OSBF: Racial Justice Initiative Grant

The Ohio State Bar Foundation's Racial Justice Initiative Grant, launched in 2020, has allocated $1 million to support impactful projects that confront systemic racism in Ohio. This initiative seeks proposals that identify and challenge biases, provide frameworks for change, educate stakeholders, and collaborate with legal systems. However, the OSBF discourages proposals focused on internal organizational improvements related to diversity and equity, as funding is intended for external, systemic change.

Since launching in 2020 the Racial Justice Initiative has provided $1 million in grant funding to support projects focused on long-lasting impact and institutional change for racial justice. The specific focus of the Racial Justice Initiative is to support projects that specifically identify, address, and challenge systemic racism which hinders the pursuit of justice and public understanding of the rule of law for historically marginalized communities of color in Ohio.
OSBF grants are project based (not operational). The OSBF encourages proposals which promote racial justice that:
Identify and address systemic biasesProvide stable, replicable framework to eliminate systemic racismEducate the public or other external stakeholdersCollaborate with legal systems such as courts, law enforcement, corrections, and othersAnd/or eliminate legal barriers for BIPOC collectively
At this time, the OSBF must discourage against proposals aimed at improving internal organizational issues with diversity, equity, and inclusion or performing internal equitability assessments. While these activities are beneficial, OSBF grant funding is limited and cannot adequately sustain requests for internal organizational improvements.