Jean Hardisty Initiative

Supporting Black-Led Movements

Dedicated to social movement building and grassroots organizing, the Jean Hardisty Initiative is named after and guided by the values of the late Jean Hardisty, a longtime WDN member and feminist scholar. Since 2015, the Jean Hardisty Initiative has been moving resources to Black-led movements that are channeling protest energy into power, with a long-term goal of eradicating structural inequality and eliminating the racialization of systems that uphold it. The pillars that uphold the Jean Hardisty Initiative’s work include:

  • Supporting Movement Infrastructure. Supporting grassroots organizing, movement building, and long-term movement infrastructure to Black-led movements.
  • Having National & Local Footprints. Supporting organizations organizing at the local level while continuing to build national alliances and supporting coalitions that connect the local to the national.
  • Developing & Training New Movement Leaders. The need for leadership development is critical. As such, the Hardisty Initiative is committed to supporting and resourcing the infrastructure needed to develop and train new movement leaders.
  • Mobilizing & Engaging Communities On the Ground. Mobilizing long-term power stems from organizing people and resources around a common vision. Community organizations become viable through building a strong, broad-based leadership.

Seed funder of the Electoral Justice Project, led by Jessica Byrd, empowering Black organizers to win on the issues that affect their lives.

A group of people holding the sign Fund Black Futures

Since 2016, we’ve moved more than $5 million to organizations in the newest chapter of the Black freedom movement.

“Funding from WDN has given me the space to dream.” – Alicia Garza, co-founder of #BlackLivesMatter and director of the Black Futures Lab, which received early support from the Hardisty Initiative.

Early funder of Black Voters Matter Capacity Building Institute, supporting a voter engagement bus tour through the South in 2018 that made headlines across the nation.

*Dedicated to social movement building and grassroots organizing, the Jean Hardisty Initiative is named after and guided by the values of the late Jean Hardisty, a longtime WDN member and feminist scholar.

See a full list of Jean Hardisty grants.

See a further breakdown of Jean Hardisty funding.

 

Stay Connected