Heal America Communities
Summer of Healing
We’re partnering with leaders across 8 community organizations and around the country that demonstrate solutions to create change. Starting with grants to innovative community leaders and organizations, we fund programs aimed at disrupting violence and bridging divides that exist between the community and law enforcement. Our goal is to support and elevate leaders already putting in the work and help amplify their organizations and model of community change to other leaders across the country.
Juneteenth
Heal America is proud to continue to elevate Juneteenth as an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the progress of Black communities. In 2023, Heal America was honored to serve as the premier sponsor of Opal’s Walk for Freedom to celebrate Juneteenth with her annual 2.5-mile walk. We believe that local events are an essential part of honoring how Juneteenth has always been celebrated – with neighbors coming together to honor the legacies of the families who had been fighting in the 1860s. And we aren’t ones to turn down red velvet cake either.
In this video, learn from the Rev. Dr. DeForest “Buster” Soaries, the co-chair of Heal America, about the real history of Juneteenth and how everyone has a role to play in a brighter future and the pursuit of equal justice.
Conversation with Dr. Opal Lee, grandmother of Juneteenth
Watch an inspiring and celebratory conversation with Dr. Opal Lee, known as the “Grandmother of Juneteenth.” Dr. Opal Lee dedicated her life to making Juneteenth a federal holiday – believing it proves our ability to unite and end injustices.
In this conversation you will hear directly from Dr. Opal Lee and special guests carrying out her legacy to overcome injustice, including Rev. Dr. DeForest B. Soaries Jr., Leon Ford and Ryan Tillman.
Getty Project
Heal America cares about the stories of how we got here and where we’re going and there’s no better way to preserve and share that than photos from the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) that have been staples of Black American culture for generations.
Getty Images and Stand Together have partnered to create the “Historically Black Colleges & Universities Collection” and add thousands of photos to the Getty platform in 2022. Each HBCU will retain all copyright for their photographs and all revenue generated from the images will be funneled back into impact programs: 50 percent will go to grant recipients; 30 percent of revenue will be used for a financial donation to scholarship funds focused on furthering the education of students at HBCUs; and 20 percent will be reinvested to fund the Getty Images Photo Archive Grants for HBCUs each year.
Tour
Founded in 2018 by Urban Specialists, the Heal America Tour launched as a series of tough conversations between people from different backgrounds who share a common goal: to be relentless in their pursuit of solutions to racial injustice.
In partnership with the Stand Together Foundation the tour grew from a series of local conversations into headline-driven events featuring NFL stars like Deion Sanders, titans of industry like Mark Cuban, artistic luminaries like Mack Maine, and families of innocent people killed by police officers and families of innocent police officers killed in senseless retaliation.
The discussions were hard, revealing, and ultimately redeeming. No matter who you are or where you come from, all were welcomed at the Heal America Tour. Every event assembled people who are fighting racial injustice with the only weapons that can win: love and redemption.