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

2020 Grant Recipients

2021 Grant Recipients

Minneapolis, Minnesota - All Square All Square invests in those impacted by the criminal justice system through a 12-month fellowship and the creation of a forthcoming law firm. All Square’s new legal initiative, includes a plaintiff’s firm and a Prison-to-Law Pipeline program. The pipeline offers ABA-accredited and ABA-approved paralegal and juris doctorate degrees to currently incarcerated Minnesotans.

Atlanta, Georgia - Project Pinnacle Project Pinnacle provides nonviolent offenders under the age of 25 with life skills training, legal rights and responsibilities education, and career development opportunities. The 10-year-old organization is dedicated to restoring young people to respectful positions in the community.

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.

Los Angeles, California - Social Justice Learning Institute The Social Justice Learning Institute is dedicated to improving the education, health, and well-being of youth and communities of color by empowering them to enact social change through research, training, and community mobilization. The institute partners with organizations and businesses to provide academic support services, transform neighborhood conditions, and rectify injustice.

Indianapolis, Indiana - Public Advocates in Community re-Entry (PACE) Through partnerships with major employers across Indianapolis, PACE ensures that their clients receive the skills training and resources needed to make them competitive candidates for employment. In addition to employment and job placement assistance, PACE also provides family reunification, transitional housing, substance abuse treatment groups, mental health treatment, addiction and recovery support, and education.

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.” Four $50,000 grants were presented in December 2020 to four organizations, totaling $200,000 in the first year of the foundation’s existence.

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

• 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."