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Lumina commits $15M to racial justice fund

(photo courtesy of the Lumina Foundation)

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) – Indianapolis-based Lumina Foundation is committing $15 million over the next three years to Lumina’s Fund for Racial Justice and Equity. The foundation says the funding will help advance social justice initiatives by supporting projects that improve the climate around race relations on college campuses.

Grants awarded by the foundation include: $1 million to support the Race and Equity Center at the University of Southern California, funding for American Public Media’s APM Reports to explore racial issues on campuses through a series of podcasts and an hour-long documentary, 19 grants to colleges and universities working to improve conditions for students of color, and several grants to Indianapolis nonprofits working towards racial justice.

Lumina says the replenished fund will sustain its racial justice work, and the fund will support work within the Hoosier state and nationally.

The foundation previously joined with Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co.’s (NYSE: LLY) corporate foundation to establish the Central Indiana Racial Equity Fund, housed at Central Indiana Community Foundation. The fund totals more than $2 million to support organizations focused on having difficult conversations about Indiana’s and the nation’s racial history, supporting nonprofit efforts to address racial inequities, especially related to the criminal justice system, and advancing data-driven approaches to fight racism at the local level.

Lumina says it is still working out the details for further funding from its $15 million fund.