A Note from Shane
With you standing beside us we can accomplish great things—as we always have—together.
Power. Impact. Progress.
These are words we hear a lot in the field of organizing. They hold a special meaning to those of us dedicated to supporting the critical work of racial and economic justice. And the common thread that connects all of those concepts is the word “collective.”
Collective Power. Collective Impact. Collective Progress.
It takes many hands hard at work in movements across LA—activists, donors, community leaders, organizations and public officials—to fight the David and Goliath battles that keep us pushing toward our goal of Justice for All, even if the odds seem steep.
We know, as the Honorable John Lewis once said, “Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, month, or even a year—it is the struggle of a lifetime.”
Many of our grantee partners have seen progress ebb and flow over decades as they keep the wheels of change turning. Now the next generation of Rising Activist organizations are jumping into the fight, ready to take on the issues of youth and transformative justice, economic and housing justice, LGBTQ and gender justice, and environmental and climate justice.
And just as we have for the past 45 years, Liberty Hill will be there to support them.
This fiscal year, we doubled down by making our largest investment ever in grassroots organizing, withdrawing 14% of our Endowment to support expanded grantmaking for both Fund for Change and Liberty Vote! programs. This expanded the Foundation’s total overall grantmaking portfolio to more than $18 million in 2021, allowing us to provide more than 900 grants to fuel social justice in our communities—more than tripling the previous Fund for Change disbursement. We also funded 18 Rising Activists organizations that are small, but mighty, and poised to make change across the County.
Our grantee partners have also stepped up like never before in the face of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, keeping their feet on the gas—and holding officials’ feet to the fire when necessary—to push for progressive victories. COVID-19 has reinforced the idea we are all in this together, but has also laid bare the cruel disparities in our region and across the country. Communities of color have substantially higher rates of infection, hospitalization, and death from COVID-19 than their white counterparts, mirroring long-standing inequalities across our public systems.
I don’t want our partners to just survive the pandemic, I want them to lead a just reconstruction. And that’s what they are doing in communities across LA everyday—fighting to advance, transform, promote, and demand Justice for All.
In a bold move, our grantee partners successfully fought to transition the county youth justice system out of the Probation Department and to create a new Department of Youth Development focused on care, not punishment. They fought to establish tenant anti-harassment ordinances in LA and pass permanent rent control in Culver City, moving us closer to a roof over every head. And after years of battling powerful oil interests, our coalition partners celebrated the monumental decision by the LA County Board of Supervisors to prohibit new oil drilling and phase out existing drilling in the County. It was a victory decades in the making.
I want to thank our dedicated community of grantees, staff, board, government and foundation partners, as well as our dedicated donor activists, for your continued support and belief in our mission and vision for a more just and equitable Los Angeles.
With you standing beside us we can accomplish great things—as we always have—together.
Until Justice for All is realized.
Shane Murphy Goldsmith
President/CEO
Liberty Hill Foundation
