Trinity Grants: Racial Justice Initiative

Trinity Grants: Racial Justice Initiative

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Trinity Church Wall Street
Amount: US $80,000 - US $350,000
Last Updated: December 22, 2025

Summary

The Trinity Grants: Racial Justice Initiative, spearheaded by Trinity Church Wall Street, aims to foster equitable justice systems through community-driven approaches. Focused on mental health, safety, and reducing incarceration, this initiative emphasizes support for marginalized groups, particularly people of color. It addresses the need for restorative justice, legislative reforms, and comprehensive support for those impacted by the criminal legal system, aiming to transform communities and enhance public safety.

Overview

NOTE: To begin your inquiry, complete the eligibility quiz on our grantee portal. If your organization is eligible to receive a grant, you’ll receive an email with instructions to register with our online grant platform, Fluxx. See first Letter of Inquiry Deadline aboveOnce you complete the registration process and the information you provided has been reviewed and approved by staff, you will receive an email inviting you to submit a Letter of Inquiry.See second Letter of Inquiry Deadline aboveWe review submissions on a rolling basis but will contact you only if we are interested in learning more about your idea. Background The Grants and Mission Investing (GMI) team at Trinity Church Wall Street uses the tools of philanthropy, our convening power, and our voice to advance Trinity’s mission goals. Trinity Church has engaged in a strategic visioning process to clarify and articulate our core values and mission priorities. As a result of this process, Trinity’s grantmaking programs align with the church’s mission goal of building neighborhoods, leadership, and capacity. Support Healthy Minds and Safe Communities As a church, we are tasked with caring for the whole person—body, mind, and soul—and that means we must recognize and care for those who are ill. Faith communities can offer compassion, sanctuary, and community for those afflicted with mental illness. As a church, we operate under the belief that every person is created in the image and likeness of God and has dignity, value, and worth, regardless of race, gender, class, or other human characteristics. Our collective safety rests on our ability to support vulnerable and marginalized members of our communities instead of punishment and incarceration. New York City has led the nation in decarceration efforts, but far too many people remain behind bars, with a disproportionate number of people of color impacted. Areas of Focus Trinity’s Racial Justice Initiative will support efforts that fall within three areas of focus, as described below. Lead: Trinity will help advance a new, racially equitable justice system that centers community-based restorative and transformative approaches instead of incarceration. Few people think the criminal legal system is fair, but we have yet to realize support for full-scale alternatives. Trinity seeks to build the infrastructure to scale both restorative and transformative approaches that are rooted in communities, respond to violence, and deliver justice. Trinity supports the communities most affected by violence, incarceration, and trauma, following the wisdom of residents who are best positioned to identify what is needed for safety and justice. Activities we support under the Lead strategy have the following goals: Invest in the well-being and healthy minds of young people by supporting community-driven mental health and learning support for young people, including those in schools.Promote an affirmative vision for justice by engaging local faith leaders in media work to offer a healing, restorative safety/justice vision.Secure public investment to scale promising, non-punitive, approaches to end the cycle of trauma and violence. Prevent: Trinity will help end unnecessary pretrial detention and racial disparities. Successful organizing and advocacy have produced legislative victories that ended cash bail for most misdemeanors, reformed discovery practices, and ended the practice of charging 16-year-olds as adults. Building on this momentum, Trinity seeks to ensure equitable implementation of these laws while sustaining the advocacy and organizing infrastructure to continue reducing incarceration rates in New York. We also will disrupt racially unjust pipelines into the criminal legal system by continuing to support the scaling of school-based restorative justice efforts while exploring ways to uncouple the growing links between immigration and criminal legal systems, and the criminalization of immigrants. Activities we support under the Prevent strategy have the following goals: Safely reduce the jail population in New York City by support efforts to end cash bail and youth incarceration and hold implementing agencies accountable for racially equitable outcomes.Build and sustain positive school climates to ensure all students have access to social, emotional, and restorative approaches.Protect immigrants from criminalization to ensure that immigrant New Yorkers have meaningful access to due process and are protected from unnecessary detention and deportation. Liberate: Trinity will help end homelessness for justice-involved New Yorkers. Central to the efforts to end mass incarceration and homelessness is the liberation of people leaving jail and prison. However, after serving their time, returning citizens often encounter barriers to finding employment, obtaining education and training, and securing housing. Trinity seeks to leverage our combined expertise in both the racial justice and housing and homelessness systems to support the holistic needs of returning citizens and center their voices in the movement to end mass incarceration. We will have a deep focus on increasing housing options for New Yorkers who have been directly impacted by the criminal legal system. Activities we support under the Liberate strategy have the following goals: Expand housing options and mental health services for justice-involved New Yorkers.End the continuous punishment of poor people with criminal records as it relates to housing, employment, and education.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. U.S. applicants are not required to have an existing affiliation with the Episcopal Church, but they must be registered as a 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt organization or have a fiscal sponsor.

Ineligibility

The Trinity Grants Program does not fund individuals, consider applications for scholarships from individuals or fund organizations that will provide scholarships for students.