The Third Reconstruction: Looking Beyond the Emergencies of Today to the Beloved Community | Nonprofit Quarterly | Civic News. Empowering Nonprofits. Advancing Justice.

"In his "Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination," Robin D.G. Kelley explains that "a map to the new world is in the imagination." There are so many emergencies right now-ICE abductions, decriminalization of anti-Black racism, the political hijack of the struggle against antisemitism and anti-Blackness, unauthorized military aggression abroad, a climate crisis accelerated-that it's hard to know where to direct our resistance."

"Peniel Joseph, Barbara Jordan Chair in Ethics and Political Values at the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and Founding Director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy; Darrick Hamilton, Henry Cohen Professor of Economics and Urban Policy and Founding Director of the Institute on Race, Power, and Political Economy at The New School; Dorian Warren, Co-president of Community Change and Co-founder of the Economic Security Project;"

Nine experts and organizers articulate a bold vision for a Third Reconstruction that centers collective imagination, systemic policy change, and mass organizing. The vision connects reparative racial justice, economic security, public-health access, and climate resilience to long-term institutional transformation rather than crisis containment. Contributors emphasize targeted public investments, guaranteed economic supports, and strengthened democratic power-building led by grassroots organizations. The framework calls for reallocating resources and authority to marginalized communities, constructing durable coalition infrastructure, and pursuing policies that redistribute wealth and reshape public priorities toward equity and shared prosperity.

Read at Nonprofit Quarterly | Civic News. Empowering Nonprofits. Advancing Justice.