Just Matters
Ideas and inspiration for a just world
Javier H. Valdés, Director, Civic Engagement and Government
As part of our efforts to advance a more just, multiracial democracy, we are merging our Cities and States program with our Civic Engagement and Government work in the U.S. to become a single, expanded area of impactful grantmaking.
Darren Walker, President
In 1979, Franklin Thomas became the first Black president of the Ford Foundation, taking the helm of the philanthropy at its most perilous hour. Over the next 17 years, he would transform the foundation, establishing himself as an iconic figure not just in Ford’s history but around the world through his efforts to drive human progress and advance justice.
Ford Foundation
AMAN supports over 17 million Indigenous people across Indonesia, protecting against threats to their land from extractive industries and supporting education, food sovereignty, and traditional culture. Through a BUILD grant, AMAN was able to create a technology infrastructure to connect disparate communities—key to surviving COVID-19.
Ford Foundation
In a rapidly diversifying South, these leaders are advocating for a new vision for the region—rooted in equity, justice, and belonging for all.
Ford Foundation
Ashé Cultural Arts Center is the beating heart of the Black community in New Orleans. When activist and poet Asali DeVan Ecclesiastes took over in 2020, she faced an uphill financial battle. Through a BUILD grant, she found the support, tools and words to succeed.
Adria D. Goodson, Director, Global Fellowship Program
What does it take to advance justice around the world? Leaders unafraid to take on the challenges ahead. More than a year into the Ford Global Fellowship, we reflect on what we’ve learned from our Ford Global Fellows on how to help leaders survive—and thrive—during this historical moment.
Darren Walker, President
The intersecting crises of climate change and inequality threaten to make an outmoded vision of perpetuity, at best, obsolete—and, at worst, destructive. We must join together, with urgency and purpose, to ensure the work of justice lives on in perpetuity, as does the planet on which our very survival depends.
Darren Walker, President
Ford Foundation president Darren Walker’s tribute in memory of his friend, Gen. Colin Powell
Kevin Currey, Program Officer, Natural Resources and Climate Change
Farah Sofa, Program Officer, Indonesia
A powerful alliance of Indigenous peoples and local communities are showing the world a path to environmental justice with the best technology for carbon capture—their forests.
Ford Foundation
Around the world, Black feminists are leading intersectional movements for social justice—but they are drastically underfunded. The new Black Feminist Fund will support this powerful global community long overlooked by philanthropy. The fund’s three founders outline why now is the time to back Black feminists.
Noorain Khan, Director, President's Office
On the 20th anniversary, we reflect on what we’ve learned since 9/11, the movement for justice led by Black, Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian communities to combat the xenophobia that followed, and how we can apply those lessons to the crises facing America today.
Too often, stories of oppression and resistance in the American South are told by people who are not from or connected to the region. Press On was created to elevate the region’s underrepresented stories and diverse voices, carrying social justice forward and advancing a new movement of journalism.
