Liberation Ventures

The year is winding down and we have lots to be grateful for. Our movement is growing. Every day, more folks are embracing the need for reparations and racial repair in this country. Together, and in our lifetimes, we know this is possible. Starting tomorrow, Liberation Ventures will be on a holiday break until Tuesday, January 7, 2025. In order to remain committed to this work, we must rest, and we hope you can as well. Thank you to our phenomenal movement partners for organizing our communities and advocating for the need for reparations. And thanks to all who have supported us and our work this year. We are very excited for what 2025 has in store for the reparations movement.

LV is hiring! Please help us spread the word about the following exciting positions. Apply by February 15, 2025. Director of Donor Organizing - The Director of Donor Organizing will work directly with the Co-Founder & CEO, Aria Florant, to exponentially increase the amount of resources flowing into the reparations movement. Director of Communications - The Director of Communications will lead our communications efforts, focusing on social media, press engagement, and thought leadership development. Director of State & Local Initiatives - The Director of State & Local Initiatives will collaborate closely with other partners in the movement to bring the full suite of LV assets and capabilities to bear in order to help state and local efforts be successful. Manager of Data, Strategy & Impact - The Manager of Data, Strategy & Impact will work to gather, analyze, and incorporate data and insights to inform LV’s strategy and exponentially increase our impact over the next decade. Apply today: https://lnkd.in/gNiiRvQb

This month, Equity And Transformation organized a group of supporters at Chicago’s City Hall in favor of saving Chicago’s guaranteed income program, The Chicago Empowerment Fund. The Chicago Empowerment Fund would provide a $500 monthly stipend to Chicagoans in need and was slated to begin in January 2025. Sadly, however, recent budget cuts led to it being removed from the 2025 budget. Still, the EAT team made sure their voices were heard: “Thank you to all our partners and individuals who showed up this morning at city hall. We came out to send Chicago’s city council a message and with all the powerful voices who spoke today, no doubt it was received!. Today the team was filled with so much gratitude to see organizations and individuals from across movements and from all parts of Chicago come together. They know just like we do, that an investment in our people and in our communities is an investment in the entire city.” - Equity And Transformation Thank you for speaking up for the people. #LVxMP

Breaking: Survivors, descendants, and legal experts are calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to elevate its current review of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre to a formal investigation. In a letter issued this month, attorneys for the survivors expressed grave concerns that the DOJ’s approach does not match the magnitude of an atrocity that is widely considered one of the worst incidents of racial violence in U.S. history. “Black Tulsans have waited 103 years for their federal government to take action on the massacre that destroyed Black Wall Street. After the decades of advocacy, the mountains of evidence provided, and the nationwide interest in this case, a tepid conclusion from the DOJ would be a devastating blow to the survivors and to America’s faith in the justice system.” - Damario Solomon-Simmons, National Civil Rights Attorney and Executive Director of Justice for Greenwood Foundation #LVxMP https://lnkd.in/g9tw_Hrc

Our movement partner, Get Free is accepting applications for The Get Free First 100 Days Organizing Fellowship. This is a dynamic, paid opportunity for young people passionate about grassroots organizing and winning transformation policies for racial justice, repair, and reparations. This fellowship equips a cohort of predominantly BIPOC Gen Z organizers (ages 18-30) with leadership roles in Get Free's "First 100 Days National Campaign". * Fellows are expected to dedicate 8-10 hours per week over a 14-week period. * The fellowship runs for 14 weeks, starting mid-January and ending in April. * Each fellow will receive a stipend of up to $2800 for their participation. * Get Free will work with your college or university to help you earn college credit if your institution allows. Apply by Tuesday, December 17th. Spread the word. https://lnkd.in/ep893SaH #LVxMP

Tomorrow, Thursday, December 12 at 1pm et, National Black Cultural Information Trust is hosting another Reparation Information Thought Series. This one will feature Areva Martin and the Palm Springs Section 14 Survivors for a “Reparations Victory Discussion.” Areva Martin is an award-winning civil rights attorney who has fought for a lot of modern-day Emmett Tills, who’ve been beaten, battered, silenced and shortchanged by the system. And recently, the Palm Springs City Council unanimously approved a $5.91 million settlement for former residents and descendants of Section 14, addressing historical injustices from the 1950s and 1960s. The decision comes after years of negotiations and community advocacy. Please join for a Palm Springs victory conversation discussing how this monumental settlement became a reparatory reality. https://lnkd.in/e34Aaayy #LVxMP

On Thursday, December 12 at 6:30pm ET, the New Jersey Reparations Council (New Jersey Institute for Social Justice) will be hosting their eighth public session to share its work and hear from community members. This session will be led by the Economic Justice Committee. They will be discussing what role economic justice should play in reparations for slavery in NJ, as well as how to define economic justice in terms of reparations, and more. They want to hear your thoughts on how the job market, wages and benefits, worker protections, banking, housing, student loans, lending practices, access to capital, credit, the tax system and other economic dynamics affect the lives of Black people in New Jersey. You can watch live at https://lnkd.in/eTZYnFSi or register here: https://lnkd.in/eBsgFDbu

“How we gonna make reparations wide? Agitate, Educate, Organize!” Shout out to our movement partner, FirstRepair and for the release of their new empowering single, "Agitate, Educate, Organize" (AEO) to amplify Black #reparations movement. “Music has always been a powerful medium to uplift justice movements. ‘Agitate, Educate, Organize’ channels the energy and urgency of this pivotal moment in the reparations movement. It’s a call to action that transcends generations and boundaries, reminding us that change begins with people power.” - Robin Rue Simmons of FirstRepair This new song features Young RJ (of Slum Village), Ras Kass, Nkechi Taifa, Esq., Kymrence Young, and BLIS co-founder and guest rapper Trevor Smith (‘Tricky Trev’). “AEO” amplifies the call to action for communities nationwide to mobilize around reparations and transformative justice. Combining evocative lyrics with dynamic production, “AEO” is a rallying cry for all committed to agitating, educating, and organizing for change. https://lnkd.in/g3pyvFa7 #LVxMP

Breaking: The New York State Community Commission on Reparations Remedies held its first public hearing in Buffalo, NY! During this public hearing, Black New Yorkers shared their own experiences with anti-Black discrimination and how the legacy of enslavement continues to impact their lives. “The simple fact is that Black communities have been a dumping ground for our state’s deadliest toxic pollutants…It was important as a Buffalo resident […that I] share those issues and be transparent about what I hope to be done by this committee.” - Aymanuel Radford, New York Civil Liberties Union If you live in New York, come to the next reparations commission public hearing to make sure that New York makes repair real: Monday, Dec 16, 2024, 5:30pm - Roy Wilkins Park, Queens, NY. Get Free

Great news! The Palm Springs City Council has unanimously approved a $5.9 million settlement with the Black and Latino families whose homes were razed and burned in a brutal urban renewal project in the 1950s and 1960s. “The settlement package includes compensation based on the current value of personal property lost by verified former Section 14 residents and their families. The council also approved funding broader programs intended to address long-standing economic disparities in the desert city, including $20 million for housing initiatives and $1 million for local business initiatives for marginalized communities. The programs are intended for the entire Palm Springs community, but the city said it would target outreach to Section 14 families.” This is a major win for the Palm Spring Section 14 Survivors who were evicted from their homes and had yet to receive any compensation for this wrongdoing. This is a beginning. https://lnkd.in/gVt8NHcM