New Funding Opportunities to Address Racial Equity in Research and Education
COVID-19 and systemic racism are twin pandemics that continue to expose inequities in the United States. BU’s partner Lewis-Burke Associates has created a document providing an overview of actions and initiatives across the Administration, Congress, and federal agencies that aim to address racial equity and broaden participation of underrepresented groups across the research, innovation, and education landscape. The Biden Administration has made promoting equity and addressing systemic racism a priority, with President Biden signing Executive Order (EO) 13985, “Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government” on his first day in office. This EO immediately revoked President Trump’s Executive Order 13950 and 13958 which had prohibited the federal government from providing certain workplace diversity and training programs. Executive Order 13985 promotes a “whole-of-government equity agenda” to address the challenges the country faces. This executive order requires every federal agency to take a comprehensive look at its policies and programs and revaluate them to ensure equal opportunities for communities that are historically underserved, marginalized, and faced with inequity. A major part of this executive order was the establishment of the Equitable Data Working Group, tasked with gathering the data necessary to ensure federal funding, programs, and policies are advancing equity. The information gathered through this group will inform federal agencies as they move forward with plans to advance equity.
To learn more about these programs, see the document 2021 Federal Efforts in Broadening Participation, produced by Lewis-Burke. For further information on federal funding opportunities, visit BU’s Office of Federal Relations.