‘Redistribute your stimulus check’: How one U.S. coalition is bridging the social impact sector’s racist funding divide

Author Brennan Doherty
The New Economy Coalition is urging wealthy institutions and individuals to donate to the Black Solidarity Economy Fund

Why It Matters

Paying reparations is a concrete way to address the systemic lack of funding for Black-led organizations, especially at a time when Black communities across the U.S. (and Canada) are reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic’s ongoing effects.

When the New Economy Coalition’s (NEC’s) Black-focused working group met for the first time last year to start a mutual aid fund for Black-led organizations, they had a lot on their plate. 

Their plan to raise as much money as possible — $120,000 U.S. at last count — comes as COVID-19 continues to decimate Black communities across the U.S. in ways that are all too familiar to health equity advocates north of the border. According to U.S. Centers for Disease Control statistics from April 2021, Black Americans are 2.8 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 than their white counterparts and nearly twice as likely to die of the virus. 

While Black-led organizations are often at the forefront of responding to crises such as the pandemic and the impacts of systemic racism, the Black Solidarity Economy Working Group says they are often ignored when it co

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