Sixty-two years ago, a quarter million people converged on Washington, D.C., to demand a nation worthy of its highest ideals and to advocate for democracy and economic justice.

At the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, they pressed for urgent change: a living wage, the end of school segregation, and the expansion of life-saving civil and labor rights. These were not radical dreams—they were the bare minimum for dignity and democracy. Their vision was clear: a truly inclusive, multiracial democracy where no one could be locked out of social, political, or economic belonging.

That vision remains unfinished. And the call they sounded still echoes today—asking us not only to remember, but to keep marching for democracy and economic justice.

Today, Borealis Philanthropy carries this vision forward by resourcing those who are working to ensure that all Americans have safety, voice, care, and power. Our grantee partners are defending our democracy by pursuing racial, gender, and disability justice; narrative change; community safety and well-being; and—like generations prior, who marched for access and opportunity—economic justice.

At the March on Washington, Dr. King delivered his prominent and celebrated “I have a dream” speech, in which he identified economic justice as critical to the fight for civil rights. Speaking with power and conviction about freedom, democracy, and economic justice, he declared:

We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

As attacks on democratic principles intensify—and access to fundamental, life-affirming resources grow increasingly unequal—we want to be clear about naming and scaling our commitment to economic justice; to work to build cooperative, just, and regenerative economic systems; to work that allows justice, equity, and belonging to roll down like waters, like a mighty stream.

Our grantee partners are approaching democracy and economic justice through an expansive and interconnected lens. They are organizing workers, advancing equitable economic governance, and building mutual aid networks. They are protecting and expanding housing justice and creating pathways to intergenerational wealth. And they are leading their work in ways that honor and recognize the many intertwinements that lie within: of extractive capitalism and racialized poverty, of disinvestment and displacement, and also of effective policy and lived experience.

Read the full article about democracy and economic justice at Borealis Philanthropy.