MLK Jr Commemoration Actions Grants
Put Economic Justice into Practice
What might economic justice look like when we move from talking about it to practicing it?
As part of Northwestern’s 2027 Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration, we invite students, faculty, staff, departments, and campus units to propose programs, projects, and creative experiences that explore this year’s theme of economic justice.
Through a new series of MLK Jr. Commemoration Action Grants, we want to help members of the Northwestern community turn ideas into action. Rather than asking everyone to engage with the commemoration in the same way, these grants are an invitation to create something that speaks to your community, discipline, interests, or questions.
Your idea does not need to be a traditional lecture or event. In fact, we encourage experimentation.
You might use the funding to:
- host a student-led conversation, teach-in, or workshop about housing, labor, wealth, food access, education, health, or another dimension of economic justice;
- bring together people from different fields or communities to explore a shared question;
- create an art installation, exhibition, performance, zine, podcast, short film, or other creative project;
- organize a community meal paired with dialogue or storytelling;
- develop an interactive activity that helps participants understand how economic systems shape everyday life;
- explore the history of Dr. King’s economic justice work and its connections to Chicago, Evanston, or Northwestern;
- partner with a community organization, organizer, artist, or practitioner;
- create a space for students or community members to share their own experiences, ideas, or visions for a more economically just future;
- test an idea we haven't imagined yet.
We are especially interested in projects that invite participation rather than passive attendance, create opportunities for people to learn with and from one another, and help participants connect Dr. King’s work to the economic questions facing our communities today.
Projects may be large or small. What matters most is that your idea creates a meaningful opportunity for people to engage, reflect, practice, create, or act together.