Barnes & Thornburg Racial and Social Justice Foundation

Click on a location pin to learn more about each organization, which is located in a city where Barnes & Thornburg has an office

2022 Grant Recipients

2021 Grant Recipients

Columbus, Ohio - Zora’s House Zora House’s mission is to create safe spaces for women of color to establish meaningful, supportive relationships with other women in their community; develop a deeper practice of self-care, resiliency, and emotional intelligence; and successfully incubate their creativity, scholarship, entrepreneurship, activism, service, and leadership.

Delaware - Project New Start Project New Start combats violence and reduces recidivism. It operates a comprehensive, results-oriented cognitive behavioral change and job readiness program for individuals transitioning out of state and federal institutions. The goals of its New Start Reentry Program are to assist individuals in developing marketable skills, obtaining, and sustaining employment and developing positive behaviors through cognitive restructuring.

New York - The Parole Preparation Project The Parole Preparation Project provides critical advocacy and direct support to currently and formerly incarcerated people serving life sentences, and seeks to transform the parole release process in New York State. The firm has an office in New York City.

San Diego, California - RISE RISE’s mission is to elevate and advance urban leadership through dialogue-based civic engagement, dynamic nonprofit partnerships, and direct training and support to increase the capacity of urban residents to effect meaningful community change.

Dallas, Texas - Buried Alive Project Through transformative litigation, legislation and humanization, the Buried Alive Project fights to free people serving draconian sentences handed down under outdated federal drug laws. The Buried Alive Project provides legal representation for people buried alive under federal drug laws, advocates for impactful changes in the laws, and amplifies the voices of people directly impacted by the criminal legal system.

Washington, D.C. - Thrive DC Thrive DC’s mission is to end and prevent homelessness in Washington, D.C.

Fort Wayne, Indiana - Center For Nonviolence The Center for Nonviolence provides education, support, and advocacy to end domestic and other forms of violence while modeling equality and power sharing.

Chicago, Illinois - Sunshine Gospel Ministries’ Flourishing Community Initiative The mission of Sunshine Gospel Ministries is to seek the renewal of the city through ministries of discipleship, mercy, and justice. It seeks to engage and empower youth, families and guests of our community to thrive and lead fruitful, healthy lives through faith, connectedness and opportunity. The Flourishing Community Initiative works to advance trauma-informed approaches to gun violence through individual support, community collaboration, and advocacy.

Raleigh, North Carolina - North Carolina Center for Actual Innocence The North Carolina Center for Actual Innocence’s primary mission is to identify, investigate and advance credible claims of innocence, obtaining justice for people imprisoned for crimes they did not commit, for the victims of those crimes, and for the actual perpetrators. Its secondary mission is to educate policymakers, the public, and legal and law enforcement communities about the factors that contribute to wrongful conviction, as well as emerging solutions which can increase the reliability of convictions.

Michigan - Michigan League for Public Policy The Michigan League for Public Policy promotes racial equity, economic security, health and well-being for all people in Michigan through policy change. It is the only state-level organization that comprehensively addresses poverty and analyzes state and federal policies’ impact on low-income residents and residents of color. The firm has offices in Grand Rapids, Detroit Metro and Ann Arbor.

The firm has undertaken fundraising efforts driven by the firm’s employees to generate broad participation under the mantra “no gift is too small.” $50,000 grants were presented to six organizations.

The Barnes & Thornburg Racial and Social Justice Foundation has awarded $300,000 to six nonprofit organizations in the U.S. in 2021.

Learn More About Our Racial and Social Justice Foundation Grant Recipients

Boston, Massachusetts- Boston Higher Education Resource Center (HERC) The Boston Higher Education Resource Center (HERC) functions to equip first-generation youth of color with access to and ways to thrive in higher education, to break the cycle of poverty, and to become agents of change in our communities.

South Bend, IN - El Campito Child Development Center El Campito was founded in 1970 to aid migrant families in coping with the struggles of starting a new life in South Bend. El Campito is the only licensed, NAEYC accredited bilingual child development center in Northern Indiana.

• Racial Equity • Reducing Incarceration • Re-Entry After Incarceration • Wrongful Imprisonment • Reducing Gun Violence • Domestic Violence • Poverty • Homelessness • Social Justice

• Counseling • Advocacy • Community Collaboration • Intervention • Treatment • Community Mobilization • Education and Career Development • Employment • Coaching • Legal Counsel • Food and Shelter • Policy • Research

Our grants have supported advocacy areas such as:

Our grants have extended the following services provided by recipients:

Advocacy areas

Services provided

Why I Give

The Barnes & Thornburg Racial and Social Justice Foundation is supported by employee and partner donations. Click on an individual below to learn more about why they choose to support the foundation.

Anthony Arnold, Partner, San Diego "What we have a chance to do here is pretty special in that we're able to contribute to organizations in our community that are actually making meaningful contributions to change on the ground level...We're standing where we are today...to promote the change we want to see in the world and I think this is a good chance for us to do it."

Roslyn Chauvin, Corporate Transaction Coordinator, Grand Rapids "I give to the foundation with the hope that we ALL will someday have the same opportunities for health, safety and success. I feel fortunate in ways that others may not, and the magnitude of the foundation’s gifts for others has the potential to change not just one person’s life but many lives, and from those given a lift up, a ripple effect of change is possible. I’d like to be a part of that change."

Connie Lahn, Partner and Foundation President, Minneapolis "When we all work together we can effectuate real change...We can monitor that change and we can pay attention to that change and we can buy into these organizations as a community and as a team."