Op-Ed – Giving birth while black should not be a death sentence
By Allison Bryant, Makeeba McCreary, and Elsie Taveras In 2020, Black women accounted for one-third of maternal deaths. This is a mortality rate that was nearly three times that of white women. Giving birth while Black should not be a death sentence. As the nation marks Black Maternal Health Week, founded by the Black Mamas Matter Alliance […]
New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund Grants Additional $3 Million to Over 50 Massachusetts-Based Organizations
Disruptive funding model will advance the impact-driven missions of Black and Brown-led non-profits across the commonwealth
New Commonwealth Fund Announces $1 Million in Grants to Fight Systemic Racism
20 organizations throughout Massachusetts to receive $50,000 in one-year grants
Black and Brown Business Leaders Want to Drive a Movement to End Racial Inequities.
In this moment of racial awakening and anguish, the question on many minds is: “What can I do?” For 19 Black and brown business leaders in Boston, it was the question, too. They felt compelled to respond, and they’ve come up with a big idea: the creation of the New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund. If […]
Two years after the historic uprising, where does philanthropy’s commitment to racial justice stand?
How the New Commonwealth Fund Plans to Tackle Systemic Racism
In the days after George Floyd was murdered — as people of color bore the brunt of the first pandemic wave, and protesters marched to demand an end to systemic racism — a group of Black and brown executives in Massachusetts joined forces to try to do just that in Boston, and beyond. They started […]
Viewpoint: Looking to Denmark as a model for an equitable clean energy sector
This article is available in Spanish in partnership with El Planeta Media. Este informe estå disponible en español, traducido por El Planeta Media. Last week, President Biden arrived in Somerset to tour the former Brayton Point power plant and bring attention to our state’s emerging wind energy sector.President Biden’s visit underscores the critical role Massachusetts will play in this industry […]
Racial equity fund delivers $3M to local organizations, entrepreneurs
The New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund, a funding and support resource for Black, Latinx and Indigenous nonprofits, will allocate $3 million to 54 members in its inaugural cohort of nonprofit partners — all of which are Black and Brown-led. https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2022/07/08/new-commonwealth-racial-equity-and-social-justice.html
How Harvard Could Spend that 100 Million to Unwind its legacies of slavery
Ask Black leaders how they would spend $100 million to address the legacies of slavery and you might get 100 different answers. Harvard University is committing that sum toward reparations after releasing a report detailing the institution’s ties to slavery — from presidents and faculty who enslaved Black people to pivotal donors who built their fortunes as […]
The Newsette, Nashira Baril
She’s got babies on the brain. Nashira Baril is the founder and project director of Boston’s Neighborhood Birth Center. In her work as a maternal health researcher, she’s seen how “traditional” methods have led to alarming stats like Black women having a 3x greater maternal mortality rate than their white peers. That’s why she’s partnered with the New Commonwealth […]
What corporate philanthropy got wrong after George Floyd’s murder?
In the wake of George Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020, many corporations made pledges intended to advance racial justice. For example, Google committed to donating $50 million to historically Black colleges and universities, while JPMorgan Chase allocated $30 billion in housing and business loans, and other supports, to Black and Latino communities. But […]
MGB NCF Maternal Health Equity Partnership
Boston, MA, Jan. 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Mass General Brigham, Massachusetts’ largest health care system, and The New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund (NCF), a ground-breaking fund created by a group of Black and Brown corporate executives in Massachusetts to eliminate systemic racism throughout the state, today announced a strategic five-year maternal health partnership. The […]
Black and Brown Business Leaders Want to Drive a Movement to End Racial Inequities.
In this moment of racial awakening and anguish, the question on many minds is: “What can I do?” For 19 Black and brown business leaders in Boston, it was the question, too. They felt compelled to respond, and they’ve come up with a big idea: the creation of the New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund. If […]
New Commonwealth Fund Announces $2M in Grants to Fight Systemic Racism
Inaugural, biannual grant awards funded by $30 million raised-to-date, $681,000 from former Boston Racial Equity Fund
JALSA Advocate for Justice Award
Makeeba McCreary on Joining the New Commonwealth Fund
Makeeba McCreary will be the MFA’s new chief of learning and community engagement. (Courtesy MFA) How can we address the wrongs of the past, and invest in the future we want to see? Makeeba McCreary, the Chief of Learning and Engagement at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, talks to us about transitioning to her […]
AIM Latimer Award
Lunch n’ Learn Series Conversation 3: Health Equity in the COVID-19 Era
Lunch n’ Learn Series Conversation 2: Meaningful Criminal Justice Reform in Massachusetts
New Commonwealth Fund Discussion Series: Charitable Impulse or Responsive Investment?
A Statement from the New Commonwealth Fund on Anti-Asian Racism
We, at the New Commonwealth Racial Equity & Social Justice Fund, stand in solidarity with Asian American and Pacific Islander communities across the nation, condemning the hate crimes perpetuated by systemic racism and white supremacist thinking and actions. We acknowledge that these hate crimes did not begin with COVID-19 and have existed in this country […]
Lunch n’ Learn Series Conversation 4: NCF’s Transformative Approach to Philanthropic Impact
Makeeba McCreary On Her New Role as President of the New Commonwealth Fund
New Commonwealth Fund Names First-Ever President
By Don Seiffert – Managing Editor, Boston Business Journal Aug 9, 2021, 6:22am EDT The New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund has named Makeeba McCreary, a Boston native who has been a top executive at the Museum of Fine Arts and the Boston Public Schools in recent years, as its first president. McCreary will […]
New Racial Equity Fund Gives Out First $1M To Nonprofits. ‘We Are Going to Do Big Things Because of It,’ One Says
Elevated Thought, a Lawrence nonprofit that uses art to drive social justice, will finally be able to hire a youth organizer. Brockton Interfaith Community can now afford to bring on another staffer, while Martin Luther King Jr. Family Services can offset the cost of running a remote learning center for low-income families in Springfield. These organizations, […]
Eastern Bank, State Street Each Give $5m for Racial-Equity Effort Led by Black and Brown Executives
A new racial equity fund led by prominent Black and brown executives in Boston is receiving its first round of major gifts, including $5 million each from the charitable foundations of Eastern Bank and State Street. The New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund, which launched in July, focuses on supporting Black- and brown-led organizations […]
‘What can I do?’: 19 Black and brown business leaders want to drive a movement to end racial inequities
In this moment of racial awakening and anguish, the question on many minds is: “What can I do?” For 19 Black and brown business leaders in Boston, it was the question, too. They felt compelled to respond, and they’ve come up with a big idea: the creation of the New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund. If […]
NCF at Philanthropy Massachusetts
NCF speaks with the Partnership President & CEO, Pratt Wiley
The $100 Million Challenge
QUINCY MILLER is no stranger to community service. The president of Eastern Bank has given his time and expertise to organizations that help kids become the first in their family to go to college, give food to people experiencing hunger, and work to create more opportunities for people of color. Still, in the long days […]
