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.
Our current work is focused on supporting the Movement for Black Lives, as well as the Emergent Fund, which provides rapid-response resources to communities under attack in our current political environment.
In the last two years, the Jean Hardisty Initiative has evolved its strategy within the Movement for Black Lives, always looking for ways to support the most catalytic work within the movement. In the past, we have funded women’s leadership, infrastructure, and district attorney accountability work within the Movement for Black Lives.
Now, the Jean Hardisty Initiative is focused on power-building strategies — committed to supporting the Movement for Black Lives in work that channels protest energy into the social capital and political power that changes unjust systems. Hardisty resources work within the Movement for Black Lives that centers transformative Black leadership, is innovative, and lays the groundwork needed to make systemic change in our communities and nationally.
The Hardisty Initiative prioritizes funding for work that:
- Responds to needs identified by the field
- Is founded in solid research and analysis
- Centers the voices and experiences of people in impacted communities
- Leverages opportunities that are timely and catalytic
The Power-Building Strategy of the Hardisty Initiative is grounded in our desire to be in deep, authentic relationship and solidarity with the Movement for Black Lives in their work to address and reform anti- Black systems and policies. Support for this work in this moment – as white nationalism is on the rise – is a powerful lever to create permanent change.
