MacArthur Foundation gives $80M toward justice work
The pandemic isn’t over and neither is the work following 2020’s racial reckoning. That’s why the MacArthur Foundation recently gave out approximately $80 million in grants to organizations doing equitable recovery work in racial justice and racial healing for Black and Indigenous communities as well as work in public health equity and housing.
As part of their Equitable Recovery Initiative, MacArthur approved:
37 grants totaling $36 million in the area of racial justice to provide infrastructure support for Black-led organizations and efforts related to reparations and racial healing;
15 grants totaling $16 million to acknowledge and honor Indigenous communities’ authority over themselves, their distinct needs, and their right to determine how best to heal and build the post-pandemic future they want.
Thirty-five grants totaling $22 million were given to organizations increasing health access, equity, and accountability to communities most affected by COVID-19, including Latinx communities in Chicago.
And $5 million went to the Urban Institute to support locally developed housing models that seek to address the challenge of sustainable housing for those returning to the community from jails and prisons.
The money is part of The Just Imperative, MacArthur’s ongoing work to see systems and structures rebuilt to “create a more just, equitable, and resilient world,” according to President John Palfrey.
In fall 2020, MacArthur established the initiative by raising $125 million (through bonds). The foundation deployed $40 million of bond proceeds through 24 grants that focused on strengthening
voter mobilization and election protection, addressing anti-Black racism, and supporting Native Americans impacted by COVID-19. Grants also supported Black, Latinx, Asian, and Indigenous arts organizations in Chicago, technology and justice and a fund for social entrepreneurs advancing racial equity.
The remainder of the funds were distributed with the assistance of a dozen, diverse external advisers who helped the Foundation focus giving to a majority of organizations that are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color-led or -serving. Chicago-based grantees include (among others): The United Way of Metropolitan Chicago, the Latino Policy Forum to support Illinois Unidos, a collaborative COVID-19 vaccine access and public health initiative, and the Barack Obama Foundation who received $5 million to develop programming space within the Obama Presidential Center that will focus on leadership training, racial healing and civic engagement on Chicago’s South Side.
“It is ongoing work,” said Valerie Chang, managing director of programs
at MacArthur. “We were trying to be responsive in the moment, but I think we will continue to learn from this. And looking ahead, we are going to have to continue to see how we be responsive to what’s happening in the world.”
Chang said the money was meant to offer organizations general operating support to allow them to hire additional staff, take time off, expand their capacity and be sustainable in their existing spaces. She said while $125 million is significant, it’s still not enough to solve the challenges that surround advancing racial and ethnic justice.
“We were trying to be responsive to the needs that we saw in the types of organizations that we saw out there,” Chang said. “We recognize that our funds in and of themselves will not be the only answer, but trying to help raise attention, hope that other donors may follow in our path, and make it possible for these grantee organizations to staff themselves, get training, That’s a bit about what we’re hoping to achieve.”