The Chicago-based Joyce Foundation has announced the launch of a five-year, $250 million grantmaking strategy that will extend its commitment to creating a more just, fair, and equitable future for young people in the region.

In 2017, the foundation recalibrated its mission to include a focus on racial equity and economic mobility; the updated strategy doubles down on those goals. In addition to issue areas and organizations the foundation has long supported — better educational outcomes, safer neighborhoods, clean and affordable drinking water, equal access to the vote, and artists of color — the strategy will incorporate new areas of investment, including support for criminal justice reform, efforts to address COVID's impact on public education, and protecting the region's groundwater from pollution.

The strategy will be implemented across all the foundation's program areas, including Culture, Democracy, Education & Economic Mobility, Environment, Gun Violence Prevention & Justice Reform, and Journalism.

"In the past year, our mission has taken on greater urgency. The disparities revealed and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the resulting economic disparities, and the racial reckoning sparked by the murder of George Floyd have made this work all the more imperative," wrote Joyce Foundation president Ellen Alberding in a letter to the nonprofit community. "The new five-year timeframe reflects our understanding that sound, evidence-informed policy making is often a lengthy process and requires sufficient time for research, development, and proper implementation and evaluation. At the same time, the past year has underscored the need to be nimble when faced with the unforeseen. Therefore, we will regularly review our plans to gauge our progress and adjust if necessary."