The Racial Justice and Equity Research Fund (RJERF), offered through a collaboration between the Office of the Vice President for Research (VPR) and the Office of Access and Opportunity was initiated in 2020, with the goal of providing financial support to help USC faculty apply their skills and expertise to address this vital issue of national importance. By empowering our world-class faculty with funding to pursue research and scholarship to further the causes of racial justice and equity, Carolina aims to promote real and lasting racial justice in our local community, state and nation.

This special research program supports activities including, but not limited to:

• Developing new, innovative research or scholarly projects to deepen understanding of the ways race, racism and racial prejudice function in society and generate substantive advancements for racial equity or racial justice
• Taking existing research and scholarship on racial equity and justice in a new direction
• Organizing a conference or meeting with the goals of generating information on effective practices and gathering innovative ideas