In an unprecedented effort to address the devastating impact of racial inequities, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation has launched a five-year, $75 million initiative – America Healing – to improve life outcomes for vulnerable children and their families by promoting racial healing and eliminating barriers to opportunities.

Children of color are over-represented among the 29 million low-income children and families in this country. About 61 percent of African American, 62 percent of Latino, 57 percent of Native American, 58 percent of children with immigrant parents, 30 percent of Asian American children and 26 percent of white children live in low-income families, according to the National Center for Children in Poverty.

In the first phase of America Healing, 119 organizations will receive grants totaling $14,613,709 to support community-based organizations’ healing efforts among racial and ethnic groups that address historic burdens, disparities and barriers to opportunity.

“The Kellogg Foundation’s vision is for a nation to marshal its resources to ensure that all children in America have an equitable and promising future,” said Sterling K. Speirn, president and CEO. “That is simply not the case in many communities across the country today. The goal of the America Healing initiative is to help make that vision a reality by engaging communities and supporting them in the hard work of racial healing and addressing the effects of historic and contemporary structural issues, such as residential segregation and concentrated poverty.”

Watch a video that captures the spirit of the initiative here or below: