The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has announced grants totaling roughly $80 million to advance racial and ethnic justice by helping develop more resilient, inclusive communities and addressing structural racism, inequality, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Awarded through the foundation's Equitable Recovery program and funded by a $125 million social bond offering issued in the fall of 2020, the grants will support work in four areas. The foundation awarded thirty-seven grants totaling $36 million in the area of racial justice field support, with a focus on combatting anti-Blackness; fifteen grants totaling $16 million in support of the self-determination of Indigenous peoples; thirty-five grants totaling $22 million to advance public health equity and COVID-19 mitigation and recovery; and a $5 million grant in support of an equitable housing demonstration project designed to restore communities and reduce incarceration and housing instability.

Recipients include the Institute of the Black World 21^st Century, which was awarded $1.5 million to build the capacity and power of Black communities in the United States and globally to work on cultural, social, economic, and political upliftment, including support for the National African American Reparations Commission; the Obama Foundation, which will receive $5 million to develop programming space within the Obama Presidential Center focused on leadership training, racial healing, and civic engagement; Allied Media Projects, which was awarded $3 million in support of the Decolonizing Wealth Project's efforts to increase investment in Native American-led and -serving organizations; the Latino Policy Forum, which will receive $360,000 to advance an Illinois racial equity reform agenda and support Illinois Unidos, a collaborative COVID-19 vaccine access and public health initiative; and the Urban Institute, which will serve as the coordinator for the housing demonstration project.

"As we emerge from this moment of crisis, we have an opportunity to improve the critical systems that people and places need to thrive. Our systems and structures must be rebuilt," said MacArthur Foundation president John Palfrey. "We are committed to ensuring that our response to the pandemic is focused on supporting the reimagining of systems that create a more just, equitable, and resilient world."

For a complete list of Equitable Recovery Grants recipients, see the MacArthur Foundation website.

(Photo credit: Institute of the Black World 21^st Century)