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.

It also supported the creation of 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.

In 2021, the ARIJ Fund will seek advisors to help raise additional funds with the continued goal of providing grants to AAPI organizations to do the following:

  • 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.

 

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.