Anti-Racist Education Fund

Update 7/22/2024

Dear anti-racist education funders and friends,

First and foremost, our commitment to launch a National Anti-Racist Education Fund has not gone away, however, it has been on hold due to the world-shifting events of the genocide that has been taking place in Palestine and the socio-political upheaval and transformational movements that have been awakened here in the U.S. and around the world since October 7th. It is of course all-the-more imperative that we continue the organizing work we are doing here at home--that of educating ourselves and our communities into a shared race and class analysis to undo systemic racism and to further expand that into an intersectional analysis to more deeply understand our multiple identities and the levels and layers of existing and interlocking oppressions.

Secondly, thank you to those of you who have generously donated to the National Anti-Racist Education Fund. We want to share an update with you all. We are currently creating a process that will offer a clear structure for accountability and transparency, both for those who have contributed to the fund and for those who will receive the funds.

As soon as we attain fiscal sponsorship, we will 1. launch a new organization that will host the fund as well as other organizing initiatives; 2. set up a structure for receiving donations; 3. applying for funds; 4. transferring funds to organizations for participants attending workshops; and 5. developing ongoing partnerships with national anti-racist educational organizations.

Our hopeful goal--depending on fiscal sponsorship--is to open applications to the public and start distributing funds by October 1st. Please keep an eye out for more information as we develop this process. We look forward to connecting with folks who might be interested in supporting this collaboration to expand access to anti-racist education for all.

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Thank you for your interest in supporting the educational foundations for our collective liberation.

Over the past 8-10 years, a number of reparative economic initiatives have been percolating, frameworks and models focused on community organizing, family engagement, historical study, redistributive wealth-building, and beyond have been slowly taking shape, culminating in the upcoming 2024 summer formation and launch of the Reparative Economics Organizing Collective. A few of the initiatives include:

1. The first public dialogue to share the Reparative Economics vision: a national framework and models for ending the racialized wealth divide that is offered to the U.S. reparations movement with a focus on organizing White people into a commitment of taking responsibility for ending systemic racism by cultivating community collectives for economic redistribution.

2. The launch of a national Anti-Racist Education Fund campaign (Jan 2023) to support access to education that builds foundational muscle for historical clarity on White supremacy, undoes the myth of individualism, supports movement organizing, and strengthens multiracial/class solidarity, a key component for creating a world and worldview that centers the humanity of Black and Indigenous people, communities, and lives. Economic hardship shouldn’t be a barrier to accessing life-saving education and the truth of who we are as a racialized nation under capitalist oppression.

3. Summer 2023 we gathered our first Reparations Study Hall: a 4-month educational cohort for White people to study and internalize Black and Indigenous American history, and connect the dots to our European ancestry so we may more fully participate in racial and economic repair.

Our 2023 Reparations Study Hall summer cohort had a collective funding goal of $17,500 to expand the fund and though we didn't quite meet the goal, together we raised over 11k (as you see here!). Many of us have profoundly benefited from foundational anti-racist education that has generously offered the clarity we've needed to set us on a path toward collective liberation. We will continue to raise funds as we move into more strategic organizational formation and ask that if you are able, you would consider giving. Any amount is deeply appreciated. Our wise and brilliant ancestor and teacher, bell hooks—may she rest in power—wrote, “Education is the practice of freedom.” Let's get free!

By taking the time to collectively learn, deconstruct, and rebuild critical historical infrastructures in our minds, hearts, and communities, together we can break free from the bondage of our deepest socializations. We can become effective community organizers, and we can experience the beauty of shared lives built on authenticity, trust, connection, and integrity. From there, we can construct new systems, rebalance racial and economic disparities, and redesign our future. This is what anti-racist education has to offer.

This education fund is currently being held in this GoFundMe account and will be transferred to a new organizational bank account in Summer 2024 as we will be launching the Reparative Economics Organizing Collective. Currently we are in the early stages of organizational development and have begun the fiscal sponsorship application process with a New York based non-profit who will mentor and guide our team with fund operations, management, and maintenance to ensure accountability and a transparent process for connecting recipients to educational opportunities offered by organizations in the business of building a solid race/class analysis, historical clarity, liberated power, and an organized movement for humanity.

Here is a list of the organizations we hope to partner with:

Undoing Racism ® Community Organizing Workshop - PISAB, New Orleans, LA

Undoing Racism Workshop, People's Institute Northwest, Seattle, WA

Foundational Anti-Racist Workshops, Antiracist Alliance, New York, NY

Rethinking Racism for Racial & Social Justice, Equity Consulting Network, Jacksonville, FL

Getting to the Root - Center for Safety & Change, Rockland, NY

Toward Liberation Series - Crossroads Antiracism, Chicago, IL

Phase One, REI, Racial Equity Institute, Durham, NC

Find one of the above foundational workshops near you:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vuj42nsHIbOAX1ep9DQwsd00PxXc7LuF-ZGrlzELYFA/edit

Reparative Economics Organizing Collective is the culmination of many years of historical study, teaching, organizing, and community engagement that has begun to taken shape as a multitude of visionary organizing projects consisting of educational opportunities and initiatives focused on racial repair and economic justice. Our mission is to ensure ALL people have access to liberated power, authentic relationships, and the resources and opportunities they need to thrive.

The above organizing frameworks and initiatives have been designed as a creative response to the call for reparations by Stoop Nilsson, a White, gender-expansive queer, anti-racist organizer, artist, social worker, and business owner. Their projects can be found online at www.stoopnilsson.net. Stoop has been a participating member, educator, and organizer with the New York City Antiracist Alliance and The People’s Institute for Survival & Beyond since 2012, utilizing the 10 organizing principles of Undoing Racism developed by The People’s Institute for Survival & Beyond: https://pisab.org/our-principles/

We are playing the long-game; we are moving at the speed of trust, and we invite you to join this movement for humanity.