Grants 2025
Appalachian Justice Research Center – University of Tennesee-Knoxville
Knoxville, TN
$24,960 to examine prison construction in Appalachia to understand the dynamics of consolidated land ownership, extraction of resources, and consolidation of economic and political power in Appalachia and beyond. In collaboration with Building Community Not Prisons.
Institute on Black Life
Tampa, FL
$20,000 to investigate the electoral disenfranchisement of formerly incarcerated veterans in Florida and advocate for policy remedies. In collaboration with the University of South Florida’s Racial Justice Initiative and the League of Women Voters.
Jane Place Neighborhood Sustainability Initiative
New Orleans, LA
$20,000 to document the consequences and costs of eviction-based displacement in New Orleans and advocate for policies that protect and prevent harm for displaced households. In collaboration with the New Orleans Renters Rights Assembly and many individual tenant justice advocates.
Northeastern University
Boston, MA
$25,000 to launch a research initiative with community organizers in Oakland, California, that supports the development of a centralized, nationwide platform for anti-displacement community organizers to share tools, strategies, and experiences. In collaboration with RBA Creative, the Black Cultural Zone, and Creative Development Partners.
Northeastern University – Center for Public Interest Advocacy and Collaboration
Boston, MA
$20,000 to document and address the ways that law enforcement interactions with youth living in congregate care settings in Massachusetts contribute to harmful interactions with social and legal systems, such as the juvenile justice and child welfare systems. In collaboration with Citizens for Juvenile Justice.
Safety Valve Project, Inc.
Savannah, GA
$20,000 to investigate biases and inconsistencies in Georgia’s public school disciplinary hearings that disproportionately affect disadvantaged students and recommend more equitable tribunal systems. In collaboration with the Deep Center, Georgia Legal Service Program, and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Tennessee Health Care Campaign
Murfreesboro, TN
$25,000 to document the lived experiences of rural women as they navigate pregnancy, childbirth, and post-partum recovery in Tennesee counties characterized as maternal health deserts. In collaboration with Vanderbilt University University Medical Center Program for Health Equity Research and School of Nursing.
University of Mississippi
University, MS
$24,875 to identify the obstacles Latino/a/x artists face in the Memphis arts community, establish a Latino/a/x artist network to help address community concerns and challenges, and expand the Latinx Artist Archive oral history collection, which documents the stories of Latino/a/x artists in the Mid-South. In collaboration with Cazateatro, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, the University of Memphis, and Yancy Villa.
University of South Florida, Immigrant Well-Being Research Center
Tampa, FL
$20,000 to document the socio-economic, psychological, and service-related impacts of restrictive state and federal policy shifts on Florida’s immigrant families. In collaboration with Faith in Florida.
University of Washington Center for Human Rights
Seattle, WA
$23,438 to document violence in immigration detention centers in Washington state and identify where systems fail to protect detained people. In collaboration with La Resistencia.
Water Drop LA
Los Angeles, CA
$24,929 to identify the state of water, sanitation, and hygiene access among unhoused residents in Los Angeles and recommend solutions. In Collaboration with the Water for All Angelenos Coalition.
Worcester Polytechnic Institute — Puerto Rico Project Center
Worcester, MA
$24,900 to map and connect rescued schools across Puerto Rico, clarify government processes and advocacy strategies for school ownership transfer, and increase the political influence of communities working to repurpose abandoned schools into community centers. In collaboration with La Conde-Parceleras Afrocaribeñas, Id Shaliah, and Centro de Apoyo Mutuo Las Carolinas
Grants 2024
Atlanta Community Support Project
Atlanta, GA
$20,000 to investigate how survivors of intimate partner violence in Georgia that are low-income, people of color, and women are disproportionately prosecuted and sentenced for homicide relative to their abusers.
Beyond the Bars (Decarcerate Miami, Inc)
Miami, FL
$20,000 to investigate how employers threaten Black low-wage workers with criminal records to maintain power. In partnership with Little Sis and the University of Miami.
Fair Districts Georgia Foundation
Decatur, GA
$25,000 to create a community and statewide inventory of local redistricting processes in Georgia that supports a fair, inclusive, and transparent redistricting process that results in more representative districts after the 2030 census.
I Am Why
Newton, MA
$20,000 to gather data from young birthers of color across the U.S. on how medical professionals’ language impacts their reproductive journeys.
Institute for the Development of Human Arts
New York, NY
$20,000 to assess how engaging people with lived experience, care providers, and advocates can improve behavioral health care and policy, increase rights-based care, and reduce coercive treatment.
New Labor (Education and Training Institute)
New Brunswick, NJ
$20,000 to investigate the lack of complaints, violations, and enforcement of the New Jersey Temp Workers Bill of Rights in the temporary labor industry and identify who benefits. In collaboration with Rutgers University.
Phillips Black
Oakland, CA
$20,000 To investigate systemic ways that the legal system in Philadelphia unjustly precludes review of wrongful convictions and claims of innocence and unfairly influences the defense, parole, and commutation of Black men.
United Tenants of Albany
Albany, NY
$20,000 to assess the alignment of the priorities of tenants in Albany with the voting records, and campaign statements of city council members and the mayor. In collaboration with Sienna College.
Workers Lab
Oakland, CA
$20,000 to investigate the experiences of disabled workers with the gig labor market and identify policies that address their concerns.
Grants 2023
Chicago Torture Justice Center
Chicago, IL
$24,000 for research that helps advance reparations to survivors and families of police violence and torture in Chicago.
Geneva 2030
Geneva, NY
$20,000 to identify how elementary school literacy tutors in Geneva, New York, understand literacy as a tool for equity, access, and community development.
Period, Inc
Portland, OR
$20,000 to evaluate the impact of recent state laws mandating period products for students in school buildings. In collaboration with the University of Southern California.
Salem State University
Salem, MA
$20,000 to identify alternative policy responses to demolishing homeless encampments in New Hampshire.
Struggle for Miami’s Affordable and Sustainable Housing, Inc.
Miami, FL
$20,000 to investigate if political campaign contributions from real estate developers influence affordable housing policy and gentrification in Miami.
Texas Center for Justice and Equity
Austin, TX
$20,000 to examine disparities in charging and sentencing decisions of women in domestic violence cases in Harris County, Texas. In collaboration with Rice University.
Texas Defender Service
Austin, TX
$20,000 to identify the extent to which incarcerated women and girls in Texas were excessively punished because they were a minor party to a crime under Texas’s “law of the parties.”
Texas Gun Sense
Austin, TX
$20,000 to identify community-centered, out-of-home firearm storage strategies.
UC Collective for Caste Abolition
La Jolla, CA
$20,000 to collect testimonies from self-identified caste-oppressed faculty, staff, and students in the University of California system about the casteism they experience and promote anti-caste policies and programs. In collaboration with Equality Labs and the National Academic Coalition for Caste Equity.
University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Human Ecology
Madison, WI
$20,000 to identify the policy advocacy and organizing strategies used to support the new gender-responsive criminal justice reform wave – “Reproductive Dignity” bills in the United States. In collaboration with FREE.
Grants 2022
Cannabis Equity & Inclusion Community
Las Vegas, NV
$20,000 to assess a business education program designed to promote equity and inclusion in Nevada’s cannabis industry.
Community Group
Christiansburg, VA
$20,000 to study police traffic stop data in Christiansburg, Virginia.
East New York Community Land Trust
Brooklyn, NY
$20,000 to document the patterns of the ownership, use, and disposition of land held by the New York Police Department and identify alternative uses that benefit the community.
Free Migration Project
Philadelphia, PA
$20,000 to document the extent of medical deportation in the U.S..
Korean American Civic Empowerment
Flushing, NY
$20,000 to document the experiences of Asians with anti-Asian hate crimes in the New York metropolitan area and increase reporting.
Out in the Open
Brattleboro, VT
$20,000 to document how LGBTQ+ people in Vermont experience health care.
Public Advocates for Community Re-Entry
Indianapolis, IN
$20,000 to document the experiences of formerly incarcerated students with college in Indiana and advocate for policies that make it easier for their peers to enroll and graduate.
San Diego Housing Federation
San Diego, CA
$20,000 to document the outcomes of program designed to incorporate people that have experienced homelessness in local housing advocacy and planning.
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR
$19,992 to explore the housing practices of informally sheltered residents of Eugene, Oregon and devise temporary housing and sheltering policies that are more accommodating. In collaboration with Carry it Forward
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN
$20,000 to document the experiences of Black elders with structural racism in Knoxville.
Grants 2021
Alaska Public Interest Research Group
Anchorage, AL
$20,000 develop ethical protocols and best practices that guide translations and indigenous language preservation in Alaska. In collaboration with the University of Alaska Fairbanks Alaska Native Language Center
Arkansas Community Institute
Little Rock, AR
$20,000 to document how court fees and other court penalties impact household finances and employment opportunities for low-income, Black households in Jefferson and Pulaski counties. In collaboration with ACLU, DecARcerate, CARE coalition, Americans for Prosperity, Arkansas Community Organizations, University of Arkansas.
Centro Latino Americano
Eugene, OR
$20,000 to investigate structural barriers that limit participation of Latinos in municipal government in Lane County.
Emerson College
Boston, MA
$20,000 to study how language heritage programs for high school youth promote civic engagement in Northern California. In collaboration with the Yurok Tribal Council, Eureka City Schools, and the Klamath-Trinity School District.
Equity And Transformation
Chicago, IL
$20,000 to investigate how a guaranteed income can help formerly-incarcerated individuals in Chicago thrive. In collaboration with the University of Illinois-Chicago.
Middle Tennessee State University
Murfreesburo, TN
$20,000 to determine if student-led electoral redistricting plans reflect the interests of low-wealth communities and communities of color produce fair maps that prioritize voting rights and equal protection. In collaboration with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the National Conference of Black Political Scientists, Middle Tennessee State University, and eight universities.
National Family Farm Coalition
Gloucester, MA
$20,000 to investigate the role of corporate investments in loss of land in the South, especially land historically owned and farmed by Black and Indigenous peoples. In collaboration with the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund and the University of California, Santa Cruz.
NYU Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools
New York City
$20,000 to train public school parents, students, community organizers, educators, researchers and administrators in Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, and Newark, NJ how to create a culturally responsive English Language Arts curriculum.
Re-Entry Campus Program
Providence, RI
$20,000 to investigate worker-owned co-ops for people released from prison.