Racial Healing + Justice Fund

Cycle 3 Grantees Announced

In its third cycle, the Community Governance Board is dispersing the largest sum of grants in the Fund’s history to support education, arts, maternal health, youth mentorship, urban farming, and more.

Read the entire press release, “St. Louis Regional Racial Healing + Justice Fund Invests a Historic $800,000 in 42 Black and Brown-led Organizations in the St. Louis region”

On Wednesday, July 26, the Community Governance Board (CGB) of the St. Louis Regional Racial Healing + Justice Fund announced that it is investing a historic $800,000 to support 42 Black and Brown-led organizations in the St. Louis region. The third cycle marks several milestones. The CGB received a record 212 applications and awarded the largest sum of grants in a single grant cycle. The third cycle brings the Fund’s total community investment to more than $1.3 million.

Crisis Response Grants

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: 
James Seaton
212-784-5705
JSeaton@groupgordon.com

St. Louis Regional Racial Healing + Justice Fund Announces $80,000 in Crisis Response Grants

Five organizations will receive $16,000 each to support community healing efforts following recent tragedy

ST. LOUIS (December 13, 2022) – The Community Governance Board (CGB) of the St. Louis Regional Racial Healing + Justice Fund announced today the distribution of five unrestricted, one-time crisis response grants of $16,000 each to The T/BRIC, Black Healers Collective, UnGUN Institute, St. Louis Community Health Worker Coalition, and Freedom Community Center. The grants will support these organizations’ ongoing efforts to provide frontline response to community trauma following the recent tragedy at Central Visual Performing Arts High School (CVPA) and Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience (CSMB).

Read the full press release here.

Note:the decision to award one-time crisis response grants are separate from decisions relating to general Racial Healing + Justice Fund Cycle 3 grant applications, which are currently being processed and deliberated.

Applying For Funding from the Racial Healing + Justice Fund

The Racial Healing + Justice Fund is a pilot for an endowed Racial Equity Fund. Stay tuned for upcoming Community Voice & Learning events that will collect feedback and share learnings from the Racial Healing + Justice Fund pilot.

View the program of the Community Voice and Learning Event below, which includes information about the Fund, stories from previous grantees, and insights about the application and granting process.

Past Grants

Community initiatives that align with the funding priorities and activities that are Black- or Brown-led were eligible to apply. Please refer to the Racial Healing + Justice Fund Cycle 3 Glossary to learn about the terms referenced in the Cycle 3 application. Email rhjf@forwardthroughferguson.org if you have any questions. 

Grant distributions for the first and second grant cycles of the RH+JF total more than $554,000 of the Fund’s $1.69 million. Learn about past Fund grant cycles + recipients:

• Grant Cycle 2
• Grant Cycle 1

The Fund is a radical exercise in anti-racist philanthropy where the community has complete decision-making power over the allocation of funds. These decisions are made by the Community Governance Board and are centered around healing the core of our community from racial trauma, and changing the conditions of systemic racism. Learn more by reading our Grant Philosophy.

The Community Governance Board

The Community Governance Board (CGB) is made up of Black and Brown residents of the St. Louis region and surrounding counties who are responsible for managing the Racial Healing + Justice Fund’s granting process and priorities.  

CGB members are entrusted with:

• Supporting interested Racial Healing + Justice Fund applicants in navigating the grant process
• Reviewing grant applications and making funding decisions
• Honoring community engagement and voice

Download Press Release – St. Louis Regional Racial Healing + Justice Fund Announces Community Governance Board:Residents of the Bi-State Area Direct Investments for Community Healing

Photo Credit:Nyara Williams & Tyler Small

A Community Designed Fund

Deaconess Foundation, Forward Through Ferguson, and Missouri Foundation for Health, with the thought leadership of InPower Institute, have 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 has already been committed to the effort. Through a community-led grantmaking process, the fund will support 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.

Together, we are envisioning, articulating, and creating a transformed St. Louis region through community organizing and healing arts. Learn more about the history of the Fund and the community design process that led up to the launch in 2020.

Forward Through Ferguson (FTF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and does not operate as a foundation or grantor. FTF leads project management and provides community design/engagement support for the Racial Healing + Justice Fund while support for grant administration is provided by Deaconess Foundation.

Core Principles:

Prioritize Inclusion & Community Voice: Uplift and engage St. Louis’ Black and people of color communities. Center the value of lived experience, emotional wisdom, and intellect.

Grow Community Awareness, Power, and Resilience: Acknowledge collective impact. Guard sacredness of members’ powers as individuals. Invest in community capacity.

Humanize Equity: Push back against white supremacy culture and mindset. Promote the health of one’s whole self. Create liberating practices which harness the power of imagination to self-determine and self-actualize community healing.

Check out this video featuring grantees from the Fund’s first cycle, where grantees share stories about joy, uplifting St. Louis’ Black and Brown communities, and supporting Racial Healing that’s #ForUsByUs.