Reimagining the Social Contract
The social contract dictates the economic, moral, and political rules of behavior within our society. But for too many, this social contract—and the systems it creates and perpetuates—doesn’t work. The public health, economic, racial justice, and democracy crises that dominated 2020 shone a bright and unforgiving light on this country’s broken social contract.
At the center of our social contract is systemic racism and our deeply inequitable economy, both of which prevent too many people from accessing prosperity and opportunity despite hard work. Our social safety net—created to offset the impacts of this inequitable system—is fraying and has been inequitable from its New Deal-era roots.
We believe that the social contract should be inclusive and race-centered, support a just economy that works for people who are most directly affected by racial injustice, and redefine the relationship between systems and the people they serve.
In 2022, we will devote time and attention to understanding the roots of our country’s unjust social contract and educating the public about the urgent need to re-imagine it. This work will culminate later in the year with a series of convenings with our partners where together we will create a vision for a new social contract. That vision will gradually develop into the framework for our core grantmaking, to build power to create a new and more inclusive social contract.
