Marguerite Casey Foundation

Help us welcome these 4️⃣ visionary movement scholars to the growing MCF #FreedomScholar community! With this 2024 cohort, there are now 38 Freedom Scholars, leaders in academia whose research provides critical insight from and to social justice leaders and whose ideas encourage us to imagine how we can radically improve our democracy, economy, and society. Add your message of welcome and congratulations in the comments!

Due to overwhelming demand, our in-person event with Haymarket Books sold out—but don’t worry, MCF has got you covered! We’re offering a special bonus session of our popular #MCFSummerSchool series: a virtual exploration of Angela Davis’s powerful book "Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine and the Foundations of a Movement"! Join us online to dive deep into the connections between movements from Ferguson to Palestine and beyond. Our esteemed panelists will shed light on how the legacies of past liberation struggles inform today’s fight against state violence—both in the US and around the world. Together, we'll explore what abolition feminism can teach us about today’s global struggles for liberation. This event features Dr. Angela Y. Davis, author and longtime activist-scholar known internationally for her ongoing work to combat all forms of oppression in the US and abroad; Dr. Marc Lamont Hill, one of the leading intellectual voices in the country; and Dima Khalidi, founder and director of Palestine Legal.

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Last week, I had the distinct honor of moderating our final in-person #MCFSummerSchool event of the year celebrating the brilliant work of Angela Davis and her 2016 best-seller, “Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement.” My deepest appreciation to featured guests Dr. Lamont Hill and Dr. Davis, and our fantastic host, Dima Khalidi, founder and director of Palestine Legal, as well as to our friends at Haymarket Books for partnering with the Marguerite Casey Foundation team to make this sold-out event at the Music Box Theater in Chicago such a success. Our discussion dove deep into the legacies and connections between historic and current justice movements from Ferguson to Palestine and beyond and the wisdom that Black feminism, abolition feminism, and intersectional approaches make our work sharper and our resolve stronger. Thank you to everyone who joined in this powerful recommitment to the struggle for freedom. And a special nod to the more than 2,000 people who signed up for our MCF Summer School Series. Stay tuned for more resources and insights from MCF Summer School in the coming weeks. Building a freedom movement worthy of the name is no small feat—but our lives depend on it. Let’s keep this momentum going!

Last week, I had the distinct honor of moderating our final in-person #MCFSummerSchool event of the year celebrating the brilliant work of Angela Davis and her 2016 best-seller, “Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement.” My deepest appreciation to featured guests Dr. Lamont Hill and Dr. Davis, and our fantastic host, Dima Khalidi, founder and director of Palestine Legal, as well as to our friends at Haymarket Books for partnering with the Marguerite Casey Foundation team to make this sold-out event at the Music Box Theater in Chicago such a success. Our discussion dove deep into the legacies and connections between historic and current justice movements from Ferguson to Palestine and beyond and the wisdom that Black feminism, abolition feminism, and intersectional approaches make our work sharper and our resolve stronger. Thank you to everyone who joined in this powerful recommitment to the struggle for freedom. And a special nod to the more than 2,000 people who signed up for our MCF Summer School Series. Stay tuned for more resources and insights from MCF Summer School in the coming weeks. Building a freedom movement worthy of the name is no small feat—but our lives depend on it. Let’s keep this momentum going!

Collective resistance is our best bet against fascism, but repressive forces have introduced more than 250 anti-protest bills introduced since 2014. Here's what you need to know...

We are delighted to launch registration for our final #MCFBookClub event in partnership with Marguerite Casey Foundation celebrating “King: A Life” — the first significant account in decades of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This event features Pulitzer-winning biographer Jonathan Eig in conversation with Dr. Carmen Rojas, PhD (she/her), President & CEO of Marguerite Casey Foundation, and Dr. Darrick Hamilton, Professor of Economics and Urban Policy at The New School. Register to join us on November 19th in New York City for a conversation on the intricate dynamics of King’s leadership and legacy in today’s political context. https://lnkd.in/dJ-fgDny

I recently published an op-ed with Candid and I’m eager to share my thoughts on a topic that’s close to my heart: the essential role of public investment in enhancing the lives of everyday communities. From the bustling streets of our cities to the tranquil corners of rural America, if our communities have public resources like parks, libraries, clean tap water, and accessible public transportation, we often take for granted the joys they provide. But resources like parks and clean water aren’t just conveniences—they’re vital components of a thriving society that can only be realized when we’ve got a government that truly serves the people. Despite trillions of dollars in federal and state funds, public services remain inadequate for far too many working families, largely due to decades of free-market ideologies undermining collective goods. But, with the recent influx of federal funding from initiatives like the Inflation Reduction Act, we’ve got a unique opportunity to reshape these systems and vastly expand them to better serve the public. To help propel this effort, Marguerite Casey Foundation launched our Public Dollars for Public Good (PDPG), a bold funding initiative that has already channeled more than $8 million to initiatives organizing to build the unfulfilled promise of vibrant multiracial democracy. I’m proud to say that PDPG is funding organizations like WorkMoney, which are redefining how communities access vital resources. WorkMoney’s innovative “Resource Center” has saved working families more than $660 million by simplifying access to underutilized government benefits. Thank you to Candid Insight for the space to share how we are funding work to reclaim public dollars for the public good and build a more equitable future for all. Read my full op-ed and let me know what you think.

It’s Banned Books Week, and here’s your reminder that during the 2023-2024 school year alone there have been more than 10,000 instances of individual books being banned, nearly triple the previous academic year, according to PEN America. So, I want to take this opportunity to shine a light on one of my all-time favorite authors, Toni Morrison, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize for Literature, and someone who has faced repeated attempts to ban and suppress her writing, especially her groundbreaking novel “The Bluest Eye”. As a young person, I devoured Toni’s novels. The worlds she wove together opened my eyes to new understandings and possibilities, laying the foundation for my appreciation of the power of solidarity. In her first novel, The Bluest Eye, Toni wrote, “This soil is bad for certain kinds of flowers. Certain seeds it will not nurture, certain fruit it will not bear, and when the land kills of its own volition, we acquiesce and say the victim had no right to live. We are wrong, of course, but it doesn't matter. It's too late. At least on the edge of my town, among the garbage and the sunflowers of my town, it's much, much, much too late.” Her words are a potent invitation to dig into questions like: What flowers are we watering? What seeds are we committing to nurture and grow? As we honor her work during #BannedBooksWeek (and every week), let’s celebrate the power of art to spark our collective imaginations about what’s possible for the kind of future we want and the solidarity we must build to bridge to better times.

So much wisdom dropped in this video! Watch and share this if you're looking for a deeper understanding of the power and history of student-led Disclose and Divest movements and their ongoing impact from the struggle against war to the push for greater transparency in university endowments. Huge shout out and gratitude to our speakers MCF Freedom Scholars Dr. Davarian Baldwin and Robin D. G. Kelley, MCF board chair Ian S. Fuller, and organizer Aditi Rao. 🤩