Through Ahsan Washington
October 17, 2025
Worldwide, 700 million people remain trapped in poverty
Every year, on October 17, the world marks the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, a day designed to highlight the grip of poverty on poor communities and call for action. Yet in 2025, approximately 700 million people worldwide will remain trapped in poverty. The gap of inequality looms large, even in affluent societies. Closing that gap requires leadership that emerges from the communities it seeks to uplift. Black-led organizations, often operating with limited resources, are stepping forward and advocating for solutions that are both sustainable and dignified. This list puts 10 groups in the spotlight.
Making the dream come true
The brainchild of Martin Luther King III, Realizing the Dream operates as a nonprofit organization committed to eradicating poverty, strengthening community ties, and promoting peace through resources. The headquarters are located in Atlanta, are initiatives extend across the United States. Founded in 2006, the organization combines domestic poverty reduction efforts with peacebuilding projects, guided by a framework that recognizes Dr. King reflects.
Campaign for Poor People: A National Call for Moral Revival
People’s Campaign, co-led by Rev. William Barber II and Rev. Liz Theoharis, is a grassroots movement pushing for both economic and racial equality in a range of American policies: health care, a living wage, and voting rights. It forms a coalition from groups across the country, which took shape in 2018-2019 as an outgrowth of King’s 1968 Poor People’s Campaign. By portraying poverty as an emergency, it calls for deep-rooted reforms that go far beyond charity, seeking to elevate the voices of those who are poor.
The Youth Café (TYC)
The Youth Café (TYC), a youth-driven pan-African non-profit organization based in Kenya, aims to empower youth in the areas of education, entrepreneurship, governance and healthcare. This has been the case since its launch in 2012 active in 22 countriesadhering to the view that sustainable poverty reduction requires the participation of emerging leaders.
Pistis Foundation
Pistis Foundation, founded by Pastor Godman Akinlabi, functions as a A black-led business bringing wealth creation initiatives, shelter, healthcare and education assistance to Nigerians struggling with poverty in deprived areas. Since its inception in 2018, the foundation has followed a strategy that links aid with economic empowerment to tackle the many layers of poverty.
Ripples Foundation
Ripples Foundation is a black-led nonprofit organization officially registered in the United States that now runs programs across Africa. His mission focuses on women empowerment, achieved through women’s enterprise initiatives at village level, community developmentdevelopment projects, support for micro-enterprises and a fair trade brand model. Founded in 2005, the organization established its roots in 2011. Since then, it has been helping women in some of the continent’s most impoverished communities build their own businesses and reclaim economic power.
PeP Africa International (PEP)
PeP Africa International (PEP) is a United Nations-accredited nonprofit organization focused on Black development, with its footprint now spanning more than 45 countries around the world. The organization runs development programs, offers skills training workshops and advocates for youth in Africa and across the diaspora. PEP believes that genuine youth engagement is key to breaking cycles of poverty and shaping a global future.
Black Futures Lab
Black Futures Lab, the brainchild of Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza, aims to advocate for and channel resources to Black constituencies. With a footprint and network of state and local outposts, the Lab works to redirect funding flows and policy decisions to Black communities, based on the belief that economic security is inextricably linked to political power.
To Freedom
Until Freedom, an intersectional social justice collective, focuses its resources on people feeling the weight of poverty, systemic inequality, and state-induced violence. The organization is led by people of color and is headquartered in the United States 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 recovery systems.
WISE Fund (Women Invested to Save the Earth)
WISE Fund (Women Invested to Save Earth), founded by Dr. Jackie Bouvier Copeland, operates as a black-led philanthropic vehicle that provides grants, coaching and support to Black- Indigenous and women of color organizations around the world, focusing on low-income, climate-sensitive environments. The fund has become active and aims to address the intertwined challenges of climate change and poverty by channeling resources to communities governed by marginalized women.
IAMSK (I am my sister’s keeper)
IAMSK – short for I Am My Sister’s Keeper is a Black-led nonprofit organization operating in Shelby County in Memphis, Tennessee. It provides a mix of housing, childcare assistance, tutoring, nutritious meals and comprehensive wrap-around services to mothers and families facing vulnerability. Founded in 2018, IAMSK is working on to bridge the gap that often leaves mothers on the margins of helpwho provide dignity-oriented support within their communities.
Consider strengthening and funding these types of groups.
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