Why this fund?
Deaconess Foundation, Forward Through Ferguson, and Missouri Foundation for Health, with the thought leadership of InPower Institute, collaborated to establish the St. Louis Regional Racial Healing Fund to invest in healing community trauma and changing the conditions that reinforce systemic racism. With a matching grant from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and a growing pool of participating organizations, $1.69 million was committed to the effort when the Fund was founded in 2020. Through a community-led grantmaking process, the Fund supported efforts to develop capacity and infrastructure in the racial justice movement to envision, articulate, and create a transformed St. Louis region through community organizing and healing arts.
How do you design a community-led fund?
1) Engage St. Louis residents, community healers, and community organizers to gather input, ideas, vision and priorities.
For the Fund to be community designed, we embarked on a wide-ranging engagement process between June and September 2020 with residents, community healers, and community organizers. The working groups informed the development of a Fund guidebook and a community leadership body with working groups focused on funding priorities, community governance, as well as grants and evaluation.
View the detailed Community Design Map
2) Gather healers and organizers to design and select a Community Governance Board who can develop granting processes, engage residents, and make award decisions for the Fund.
The design process was conducted completely virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic. We engaged healing practitioners, residents, and community organizers through convening, focus groups, phone-banking, surveys, and social media. These engagements informed the design of a Community Governance Board, which was then selected by a committee of healers and organizers. There were 55 applicant nominations and 32 application submissions, resulting in the selection of the inaugural Community Governance Board of nine members.
View the detailed Community Design by the Numbers infographic
Design Process Engagement Path
3) Pilot and evaluate the Fund.
The process yielded guidance on funding priorities, community governance, as well as grants and evaluation for the Fund. The community design engagement report outlines what we learned from residents, community healers, and community organizers.
View the detailed Engagement Path map
Community engagement event timeline (2020):
- Friday, June 26th, 6-7:30 pm. Interactive Panel Discussion on Healing, Justice for All, and Youth at the Center
- Wednesday, July 8th, 1-2:30 pm: Engagement Session with Organizing Table
- Thursday, July 9th, 6-8:30 pm: Racial Healing Practitioner Convening
- Community Organizer & Healing Practitioner Surveys (surveys closed 7/20/2020)
- July 17 – 25 — Community Vision+Priorities Survey posted on social media and shared with community partners
- July 20 — #Don’tRush Social Media Book Share and Challenge – residents and staff participated
- July 27, 6-7:30 pm — Community Organizers Focus Groups
- July 27, 10 am – 12 pm — Community Healers Focus Groups
- August 17 — Racial Healing + Justice Meme Share and Challenge
- August 13th, 2020 – August 22nd, 2020–Racial Healing + Justice Fund Volunteer Phone Bank (in partnership with WEPOWER)
- August 21, 6:30-7:30 pm — Interactive Panel Discussion on Racial Healing and the Opportunity to Thrive and, Racial Equity Priorities of the Ferguson Commission Report
- August 31st, 2020–Applications for Community Governance Board will opened.
- October 21st – Public launch of St. Louis Racial Healing + Justice Fund!
