Racial Justice Impact Fund

header

The Racial Justice Impact Fund is a College-sponsored fund with a mission of supporting projects designed by Bryn Mawr College community members who engage with organizations and/or communities to support and engage in restorative and transformational justice work.  With an annual operating budget of $10,000, the RJIF offers funding for students (graduate and undergraduate), staff, and faculty seeking to implement projects and programs that further racial justice and equity through both collaborative work grounded in the values of restorative and transformational justice.  This fund prioritizes projects that involve and support individuals and communities who are racially minoritized or otherwise under-represented on campus and that involve collaboration and/or partnership with external community organizations.  

Origins of the Racial Justice Fund

The creation of the Racial Justice Impact Fund is a direct result of activism by BIPOC students and other College community members committed to ensuring that Bryn Mawr College live up to the commitment in our mission statement to collaborate across constituency groups to “reflect upon and work to build fair, open and welcoming institutional structures, values, and culture.”   

In the fall of 2020, Bryn Mawr College students went on strike. The Bryn Mawr Strike Collective, working in solidarity with striking students at Haverford College, sought to highlight inequities on campus and create opportunities for dialogue and collaborative problem-solving to address ongoing experiences of racism and systemic oppression on campus. As a result of their labor, College administration met many of their demands, including a pledge to create a fund to support actions by students, staff, and faculty that support restorative and transformational justice work as part of their curricular, co-curricular, or professional development. In August 2021 the Racial Justice Impact Fund was launched.

Characteristics of Fundable Projects

Individuals and teams are encouraged to apply for funding to support projects that:

  • recognize harm done within and to the community,
  • develop ways to repair that harm and encourage ownership and accountability, and
  • identify systemic or root causes that made it possible for the harm to occur and change them. 

Successful projects will involve collaboration with established community organizations already engaged in restorative and transformational justice work.  Proposals for short- and long-term projects are invited.  

 Funding may support projects and initiatives that:  

  • Create opportunities for staff, faculty, and student collaboration with external communities and organizations    
  • Develop new campus-community partnerships   
  • Bring speakers, educators, community organizers and activists, and workshop facilitators from outside organizations to campus to build Bryn Mawr College's capacity for restorative and transformational justice work   
  • Expand student-led activism and community organizing work rooted in restorative and transformational justice by building connections with community based organizations   
  • Create opportunities for students to access restorative and transformational justice resources for learning and development (i.e. attendance at conferences, participation in unpaid internships, etc.)  

RJIF Administration

The Racial Justice Impact Fund is housed in the Career & Civic Engagement Center at Bryn Mawr College and administered by a committee comprised of students, staff, and faculty.  

Learn more.

Watch this self-guided tutorial to learn all about the Racial Justice Impact Fund.

flowers

Contact Us

The Career & Civic Engagement Center

Phone: 610-526-5174