Committing $250k this Year to Racial Justice Efforts
On February 23rd, Ahmaud Arbery was murdered by armed white men while jogging near Brunswick, Georgia. On March 13th, Breonna Taylor was murdered by Louisville Metro Police in her own home. On May 25th, George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis Police officers. These are just three of the names on the list of thousands of Black men and women who lost their lives to the systemic racism that is woven into the fabric of this country.
It will take a monumental anti-racist movement to change the underlying conditions that allow racism in the United States to flourish. As part of that movement, Theresa and I are committing $250,000 this year to projects that fight systemic racism. Here’s how we intend the funds to be dispersed:
$50,000 toward efforts to put an end to police brutality and the criminalization system.
$50,000 to support Black political candidates and candidates who are most likely to push forward anti-racist policy change.
$50,000 for Black education and business initiatives.
$100,000 to long-term strategic efforts to create jobs and invest in Black communities.
We will issue this financial support over the next few months. When we finalize commitments to specific projects, we will announce them on the Preston-Werner Ventures Blog.
This is the first of many steps we will be taking in our formalized approach to funding racial justice efforts. We look forward to working with Black leaders and community members to dismantle the racist structures that pervade our society. If you find yourself in a position of privilege, I hope you too will join the movement with your time, money, and effort.
Tom Preston-Werner
Cofounder of
GitHub,
Chatterbug
tom@mojombo.com
