Mellon welcomes inquiries from organizations whose work aligns with our current strategies.

Project EATS Founder Linda Goode Bryant at a farm on Randall’s Island in New York. Photo: Ari Marcopolous 

A Black woman stands in an indoor garden in a row of plants. She wears glasses and boots, looking at the camera.

Artist Linda Goode Bryant on Creating Food Sovereignty with New York Communities: “Let’s Find the ‘Can’ in ‘Can’t’ ”

The Climate Museum is the first museum in the United States dedicated to climate-change art and cultural programming.

A view of a storefront space. The sign on the glass reads, "Climate Museum Pop-up"

Connecting the Dots Between Climate Dismay and Environmental Action

The Results of a Regenerative Neighborhood Development

Community members outside Sweet Water Foundation’s RND [Regenerative Neighborhood Development] Park & Meeting House.

Six people are outside a park and meeting house

Re-generation and Re-storying with Sweet Water Foundation

The programs that we support are focused on thinking about higher education as a kind of human right. 

[Folks who are incarcerated] are real knowledge producers, and they should be viewed that way.

Maria Sachiko Cecire (left), program officer, and Carolyn Dinshaw (right), senior program officer.

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Mellon program officer Maria Sachiko Cecire and senior program officer Carolyn Dinshaw
discuss changes to Higher Education in Prison programs due to the recent expansion of Pell Grant eligibility.

What’s the Point of Higher Education in Prison? For One Thing, It’s a Kind of Human Right.

I think about how difficult it can be to get into some archives, and that is the exact opposite of what we want for our collection,

Constructed in 1838 and now being restored as the future home of the AFRO Archives, the Upton Mansion is the last example of a Greek revival country house in the city of Baltimore. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Photo courtesy of AFRO Archives

In black and white, a historical home in Baltimore 

A Homecoming for the AFRO Archives of Black News and Culture

On a drive from Washington D.C. to Richmond, Virginia, poet and scholar Elizabeth Alexander listens to the stories that have shaped the country.

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Road Tripping Through Virginia to Understand America’s Complex Past

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Foundation President Elizabeth Alexander led a discussion about how our cities are envisioning and creating new American monuments today.

American Monuments, American Cities

The grant from the Mellon Foundation will help pay for several new monuments, including one to survivors of ex-Commander Jon Burge and his infamous “Midnight Crew.”

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Chicago will get a new monument dedicated to victims of police torture

“Visual Artists - The Continuous Thread: Celebrating Our Interwoven Histories, Identities and Contributions," 2019. Seated, front left: Huyana Mumby (Powhatan/KonKow/Tlingit/Kaska Dene) and Tisina Parker (Southern Sierra Miwuk, Mono Lake Paiute, Kashia Pomo). Seated in back left: Emmanuel Montoya (Apache), L. Frank Manriquez (Tongva), and standing, Keith Secola, Jr. (Ute/Ojibwe). Photo: Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie, courtesy of San Francisco Arts Commission

Five Indigenous artists stand and sit in front of a monument in San Francisco

Office of the President

Photo: Sharif Hamza for Mellon Foundation

Headshot of Elizabeth Alexander

President

Elizabeth Alexander

With new grants to nine US municipalities totaling $25 million, the Foundation affirms its commitment to transforming the nation’s commemorative landscape through public projects.

Monuments Project Giving Exceeds $150M; Grantmaking Expands to Nine Municipalities

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5 Portland statues pulled down during 2020 protests will be subjects of new talks

Mellon M logo in gray concrete

A statement on SCOTUS decisions in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. University of North Carolina and Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College

Statement on US Supreme Court decisions on affirmative action

A class of 2019 graduate. Photo: courtesy of Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison, Babita Patel, 2019. 

A smiling graduate wearing a cap and gown stands in a room before other graduates. The graduate is holding up a diploma and a child.

Higher Learning

Headshot of Phillip Brian Harper

Program Director

Phillip Brian Harper

With its most recent round of funding, Mellon has committed over $60 million to increase higher education opportunities in carceral environments since 2015. 

Mellon Announces Over $5M in Funding for Higher Education in Prisons

Mellon makes grants to support communities through the power of the arts and humanities.

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Monuments Summer

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Artists as Catalysts

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Beyond Incarceration

A side profile of a Black poet who is wearing glasses and a hat with a feather hat pin.

Civic Engagement

Civic engagement navigation image - A large crowd of people who are far away and anonymous

Evolving Higher Education

A vertical image of an Indigenous person who is sitting on a chair in front of a backdrop.

Expanding Public Knowledge

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Monuments and Memory

A large statue of a confederate general is covered in markings and graffiti. 

Multivocality

Five people stand together in a group photo. They are laughing and smiling.

Power of the Word

Five colorful neon signs hang on the wall with messages that include, "Freedom cannot wait," "Brown owned," and "America is for Dreamers."

Public Places‚ Public Stories

A group of Indigenous Maskoke people stand and sit in the wooden frame of a structure in a woods

Puerto Rico and Its Diaspora

In a vertical image, a black leather vest is adorned with colorful pins across the front of it. Embroidery on the vest reads: "Felícitas "La Prieta" Méndez" 