Last year, the Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, and collector and philanthropist Agnes Gund launched the $100 million Art for Justice Fund to safely reduce U.S. prison populations.
The partnership marked a rare and possibly portentous example of a patron wielding her philanthropic and financial leverage to tackle a vexing social challenge.
Late last year, the fund announced its inaugural round of grant-making: $22 million to 30 criminal-justice reform groups and education and arts initiatives.
And in late June, the fund announced its spring 2018 round of 38 grant recipients. While phase one focused on literary organizations such as writers' workshops and theater groups, the most recent round of grants, which range from $25,000 to $2 million, emphasize support for women and children.
"We know that children whose parents get trapped in the criminal justice system are more likely to be incarcerated later themselves," Gund said. "We need to break this vicious cycle that is devastating the lives of individuals, families, and entire communities."
I recently had the opportunity to check in with Helena Huang, Project Director for the Art for Justice Fund, for some additional context surrounding the second round of funding and how the fund's work is playing out on the ground.
The fund's press release says that the latest round of grants "use the power of art to transform hearts and minds and transform the way we think about criminal justice in America." Extending this line of thinking a bit further, I asked Huang about the fund's plans to change the hearts and minds of members from particularly powerful demographic—the federal and state legislators who can rewrite the laws...