
Wrong Brain
Community Builders are partners in our network who have made a financial contribution in support of our flagship community grants program. We recognize and thank them for their commitment to supporting grassroots community organizing!
ACLU NH
New Hampshire Charitable Foundation
New Hampshire Harm Reduction Coalition
Sam Paolini
Socially Yours, Strategist
Water & Stone Massage
A special thank you to all involved in our events and programming, we look forward to future collaborations!
Special Acknowledgement and Thanks to:
Our families and friends, Diannely Antigua, Kirsten Scobie, Sandeep Bikram Shah, Anne, Alex and team at GJEP, Alberto Ramos, our BEF participants-Akon, Niamiah and Ronelle, Sam and Jess from NCCSP, Yasamin Safarzadeh, Joe Klementovich, Ben Craven and MLE, Julia Furikawa, Josie Pinto and the team at ReproFund, Han Hamel and the NHHRC team, Sam Paolini, Luke-the-Duke, all of our Community Partners and Builders, and you!
nh panther is:
Ben Bacote - Founder, Director
Elizabeth Robertson - Development & Communications, Clerk
Rebekah Lewis - Community Liaison
A note from our founder
June Jordan writes, in "Something Like A Sonnet, "
"the miracle of black poetry is that we persist, loved or unloved, published or not, we persist." This annual report evidences that NH PANTHER "persists," against the tides of systemic oppression, and in the fiscal year to come, we can't wait to show off! -BB
"Won't you celebrate with me?"
-Lucille
CliftonThankyoutoourfundersand everyindividualwhomadea donation--youhaveenabled ustogrowandexpandto helpachieveourmission!
Goal: $32,660
Expenses:
Black Excellence Fund & Storytelling Project - $15,000
3 x $5,000 Community Grant ($15,000)
Poetry Programming - $4,800
3 Poetry & Conversation Series events (6 x $600 stipends)
1 Poetry & Conversation event (2 x $600 stipends)
Community Programming - $5,400
Storytelling Event $2400
Speaker Fees (4 x $600 stipends)
Project STORY $1000
Unity Rally at Keech Park- August 2023
Live Screen Printing / Art / Outreach - $2,000
Materials and setup for ongoing screen printing ($1,500)
Transportation ($500)
Professional Development $4000
Non profit consultant ($3000)
Retreat and professional development courses ($1000)
Fundraising -$1000
Print NH PANTHER T-shirts to sell as benefit ($700)
Mailer or newsletter to donors ($300)
Operations -$3,360
Fiscal sponsor fee ($1510 for $30,200 raised / rate is 5%)
Website domain ($168/yr), office supplies, and technology ($1,850)
