ImpactAlpha, July 13 – Spurred by the ongoing social mobilization, George Soros’ foundation is placing long-term bets on activists.
The foundation will put $150 million into five-year grants to Black-led racial justice groups including Black Voters Matter Fund, Equal Rights Initiative and Repairers of the Breach, founded by Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II (see, “A minister’s call for moral, as well as economic, revival”).
Another $70 million will go to local organizations pushing police and criminal justice reforms.
“We understood we can place a bet on these activists — Black and white — who see this as a moment of not just incrementalism, but whole-scale reform,” Open Society’s Patrick Gaspard told the New York Times. “If we’re going to say ‘Black lives matter,’ we need to say ‘Black organizations and structures matter.’”
