The funds for the Radical Justice and Liberation grant opportunities are from the President’s Grants offered annually in support of our community partners at the President's discretion. This year in 2024, we expanded the process to include community members in our President’s grantmaking process and introducing support focused on Radical Justice and Liberation. 

Radical Justice defined: “At the heart of this work (radical justice work) lies the voices of people subjected to racial injustice and their experiences of human rights violations due to systemic racism” --Amnesty International

We are supporting the work, events and goals defined by people harmed by systems of oppression. We are supporting efforts towards:

• Healing
• Building strength, resistance and resilience
• Building radical hope – Having support to envision and embody what a just and liberated society can look like and feel like
• Leading healthy and thriving lives

The Radical Justice and Liberation Grants will support:

Examples of what we fund in support of BILPOC folx…

• Event sponsorships
• Emergency relief funds for organizers and/or organizing participants
• Attending training/workshops
• Respite, healing and stress relieving activities
• Neighborhood community building events
• Therapy and alternative healing modalities
• Cultural celebration activities for BIPLOC folks

Universal is especially committed to growing our capacity to resource BIPOC-led and serving power-building organizations through long-term trust-based partnerships.
 

Our grantmaking philosophy:
Universal’s grantmaking philosophy is guided by a core belief that strong organizing infrastructure begets strong movements for justice that lead to transformational change. We believe that:

• Communities that are most affected by social, racial, economic oppression are best positioned to identify effective priorities and strategies for transformative social change in their communities.
• No one actor or organization can single handedly create lasting change. Change comes from powerful collective action by a group of people working together.
• Organizations committed to addressing oppressions at their various intersections, as well as committed to racial, economic and social justice, help build transformative movements for change.

Universal will prioritize funding groups that:

• Have meaningful engagement from the people in the communities most affected by issues the organization works on
• Are inclusive and reflect the constituency(ies) in which they do their work.
• Work to address the social determinants of health or whose work intersects with health justice.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the connections between different forms of oppression facing Black & Brown people and are committed to address other forms of oppression based on race, class, gender, gender identity, sexuality, physical and mental ability.
• Have organizational structures and practices in place that reflect anti-racist social justice principles.

Universal will fund groups that are consistent with our mission, vision, values and strategic framework.

The average grant offered in by this fund is $1500 for event sponsorships or other activities. 

Timetable
Decisions will be made TWICE A YEAR:

1. Grant requests will be due on Wednesday, May 1st at midnight (to support summer events/activities)

&

2. Grant requests will be due on Wednesday, July 31st at midnight (support school, fall, winter and end-of-year events/activities)

Contact
Please reach out if you have questions, inquiries or need clarification to Rabera at srabera@universalhealthct.org or Ranya Alboslani at ralboslani@universalhealthct.org.

Feedback
This is a new process and we welcome any feedback, especially with how we can better align with our intentions and better serve partners.