The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation Board of Trustees met virtually this June and approved $4.3 million in grants to nonprofit organizations focused on the Arts, Education, Informed Communities, and Technical Assistance, as well as new Imagine a New Way grants that address root causes and repair of structural racism and inequity in New Jersey.
“All that we have learned since embarking on our racial equity journey and through the pandemic is affirming the Dodge Foundation’s path toward a more just and equitable New Jersey, said Tanuja M. Dehne, Dodge Foundation President & CEO. “We are humbled and inspired by the networks, movements, and organizations which continue to meet community needs and build power so that our systems provide opportunities for people of all races and communities to thrive.”
Aligned with the Foundation’s refined strategic focus, Dodge approved $350,000 in new Imagine a New Way grants to four organizations and projects that are using strategic tools to tackle barriers to a just and equitable New Jersey.
These include:
- $200,000 over two years to the Newark Movement for Economic Equity, the City of Newark’s Guaranteed Income Pilot Program. Launched in April 2021, the two-year pilot program provides unconditional cash to select Newark residents as a means to combat poverty and reduce the racial income gap.
- $100,000 to The Institute for Citizens & Scholars, formerly the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, to strengthen American education and to rebuild a flourishing civil society. Citizens & Scholars launched the Civic Spring Project to support youth-centered projects in New Jersey by Groundwork Elizabeth and Newark Youth One Stop and Career Center that addressed pandemic-related challenges facing communities, and that promoted local civic engagement during the 2020 general election.
- $25,000 to Make the Road New Jersey, a community-based organization which builds the power of immigrant, working-class, and Latinx communities to achieve dignity and respect through community organizing, legal, policy innovation, and transformative education.
- $25,000 to Wind of the Spirit, an inter-faith-based organization that educates, organizes, and mobilizes immigrant communities and allies. Their work is centered in community needs and drives towards just and humane migration policies, human rights and dignity for all people, along with promoting solidarity and a world of justice and peace.
For more on Dodge’s Imagine a New Way transformation, read the latest President’s Message.