Stories

Democracy/Civic Engagement

  • This is Personal: Our Statement on Anti Asian Violence

    The board and staff of the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation send our deepest condolences to the families of the eight people killed in Georgia this week, six of them Asian women. While the investigation continues, the horrific attacks by a 21-year-old white man cannot be separated from America’s long, ugly history of white supremacy, structural racism, socioeconomic inequity and misogyny....

  • Building a Bigger Table: COVID Response Funds Across the South

    “If you are more fortunate than others, build a longer table, not a taller fence.” - Unknown

    While it has been said COVID19 doesn’t discriminate – anyone from any background can be affected by the virus – this sentiment doesn’t tell the whole story. The virus has and will continue to disproportionately affect our most marginalized communities. The South is home to uniquely...

  • Long-Term Trust Sparks Quick, Meaningful Action

    The COVID crisis underscores the need to address short-term and long-term emergencies like the virus's disproportionate impacts caused by centuries of structural racism , and the very real threat to our democracy in this critical election and census year.

    Philanthropy can and should play a major role by meeting the immediate crisis and supporting long-term power building through...

  • The Fierce Urgency of Now

    “We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late.” - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Riverside Church, 1967

    If there is any hope for an equitable recovery from COVID-19, policy and funding decisions must be swift and...

  • Justice in the Time of Coronavirus

    This article appeared in Nonprofit Quarterly on March 27, 2020.

    When the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation grasped the severity of COVID-19 and its likely impacts on the people and places we care about, we began to brainstorm things within our power to mitigate the harm. We asked our grantee partners about the pandemic’s implications on their work. We asked the leaders of...