Racial Equity Research Grants

Overview

The Racial Equity Research Grants program supports education research projects that will contribute to understanding and ameliorating racial inequality in education. We are interested in funding studies that aim to understand and disrupt the reproduction and deepening of inequality in education, and which seek to (re)imagine and make new forms of equitable education. Thus, we are interested in research projects that seek to envision educational opportunities in a multiplicity of education systems, levels, settings, and developmental ranges and that reach beyond documenting conditions and paradigms that contribute to persistent racial inequalities. 

Our goal for this program is to support rigorous, intellectually ambitious, and technically sound research that is relevant to the most pressing questions and compelling opportunities in relation to racial equity in education. In this cycle of funding, we will continue to fund scholarship focused on a range of communities and issues with respect to equity. We encourage proposals from across the methodological spectrum, including qualitative methods, mixed-methods, and quantitative methods. We want to especially encourage Racial Equity proposals that focus on the following areas: (1) youth and educator mental health that explores possibilities that promote resilience, center healing, and foster well-being; (2) current political challenges in Pre-K-12 and higher education around diversity, equity, and inclusion; and (3) youth civic education and engagement across learning contexts. Additionally, and as part of The Spencer Foundation’s Initiative on AI and Education , we will fund an additional set of Racial Equity grants specifically focused on AI and racial equity. 

As with other Spencer grant programs, this program is “field-initiated” in that proposal submissions are not required to be developed around a particular research topic, discipline, design, method, or geographic location. 

PIs and Co-PIs may only hold one active research grant from the Spencer Foundation at a time. This restriction does not apply to the administering organization; organizations may submit as many proposals as they like as long as they are for different projects and have different research teams. 

PIs and Co-PIs may not submit more than one research proposal to the Spencer Foundation at a time. This restriction applies to the Small Grants Program, Large Grants Program, Racial Equity Research Grants Program, and Research-Practice Partnership Program. If the PI or any of the Co-PIs currently have a research proposal under consideration in any of these programs, they are required to wait until a final decision has been made on the pending proposal before they can submit a new proposal. 

Note that an exception to both of these restrictions is the Spencer Vision Grants program. PIs and Co-PIs may apply for a Vision Grant if they have another active research grant from the Spencer Foundation or if they have another Spencer grant proposal in review. However, the projects proposed in a Vision Grant proposal and in another Spencer grant program proposal must be distinct.

The application process begins with an Intent to Apply form. Once submitted, you will automatically have access to the Full Proposal application in our online portal. 

We accept Intent to Apply forms once a year. We will be accepting applications for projects ranging from one to five years with budgets up to $75,000.

Proposals to the Racial Equity Research Grants program must be for academic research projects that will contribute to understanding and ameliorating racial inequality in education, broadly conceived.

Read about recent awardees in the PDF download here.