Abstract
Racial segregation in housing is a root cause of inequalities in health, safety, education, wealth and income that have long concerned grantmakers in the United States. In recent years, the problem has won attention from major media outlets, prominent social commentators, community leaders, and some elected officials. This growing understanding may indeed exist within the philanthropic sector, as well. But grantmaking in support of state and local efforts to reduce or redress racial segregation remains rare.
A new brief from the Sillerman Center for the Advancement of Philanthropy draws upon a landscape scan and interviews with nearly 40 state and local nonprofit leaders concerned with housing segregation. Leaders of these established and emerging organizations across the nation report unstable, inadequate monetary support and a seeming lack of funder interest in even talking about segregation.