Foundation awards grants to groups working for racial justice, equity

AUGUSTA — The Maine Justice Foundation has awarded grants from its Racial Justice Fund to six groups for 2023.

The goal of the fund is to support Black, Indigenous, and people of color statewide to forge social, systemic, and economic solutions that will address racism and inequities in the culture, organizations, and systems.

“We are delighted to announce these Racial Justice Fund grants to six inspiring organizations. The grants result from thoughtful consideration and hard work by the fund’s volunteer Advisory Committee, the foundation’s Board and staff, and generous donations by many corporate and individual leaders,” said Michelle Draeger, executive director of the foundation, according to a news release from the foundation. “We believe these projects will meaningfully advance racial justice and equity for BIPOC Mainers.”

The foundation is issuing six grants between $5,000 and $10,000 during this third year of grants, an increase in both organizations supported and funds distributed from the inaugural year. The grantees and the projects supported are:

• $10,000 Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project: Racial Justice Fellowship Program. A grant to provide a paid fellowship opportunity for law school students who identify as immigrants or have lived immigrant experience.

• $10,000 Ladder to the Moon Network: Expanding Reach through Digital Media. A grant to expand the reach of Amjambo Africa, a publication that provides vital information directed toward immigrant, refugee, and asylum-seeking community members, through digital channels including radio, podcasts and videos.

• $10,000 Maine Inside Out: Mountain View Correctional Facility Theatre Production. A grant to engage BIPOC young men incarcerated at Mountain View Correctional Facility in weekly workshops with Maine Inside Out theater facilitators to create and share two original plays.

• $10,000 Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services: Fighting Racial Justice in the Courtroom. A grant to host a series of DEI trainings for attorneys who provide criminal indigent legal services in Maine.

• $5,000 In Her Presence: Frances Warde Home. A grant to ensure the availability of culturally appropriate and nutritious food at the home for sheltered asylum seekers in Portland.

• $5,000 Alpha Legal Foundation — Maine Justice Corps. A grant to support a Justice Corps pilot program in Androscoggin and Cumberland counties that will place a minimum of seven full-time BIPOC AmeriCorps members as legal navigators in courthouses.

Since the inaugural grant round, corporations, philanthropic leaders and individual donors across Maine have given an additional $290,000, raising the fund to $815,000 to combat racial injustice and inequity through the Foundation’s Racial Justice Fund. This growth has allowed the foundation to issue an additional $50,00 in grants in 2023.