ERIC Number: EJ1473976
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Jul
Pages: 41
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0895-9048
EISSN: EISSN-1552-3896
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Educational Philanthropy's "Racial Reckoning" in the Wake of 2020: Understanding Grantmakers' Responses to Racialized Crises
Heather McCambly1; Krystal Villanosa2; Claire L. Mackevicius3
Educational Policy, v39 n5 p943-983 2025
The intersection of the COVID-19 pandemic and anti-Black violence prompted talk of racial reckoning among educational grantmakers in 2020 to 2021. This study examines the nature and extent of this reckoning, offering insights into policy actors' responses to racialized crises. Through an analysis of grantmakers' professed policy repertoires--consisting of administrative practices, sites of intervention, and sources of expertise--we delineate the mechanisms shaping grantmaker responses to sociopolitical crises. While some grantmakers temporarily shifted administrative practices in response to COVID-19, deeper changes remained elusive. The study highlights how institutionalized white-centered norms and practices persist within educational policymaking, constraining material progress toward racial equity. Moreover, it underscores the pivotal role of proximity to racial injustice in motivating substantive changes to policy repertoires. We conclude with an appeal to grantmakers and other policy actors to shift from performative reckoning to tangible reparative actions that can weaken racialized structures.
Descriptors: Racism, Grantsmanship, Educational Finance, COVID-19, Pandemics, Educational Policy, Policy Analysis, Responses, Policy Formation, Organizational Change, Private Financial Support, Philanthropic Foundations
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1University of Pittsburgh, PA, USA; 2Independent Researcher, Chicago, IL, USA; 3Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA