DECOLONIZING WEALTH PROJECT’S LIBERATED CAPITAL ANNOUNCES FOURTH YEAR OF #CASE4REPARATIONS FUNDING TO BLACK-LED ORGANIZATIONS ADVANCING REPARATIONS

NEW YORK, NY – December 10, 2024 – Today, Liberated Capital, the donor community and funding vehicle of Decolonizing Wealth Project (DWP), announced the 2024 cohort of grantees for their #Case4Reparations fund. This year, $2 million in grants will be awarded to 32 Black-led organizations working to advance reparations movement-building and advocacy efforts in the U.S. Since DWP launched this fund in 2021, they have distributed $8.7 million in grants to 59 organizations and contributed more than $1.3 million to support the ecosystem through events and capacity building efforts. #Case4Reparations grantee partners have also successfully secured over $40 million in additional government funding towards reparations across multiple states since the fund’s inception. 

#Case4Reparations is a multi-year, multi-million dollar initiative designed to provide flexible resources for supporting community-led organizing and advocacy efforts focused on reparations. This fund is part of DWP’s broader commitment to invest $20 million in the reparations movement. This round of funding puts their total investment in the movement at $10 million – halfway to their goal.

Since its inception, #Case4Reparations grantee partners’ work has resulted in significant social policy and community-level wins: the creation of Boston People’s Reparations Commission; the introduction of reparations legislation in California and a $12 Million budget allocation for state-based efforts; the establishment of the Chicago Empowerment Fund, which will provide $31.5M to approximately 5,000 households; the establishment of New Jersey’s Reparations Council. 

In addition to legislation and advocacy, the Fund supports organizations focusing on influencing popular culture and building narrative power.  “A robust reparations ecosystem must include media strategy and narrative change and our work is to dream a future where Black people own and control our narratives,” said Anshantia Oso, Senior Director of 2024 grantee partner, Media 2070. “We live in a world where capital and who holds power dictates how our communities are covered, with a media system that has its roots in enslavement. We’re excited to win this grant to use towards our ongoing mission of repairing media systems and will make the most of every dollar to reach new audiences.”

“Today marks a powerful step forward as we welcome our fourth cohort of #Case4Reparations grantees – each a catalyst for transformation,” said Edgar Villanueva, founder and CEO of Decolonizing Wealth Project and Liberated Capital. Our grantee partners are doing the work of restoring wealth and opportunity to the Black people in this country who have been denied economic justice for centuries. This isn’t charity – it’s about addressing past and present harms and healing historical wounds that continue to shape the day-to-day reality of Black people in the U.S.”

To date, Reparations task forces have been formed in more than 23 states and municipalities. DWP is responding to the momentum of the reparations movement by expanding its staff and resources for the community. Richard Wallace has joined the team as Director of Reparations Programs. Mr. Wallace is an author, artist, and the Founding Executive Director of Equity and Transformation (E.A.T), an organization dedicated to advancing social justice and combating systemic racism in the U.S.  In addition, DWP developed a reparations mapping tool with data analysis support from Boston University’s Center for Antiracist Research, that offers a detailed view of the U.S. reparations ecosystem. DWP intends to transfer ownership of a reparations mapping tool to grantee partner FirstRepair as part of its work to support the reparations movement beyond grantmaking. 

“For reparations to be actualized in the United States, we must establish a vision that inspires and unites our people in the movement,” said Wallace. “It is imperative that both the vision and the work toward that vision is funded at scale. Decolonizing Wealth’s #Case4Reparations fund has played a pivotal role in bringing attention and funding to the movement in philanthropy and beyond. I look forward to leading this program and collaborating with our grantee partners across the country to win reparations at the local and state levels.”

The 2024 grantee partners for the #Case4Reparations Fund are: 

• Justice for Greenwood – Tulsa OKBlackroots Alliance – Chicago ILFirstRepair– Evanston IL

  GetFree– Brooklyn NY

  National Conference of Black Lawyers– New York NY

  Reparations Education Project– Washington DC

  Equity and Transformation– Chicago IL

  Reparations United– Burr Ridge IL

  National Black Cultural Information Trust– Waldorf MD

  New Jersey Institute for Social Justice– Newark NJ

  Marijuana Justice– Richmond VA

  Black Lives Matter Minnesota– Saint Paul MN

  Equal Justice Society– Oakland CA

  Chicago Torture Justice Center– Chicago IL

  California Black Power Network– Long Beach CA

  DC Justice Lab– Washington DC

  Malcolm X Grassroots Movement- NY Chapter– Brooklyn NY

  New Democracy Coalition of Mass Civic Education Fund– Boston MA

  Truth Telling Project/ Grassroots Reparations Cpgn– Ashfield MA

  Why We Can’t Wait

  Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative (BARHII)– Los Angeles CA

  Racial Justice NOW!– Silver Springs MD

  Joanne M. Braxton Institute for Sustainability, Resilency, and Joy– Washington DC

  Conrad Worrill Community Reparations Commission– Glenwood IL

  Reparations Finance Lab– Bethlehem PA

  Descendants of the St. Louis University Enslaved, Inc.– Creve Coeur MO

  KC Reparations Coalition– Kansas City MO

  National Reparations Network  (NRN)– Washington DC

  Media 2070 (a project of Free Press)– Washington DC

  Black Wall Street Business Center/Power Group– Tulsa OK

  Reparations Stakeholders Authority of Evanston– Evanston IL

  Institute of the Black World-21st Century– Elmhurst NY

ABOUT DECOLONIZING WEALTH PROJECT

Decolonizing Wealth Project (DWP), an Indigenous-led racial justice organization, works globally to disrupt the existing systems of moving and controlling capital using education and healing programs, radical reparative giving, and storytelling. Through its fund, Liberated Capital, DWP moves unrestricted resources to Indigenous, Black, and other people-of-color-led initiatives working for economic and racial justice. 

www.decolonizingwealth.com  

www.decolonizingwealth.com/liberated-capital 

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