Stories

The Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade is a giant step backward for reproductive justice and gender equality. We remain in steadfast support of the advocates, experts, and organizers who are advancing reproductive justice across the United States.

For Juneteenth, Darren Walker spoke at Monticello—home of Thomas Jefferson—about America’s greatest ideals and the paradoxical, enduring legacy of slavery in America.

For centuries, cultures across the world have recognized the fluidity of gender and celebrated gender nonconformity. To advance justice and truly achieve equality, we need to understand the systems and structures throughout history that have boxed people into false binaries and expand our definition of gender.

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.

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.

Women With A Vision has become a force to be reckoned with across the American South. Comprised of all of 11 women, the organization took the fight for abortion rights to the Supreme Court, fought to overturn a 200-year-old law that discriminated against sex workers—and that’s just the beginning.

At Ford, we’re no strangers to the heat. But we know what we’re fighting for—a democracy that fulfills the American founding ideal of representation. Inclusion is patriotic, and together, we can build a truly equal society that extends the promise of America to all.

A son of the South, Darren Walker reflects on the US South, both past and present, and its role in catalyzing social justice movements that have shaped the region—and America at large.

On the first anniversary of George Floyd’s murder, Darren Walker reflects on his death as a reaffirmation of our shared humanity and calls for us to carry on the work to dismantle systemic racism in solidarity.

Derek Chauvin’s verdict is a victory for accountability and shows what’s possible if we keep doing the work of dismantling systemic racism and transforming public safety. This work remains urgent—and requires tenacity.

How does a social justice organization successfully expand across the US in a few short years? See how BUILD helped Alliance for Safety and Justice become resilient enough to make a bold expansion work, taking their successes in California across the country.

Over the last year, hate-fueled attacks against Asian Americans have spiked by 150 percent in major US cities with the most deadly taking place this week in Atlanta. But anti-Asian racism has been an American fixture for centuries, threatening democracy and the promise of equality.

As a new administration enters the White House, President Darren Walker takes a step back to reflect on the last four years and what lies ahead for America and the future of democracy.

An enterprising kid, Ford Fellow Adriana Barbosa helped her family make ends meet by selling her great-grandmother’s food. Today, she’s founded a game-changing platform for Black entrepreneurs and businesses to thrive across Latin America.

Police violence, hunger and lack of education keep many Black women and girls in Brazil from living their full potential. But they have a lifeline: Benilda Regina Paive De Brito. She knows what’s at stake for them and her moral leadership is opening new opportunities.

Drug policies have devastated Black communities. Kassandra Frederique and Drug Policy Alliance understand what’s at stake. One victory at a time, they’re bringing compassion and justice paired with hard data to upend America’s war on drugs.

From COVID-19 to the workplace, Black people face injustice on multiple fronts. Tanya Wallace-Gobern knows what’s at stake and is ready to respond. As the first executive director of the National Black Worker Center Project, she’s demonstrating the expansive power of Black leadership to bring justice.

The US has a long history of denying marginalized people the right to vote—and of those people fighting back and winning. Desmond Meade battled addiction, incarceration, organized opposition and more to restore voting rights to over a million formerly incarcerated Floridians.

Who better to fight for migrant women than the daughter of farmworkers? Lawyer Monica Ramirez hasn’t stopped advocating for the Latino community since she was 14. Name a challenge migrant women workers face and she is probably tackling it—from sexual harassment to equal pay to COVID-19.

From teaching adults to read to exposing injustice in the national press, Bianca Santana is using the power of words to stem the tide of oppression that Black Brazilians face. She’s won some big victories—and is now blazing a trail for future generations.

When Dorian Warren joined his mother, a public school teacher, to protest as a child, he never thought he’d go on to become someone who transforms communities. Through years of door-knocking, organizing and now running Community Change, he’s delivering big wins on issues that affect every American.

As the world watched America’s Capitol stormed and its very ideal of democracy attacked, president Darren Walker reflects on the white supremacy that has not only plagued US politics for centuries but also thwarted the country’s chances at living up to its promise.

​As America faces a pandemic of pandemics, the very idea of democracy is being tested. As the country mourns and works to move forward, President Darren Walker makes the case for moral leadership to reimagine a future grounded in equality and justice for all.

Darren Walker reflects on the resolve and righteousness of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her 87-year legacy as a champion for justice, equality and women’s rights.

Black philanthropy is rooted in the traditions of Black and Pan-African communities globally. Today, a growing movement to demonstrate the power of community-based philanthropy is uniting a network of more than 17 million to mark Black Philanthropy Month each August.Their efforts are taking root, and aim, at racial injustice globally.​

How do we make American news more equitable? This diverse mix of industry leaders has answers.

As the Americans with Disabilities Act turns 30, president Darren Walker reflects on the movement that made it all possible and why integrating disability into the fight for justice is the only path to achieve equality for all.

Integrating inclusion and the values of disability justice into your work, whether as a philanthropy or an organization, is hard, but it doesn’t have to be impossible. We share our journey thus far, the lessons we’ve learned along the way and why our commitment is stronger than ever today.

In honor of the 30th anniversary of the American with Disabilities Act, activists Judy Heumann and Katherine Perez share what the law means to them, the evolution of the disability rights movement, and why disability justice is the future.

The Supreme Court’s decision to reject the Trump administration’s attempts to dismantle DACA is the culmination of a long, sustained effort by thousands of young, undocumented people and the organization that helped bring them together in the fight for immigrant rights: United We Dream.

In Louisiana, ground zero in America’s fight over abortion, the fight for access has reached the Supreme Court in an unprecedented case that could have a sweeping nationwide impact and put the future of abortion rights at stake for millions of women.

In the wake of recent killings of black and brown people at the hands of police during COVID-19, Ford’s Tanya Coke and Nicolette Naylor pay tribute to two important holidays this week that symbolize the global movements of black resistance across the diaspora, the progress made globally and the work that still remains in the fight for racial equality.

George Floyd’s death is forcing America to reckon with its long history of racism. As protests spread from Minneapolis across the world, Ford’s Maria Torres-Springer spotlights the organizations fighting for equality and justice and turning our collective despair into real, lasting change.

Ford President Darren Walker reflects on the murder of George Floyd, the uprisings that have spread across America as a result, and the country’s long history of racial injustice.

As COVID-19 spreads globally, women and girls are shouldering the brunt, left vulnerable to violence and economic insecurity and carrying the majority of the burden at home. Ford's Nicolette Naylor, along with Jess Tomlin and Jessica Houssain of grantee Equality Fund, explain why the fight for gender equality doesn’t stop during a pandemic but is more critical than ever.

As the #COVID-19 crisis exacerbates inequality and puts many workers at risk of harassment, we spotlight the National Women's Law Center, a Ford-funded organization that knows #MeToo doesn’t stop in the midst of a pandemic—nor does the fight for justice. Established in 1972, the center has been behind every major legal and policy change for women in the United States and, most recently, was selected to run the TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund.

By using their gender as a lens and their work to amplify women’s voices, issues and perspectives, these 13 artists, writers and filmmakers are changing society’s perceptions of women and forcing the world to rethink the very definition of the arts.

Ford’s Nicolette Naylor digs into the complexities of the problem and shares how Ford is working to build a world free of fear and violence.

The Ford Foundation Gallery’s Per(Sister) spotlights the stories of 30 currently and formerly incarcerated women in Louisiana and the issues they face in the criminal justice system.

Just Mercy spotlights Bryan Stevenson, Founder of the Equal Justice Initiative and Ford trustee, and his unshakable drive to end racial discrimination in the American South.

Darren Walker reflects on the need for nuance amid an era of extremism in order to address society’s most pernicious challenges: “We cannot let the perfect be the enemy of progress. Within complexity and nuance, we find hope for the year ahead.”

In the wake of high-profile data breaches at Cambridge Analytica, Yahoo, Equifax, and other companies, privacy issues are increasingly the focus of attention and conversation. But privacy is a complicated issue—and often a contested one.

Today marks 100 days since human rights activist and Rio de Janeiro councilwoman Marielle Franco was brutally executed, alongside her driver Anderson Gomes.

After her death, the Ford Foundation joined efforts with two other global foundations—Open Society Foundations and the Kellogg Foundation—and a Brazilian one, Instituto Ibirapitanga, to grant a combined total of ten million US dollars to Fundo Baobá in honor of Marielle’s life and struggle. 

Addressing sexual harassment and sexual violence in the workplace among social justice organizations is long overdue.

In rural and remote places, increasing numbers of women are mobilizing and becoming leaders in their organizations and communities.

It quickly became clear that our focus on inequality demands that we think seriously about disability issues.

Earlier this summer, the Ford Foundation launched an interactive tool called Your American Dream Score, which aims to help each of us examine the factors that have helped us succeed or held us back, and to start conversations about the role of inequality and opportunity in our lives.

The “American Dream”—one of the country’s most foundational principles—has long made a simple promise: Hard work leads to success. But what happens when large swaths of American society don’t buy into it?

Privilege is very comfortable. But fighting the kind of inequality that leads to great suffering for so many will require disrupting that privilege, and breaking down some of the barriers that enable and preserve it.

Darren Walker reflects on four of his commencement speeches, addressing how around the world, democracy and democratic values are under siege, and our responsibilities to protect democracy. 

Despite similar crime rates, the US incarceration rate is more than five times that of comparable countries. Out of every 100,000 Americans, 693 are in prison—a number that has multiplied in the past four decades.

The Ford Foundation will continue to be a major funder in this field, supporting human rights actors and practices within all our efforts to overcome inequality.

In 2015, the Ford Foundation decided to "walk our talk" and start a professional development program for formerly incarcerated people. Our HR department explains what the process was like. 

Your American Dream Score aims to help us examine the many experiences, systems, and institutions that have helped—or hindered—our path to where we are today, and to jump-start honest discussions about the role of inequality and opportunity in our lives.

The global refugee crisis poses a range of challenges to host countries but also economic and cultural opportunities. Policy solutions that ensure refugees’ dignity and help build their skills, talents, and assets will ensure that migrants can live full lives and contribute to their new communities.

The US tax code is upside down—spending on tax benefits for wealthy Americans is significantly higher than on federal agency programs that benefit Americans who need help the most. A commonsense tax code would benefit all Americans and minimize wealth inequality.

Attitudes around drug use are changing and the "War on Drugs" has failed—especially in communities of color. Updated policy is needed to create a more humane drug policy. 

Bringing the Truth Home tells the story of the 34 miners shot down in Marikana during their strike for a living wage in 2012, attempting to right the prevailing narrative. 

US Olympic medalist and entrepreneur Ibtihaj Muhammad on her experience as a woman of color, a Muslim American, and a female athlete today

It has now been a year since the courageous environmental activist and indigenous leader Berta Cáceres was murdered in Honduras, and those responsible still have not been brought to justice.

JustFilms, part of Ford’s Creativity and Free Expression program, is a longtime partner of the Sundance Institute and supported seven films in 2017.

The power of the Women’s March can't be sustained without people coming together to resist the sources not only of their own oppression but also of each other’s.

Q&A with URGE executive director Kierra Johnson on how gender, reproductive rights, and sexual health issues impact a person’s life.

How can creative and documentary work help build a fairer and more just society?

We need an immigrant rights movement that decreases fear and expands opportunities for all.

10 pressing tech issues that exist at the nexus of technology and social justice.

In a New Year's message, Darren Walker reminds us that we share a human aspiration to live in dignity.

Today’s divisive climate makes it more urgent than ever to lift up vibrant art and creative expression that unifies and humanizes people through stories, art, and cultural practice.

The Ford Foundation recognizes four grantees that recently received special awards for their outstanding work and dedication to advancing human rights in Mexico and Central America.

The Ford Foundation recognizes four grantees that recently received special awards for their work and dedication to advancing human rights

According to a new research report from the Center for Effective Philanthropy, 67 percent of foundations say they should listen more to grantees.

The Culture Lab and Race Forward offer five questions and a tool kit to help social change and media makers become better storytellers. 

Stereotypes and stigma make black female students vulnerable to mistreatment and criminalization in school.

America Divided, a new documentary series from EPIX, explores narratives around inequality in education, housing, healthcare, labor, criminal justice and the political system.

Ford Foundation staff recap episode 4 of America Divided and discuss the influence of big money in politics and protecting the rights of undocumented immigrants. 

The Ford Foundation recaps episode 3 of America Divided, a docu-series about rising inequality in the United States.

The first episode of America Divided, a new documentary series from EPIX, explores three issues of American inequality: our nation's broken criminal justice system, the Flint water crisis, and housing issues in New York City. 

Ford Foundation's Kavita Ramdas authored a poem inspired by her time with feminist activists from around the globe who are living with disabilities.

China's growing relationship with and participation in the Global South raises questions about the role of gender and sexuality issues in foreign aid, investment, and development in the region. 

El 5 de septiembre de 2016, la Fundación Ford abrirá una nueva oficina regional en Bogotá (Colombia), la cual se convertirá en la sede central de nuestras labores en la Región Andina. Javier Ciurlizza, director de la fundación para esta región, habla sobre la estrategia que motivó el traslado, así como la desigualdad en Colombia, el histórico acuerdo de paz y lo que le espera a la región en el futuro.

While millennials are concerned about what’s going on in the world today, somehow HIV/AIDS, a disease that intersects with issues like LGBT rights, mass incarceration, gender equality, and war, has fallen off their radar.

Real change will require hard work by every one of us who values fairness and safety. Activists must be willing to sit down with police and politicians to propose specific solutions. Police officials must listen and find the will to implement them.

Reflecting on the International AIDS Conference in Durban, Delane Kalembo speaks to the role that religious leaders and faith-based organizations play in turning the tide on HIV in Africa.

The Movement for Black Lives has created an opportunity for philanthropy to see and learn from new and dynamic forms of social justice leadership and infrastructure.

There is a close link between child marriage and the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa. Yet the interventions designed to respond to these two issues are often not integrated. 

Fighting laws like the one invalidated by the Supreme Court means playing defense. 

The Ford Foundation's new strategy to support institutions and networks, and to strengthen civil society, ensuring that the courageous people within it have what they need to fight for a more just and equitable world.

America’s racial demographics are changing and there are major implications for elections and the political process.

Author Steve Phillips offers some bold ideas to address inequality and close America's racial wealth gap

Upcoming censuses in Colombia and Peru present opportunities for greater inclusion, for every person to count and be counted.

A group from our Gender, Racial, and Ethnic Justice team traveled to Washington, DC to join a rally with thousands in support of women's reproductive rights.

With increasing xenophobic political rhetoric and brazen incidents of violence against American Muslim, South Asian, and Arab communities, the Ford Foundation hosted a dialogue with leaders to strategize ways to advance inclusion. Here are the highlights from the discussion.

An interview with the filmmaker of Wilhemina's War, the story of an African American grandmother living in the rural south and fighting to help her granddaughter survive the health risks and social stigma of living with HIV.

To mark Black History Month, we asked three racial justice advocates to reflect on what it means to commemorate and celebrate black history in a moment when racial justice is at the center of the national conversation.

Ford staff recount their most memorable social justice moments from the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.

43 years after Roe v. Wade, reproductive justice is as important as ever, and goes beyond the right to abortion and contraception.

Foundation staff weigh in on Obama's final State of the Union, and  his takes on criminal justice reform, raising the minimum wage, climate change, discrimination, and inequality

Michelle Alexander speaks candidly to Ford Foundation staff about the state of racial justice in America.

Forty percent of girls in sub-Saharan Africa are married before they turn 18.

Demos President Heather McGhee asks whether it is enough to bend the arc of justice, or if it needs to break.

Farhana Khera, President of Muslim Advocates, discusses the need to build coalitions with other movements to bend the arc of justice.

Author and activist Cida Bento has been named one of the top "diversity figures in public life" by The Economist.

With the announcement of our new programs, we know many of you have questions. We answer some of them here.

Today, the Ford Foundation’s two-year transition is over. Darren Walker explains the details of FordForward.

The pope’s visit to a Philadelphia prison puts a spotlight on the immorality of our justice system and the urgent need for reform.

Education and voting are fundamental rights, and they’re also essential opportunities. So when a federal appeals panel ruled against a strict voter ID law in Texas this week—deeming it discriminatory and in violation of the Voting Rights Act—it was an encouraging sign. It was also evidence that there’s still a serious need for our 50-year-old civil rights law. And that disenfranchisement doesn’t exist in a vacuum.

People incarcerated in federal and state prisons will be eligible to receive federal aid to take the college courses that will prepare them to be thoughtful, responsible, engaged members of their communities—and help keep them from returning to prison.

Our support for the student power model and its movements is an investment in the future of social change.

There is genuine momentum to examine justice issues and bipartisan interest in reassessing corrections at both the state and federal level.

As we celebrate Independence Day, we reflect on the lessons about working for freedom and justice over the past months.

The United States Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that same-sex couples have the right to marry. This landmark decision establishes the right to marry for over 1,000,000 same-sex couples in the US.

"Radio listening groups" and digital resource centers throughout rural Kenya empower women.

An example of true leadership development and community building.

Darren Walker shares his reflections from the celebration in Selma.

A group from Ford traveled to Selma to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday.

Unlikely partners come together to support the formation of the Coalition for Public Safety, created to reform the criminal justice system.

Program officer Barbara Raab recaps the the successes of the event Cracking the Code: Success for Women Digital News Entrepreneurs.

This event demonstrated how arts and culture, including film, dance, and music serve as a central means of self-expression and political activism for LGBT people of color.

Darren Walker offers his reflections: in light of the 2014 shootings of young black men, there is still hope.

Program office Eric Ward explains why now is a pivotal moment for racial justice.

How can we rethink safety, crime, and victimization so resources can be redirected to structures that support individuals, families, and communities instead of trapping them?

Program Officer Eric Ward shares articles and resources from the Ferguson protests.

Consulta previa--the right of indigenous groups to be consulted on matters that affect them is a very important issue for Latin America.

Prison education can have a transformative affect on incarcerated people.

Learn how Max Kenner, founder of the Bard Prison Initiative, is trying to fix a broken prison system.

Valentine Road explores the murder of a teenager who had begun exploring his gender identity and reveals the circumstances that led to a shocking crime, as well as its complicated aftermath.