Investing in Racial Equity

When we ask our nonprofit partners across Southeast Louisiana about the challenges they see in their communities, many of them point to persistent racial disparities, from health outcomes to educational opportunity to homeownership rates. They know these disparities reflect both present and historical injustice. Many of our partners have personally experienced these injustices, and have faced significant racial bias, discrimination, and even danger in our region.

The Greater New Orleans Foundation heightened our efforts to tackle racial injustice head-on in 2020, following the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor. We know that these killings are part of a long history of racial violence. We also know that we can never achieve our vision of a vibrant, sustainable, and just region for all without addressing racial equity now. So in September 2020, the Foundation created the Greater Together Fund for Racial Equity and seeded it with $350,000. The fund invests in Black-led nonprofits directly addressing inequitable systems, as well as initiatives that help close the racial wealth gap, such as those bolstering homeownership and local Black-owned businesses.

Our donors have been eager to support these efforts. One of the earliest and largest gifts came from Facebook. They had set aside $100 million to protect, support, and empower Black communities in the spring of 2020, and they put their trust in community foundations like ours to help them find those organizations. Inspired by the Foundation’s strong track record for fueling social impact, they invested $1 million in the fund.

Soon, Janet and Barry Lang, Martha Murphy, The Zemurray Foundation, The Collins Diboll Foundation, and many others joined in with their own generous gifts. We began awarding grants in November 2020, and four months later, we had supported 31 local nonprofits with $1.45 million in funding. In 2022, we made another $1 million worth of grants. Our grantees are approaching their work in varied, impactful, and creative ways. The Greater Together Fund’s grantees include the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center, which fights housing discrimination; the Grow Dat Youth Farm, an urban farm and youth development nonprofit; and the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, which has built a community around music for children and adults in the 9th Ward of New Orleans.