What It Means to Continue the Work: Relationships and Community That Persist Beyond Grant-Cancellation

• In Event: It Was Never Just About the Grant: The Befores, Durings, and Afters of Educational Justice Work in Times of Grant Cancellation

Abstract

Objective

On January 21, 2025, the Trump Administration issued an executive order declaring diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives illegal and in violation of federal civil rights laws. This directive led to the termination of all DEI-related programs within federal agencies. By April 19, the National Science Foundation had canceled 1,640 grants classified under this definition, upending critical support for marginalized communities and community-rooted research.

The sudden cancellation was ethically, emotionally, and materially devastating, especially for research-community practice partnerships (RCPPs) grounded in trust, reciprocity, and long-term commitment. In the aftermath, our teams worked to ease anxiety, maintain dignity, and preserve the values of human connection and research integrity. But as the initial shock passed, deeper questions surfaced: How do we continue?

This paper reflects on the aftermath of grant-cancellation for the projects introduced in the first half of this symposium. We create space for fellow researchers to share their stories and engage in the necessary collective storytelling this moment demands. Together, we ask:

How do relationships, positionalities, and theories of change affect the continuation of educational justice work after cancellation?

What strategies, adaptations, or subversive tactics allow this work to persist or evolve?



Theoretical Framework
Our work is rooted in critical race theory (Bell, 1995; Delgado & Stefancic, 2023; Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995) and inspired by Eve Tuck’s (2022) call for researchers to continually examine their theories of change. This paper serves as a space to critically and collectively examine how our values, relationships, and positions shape our post-cancellation strategies.



Methodology
We use narrative inquiry and self-study to treat our reflections as valid and meaningful data (Kim, 2016; Milner, 2007). As seven authors—mostly Black women with deep ties to Evanston, IL—we draw from long-standing community relationships, leadership roles, and local commitments. Our process includes group dialogue, written reflection, and memos capturing the period before and after the spring 2025 grant terminations. We don’t seek consensus but instead elevate the tensions, solidarities, and insights that shape our present work.



Preliminary Findings

Relationships Outlast Funding: The depth of community ties built before the grant allowed many partnerships to continue despite the financial rupture.

Shift to Informality: In place of formal programs, teams leaned into grassroots strategies—community gatherings, mutual aid, and informal organizing—demonstrating adaptability.

Emotional Labor and Integrity: Researchers bore the emotional weight of maintaining trust and minimizing harm, reinforcing care as central to justice work.

Subversive Design: Policy restrictions both limit and reshape how equity is practiced. Teams relied upon subversive and community-centered tactics to remain committed to equity goals while performing compliance



Significance
This paper offers important implications to the field of education. As we are seeing the backlash of several decades of educational justice work, this paper offers insights into how we situate ourselves within both real and imagined futures. Even in the face of political backlash and institutional rollbacks, educational justice persists. Federal grant cancellations have ultimately revealed the foundation of educational justice work to be relationships, ethic of care, and practices of refusal.

Authors

• Brande M. Otis, Northwestern

• Arikpo Ekaette Dada, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Shai Moore, Northwestern University

• Sydney Grae Simmons, Northwestern University

• Sepehr Vakil, Northwestern University

• kihana miraya ross, Northwestern University

• Nichole D. Pinkard, Northwestern University