Philanthropy & Public Health Justice

Catalog description

There has been a long history of systemic racism that has marginalized Black and Brown communities from accessing capital and philanthropic resources to support their communities, institutions, and organizations. The internal structures, processes, and approach of philanthropy can work to break down these barriers or they can work to perpetuate these harms and injustices. The philanthropic sector has been actively reflecting and working on how best to breakdown these barriers and identify avenues to leverage their resources to support justice and equity. This course will aim to understand how the history of philanthropy has a direct impact on our current non-profit and public health landscape and infrastructure. The course will lift up contemporary discussions regarding the role of philanthropy in public health justice and power building. This course will also explore the role of philanthropy in changing systems as complex as early childhood education, food justice, and health care. Some of the questions this course will explore include: How do funders understand and define racial equity, racial justice, and power building? How do funders hold themselves accountable to transformative racial justice goals? What do public health justice activists what funders to know and change to increase effective and sustainable support for their work? How do funders center power-building in grantmaking? How are funders dismantling inequities in grantmaking processes and decision making? What is trust-based philanthropy? The role of intersectionality, race, and power in philanthropy? What is the difference between private, public, and corporate philanthropy? How can we leverage grantmaking tools and approaches, like communications, research, and evaluation, to center the voice and experience of those directly impacted? How do we transition from charity to justice? Guest lectures…