The Hewlett Foundation joined the Libra Foundation and 10 other foundations to establish the Democracy Frontlines Fund, a new initiative to provide sustained support to frontline, Black activists leading the movement to end systemic racism.
The Democracy Frontlines Fund will commit $36 million in unrestricted funding to 10 Black-led grassroots organizations advocating for racial justice over the course of three years. The organizations were curated by a brain trust of women of color with deep experience funding social movements.
“The Hewlett Foundation is honored to support the critical work of the Democracy Frontlines Fund to advance the cause of racial justice,” said Larry Kramer, president of the Hewlett Foundation. “We, like many institutions that have not previously confronted the affliction of racial injustice head on, have committed to do so now because we cannot look away from what has been made stark by the pandemic and the latest round of unjustified killings of Black people. In the reactions to these painful events, we hear a justified call for institutions like ours to step up; from these terrible causes and ensuing outcry, we believe there is also great hope for progress. But we come to the struggle with humility, looking for guidance from those in philanthropy and on the frontlines who have deep expertise in fighting systemic racism. In that spirit, we feel privileged to join this collaborative philanthropic effort, and we believe the Libra Foundation and the ‘brain trust’ it has assembled to help guide the Democracy Frontlines Fund can provide the leadership needed to make a real difference in promoting racial equity in our electoral and criminal justice systems.”
Read the full press release here and learn more about the 10 organizations receiving grants and the brain trust at democracyfrontlinesfund.org/.