The AAPI Civic Engagement Fund supports efforts by local community-based organizations to combat violence and hate, such as through the Anti-Racism and Intersectional Justice Fund described below. The Fund also carries out related activities in the areas of research and narrative development to support local groups in their efforts to combat hate and violence and seek long-term solutions.
Anti-Racism and Intersectional Justice Fund
The Anti-Racism and Intersectional Justice Fund (the ARIJ Fund) was established in 2020 to address the alarming spike in anti-Asian violence and hate crimes spurred by race-based targeting of China and Chinese people as scapegoats for the COVID-19 pandemic, but has much deeper roots in the race-based targeting that has been going on for centuries, particularly against African Americans. In 2020, ARIJ made over $1.6M in one-time grants to local AAPI groups to counteract this trend in anti-Asian violence.
In 2021, an additional $2M was awarded to a total of 37 community-based organizations. For the ARIJ Fund’s third year in 2022, $3.6M was awarded to a total of 39 community-based organizations. The majority of groups are led by AAPI women and represent 30 ethnic backgrounds, including some of the most underrepresented ethnic groups, such as Southeast Asian, South Asians, Muslim Americans. These grants help create an effective anti-racism and intersectional justice network that boosts local/state response capacity and cohesively sets an agenda for long-term transformative change. Groups are supported to:
- Provide counseling and support to victims of anti-Asian hate incidents;
- Build community awareness;
- Design restorative justice approaches;
- Advocate for administrative or legislative change to appropriate hate crime tracking and protections that support long-term solutions to the rise in race-based crimes;
- Support media, communications and narrative change-related activities; and
- Forge cross-racial alliances.
The Fund also manages a digital resource hub and the convening of local groups into what is now known as the Shared Liberation Network. Network members meet to develop a coordinated response by enabling participants to share, connect, learn, explore, and build together.
If you are a community member or community organization and want more information on the Movement Hub which provides up-to-date information on resources and ways to get involved in anti-racism work, please visit: movementhub.org .
If you want to support the ARIJ Fund, please visit our DONATE page.