Racial Justice

In June 2020, the Pohlad family committed $25 million to advance racial justice solutions in the Twin Cities area. Their commitment was in direct response to the murder of George Floyd and ensuing uprising in May 2020, and a strong desire to address the deeply ingrained, systemic racism in our country.

The Pohlad Family Foundation’s 2022 Racial Justice update outlines our early commitments and where we’re headed. 

We believe strongly in developing racial justice solutions that are community-based, drawing upon wide-ranging expertise– from community activists to local government to nonprofit leaders to police officers to residents.

We define Racial Justice as the systematic fair treatment of people of all races, resulting in equitable opportunities and outcomes for all. It is not just the absence of discrimination and inequities, but also the presence of deliberate systems and supports to achieve and sustain racial equity through proactive and preventative measures. It includes the active and strategic process of repairing the harmful impacts of systemic racism.

Keep reading below to learn more about how we are approaching this work.

Racial Justice Grants Committee

The Pohlad Family Foundation formed a racial justice grants committee in 2020, made up of Foundation board members, Pohlad Companies team members and members of the Black community with wide-ranging expertise. The committee plays a key role in advancing our racial justice focus. This is the first time in our history that community members are active in the decision-making and strategy-setting for a Foundation program.

Learn more about why the committee was formed, how it works and its members.

Our Funding Approaches

We have developed three programs to support our racial justice work:

  • Rebuild and Recovery: We are supporting efforts that help our communities rebuild and recover from the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder and the ensuing uprising in the Twin Cities. Most of these grants were made in 2020 as a direct and immediate response to community need. A limited number of additional grants will be made in 2021 at the direction of our Racial Justice Grants Committee. Learn more about these grants.

 

  • Reimagining Public Safety: We will be sharing funding opportunities in 2021 to help advance a variety of solutions that help reimagine public safety. We believe that solutions must encompass a “both/and” approach. We must demand substantive and systemic changes in how our Black communities experience policing and public safety. We also believe that police officers play a critical role in public safety and must be held accountable to creating change within their ranks. Similarly, local governments are accountable to their residents for public safety. Learn more about this approach.

 

  • Long-Term Transformation: We will invest in efforts that create long-term, systems-level change, recognizing the complexities of racism and the need for community-driven solutions to achieve racial justice. This work takes intention, collaboration and time. We also believe that there is urgency to this work and that we cannot delay the need for our communities to experience results. We have begun exploring and planning funding approaches for this work and will share updates on our website.

In addition to our program grants, we provide flexible, responsive grantmaking. This allows us to support a variety of opportunities as they arise. Learn more and view the responsive grants we have made to date. Please note that we do not accept unsolicited proposals.

Our Beliefs

We ground our Racial Justice programs in these core beliefs:

  • Every human, regardless of race and ethnicity, deserves a life free of discrimination, oppression and violence.
  • We must center the voices and expertise of those most impacted. As such, our efforts will center on Black people who are descendants of slavery as a foundation and a pathway for the wellbeing of all people.
  • For over 400 years, racism has been the status quo, it should not be its future. True racial justice requires dismantling the systems of oppression that continue to uphold racism and white supremacy and shifting power to Black communities.
  • Racial justice requires us to learn from past successes and failures while holding hope and optimism for the future. Not everything we want to accomplish will happen in our lifetimes, but we will make strides that will support younger generations.