Black to the Future Action Fund (BFAF) is a political advocacy group associated with Black Lives Matter. BFAF aims to educate and organize left-of-center African-American voters to elect African-American officials to further its political goals. The organization’s Black Agenda 2020 lays out a left-wing platform for reforming the allegedly white supremacist and anti-Black government in the United States. BFAF also asks supporters to pledge to vote in the 2020 election. ¹

BFAF is a project of the San Francisco-based Chinese Progressive Association (CPA), a left-wing advocacy group for low-income Asian Americans. BFAF is also associated with Black Futures Lab.

Leadership

Alicia Garza, a lifelong radical-left activist who describes herself as a “trained Marxist,” leads BFAF. ² While attending the University of California San Diego, Garza helped organize the first Women of Color Conference across the University of California school system. ³ After graduating, she worked as executive director of the left-of-center community organizing group People Organized to Win Employment Rights for almost nine years. ⁴

In 2013, Garza co-founded the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, an umbrella organization financed by the Tides Foundation to support groups associated with the Black Lives Matter movement. That same year, Garza became an executive at the National Domestic Workers Alliance. While maintaining this position, Garza became the principal agent at the BFAF and Black Futures Lab in 2018. ⁵

Black Agenda 2020

Black Agenda 2020 is a publication which lays out  Black to the Future Action Fund’s policy goals based on the results of the Black Census Project, a survey of the opinions of 30,000 African Americans conducted by Black Futures Lab. The agenda claims that powerful forces in the United States have conspired to force African Americans into an underprivileged state, and that only concerted action to place African Americans in positions of power can remedy the problem. ⁶

The Black Agenda is based on three principles: “race matters,” “government must be accountable,” and “the black agenda is a progressive agenda.” “Race matters” refers to the insistence that African Americans are suffering under a white supremacist government, and that only explicitly pro-African-American laws can reverse the impacts of alleged white supremacy. “Government must be accountable” holds that the government must actively implement policies to close racial gaps by regulating both the public and the private sector. The “progressive agenda” alleges that African Americans must rely on and support a left-of-center political agenda for new race-based initiatives. ⁷

The agenda has supported a range of left-wing policies, including race-based reparations for American slavery. BFAF also supports far-left labor policies, including raising the national minimum wage to $15 per hour, increasing legal protection for unions, and government subsidies specifically for African-American-owned businesses. BFAF also supports a range of left-of-center social programs, including universal government-funded childcare, publicly-funded low-interest loan support for housing purchases, and single-payer government-run healthcare. In education, the BFAF agenda calls for government-funded, tuition-free public universities and universal student loan forgiveness. ⁸

COVID-19 Response

HEROES Act

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Black Futures Action Fund has supported the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act. The bill was proposed by U.S. Representative Nita Lowey (D-NY) and passed in the House of Representatives in May of 2020.

As of September 2020, the bill is in the restructuring process in the Senate. The most updated version of the bill from September 28, 2020, distributes $2.2 trillion (down from over $3 trillion) in relief funds to the American public, restores monthly $600 federal unemployment benefits, extends a freeze on student loan repayments, and provides subsidies for public education. ⁹

In September of 2020, BFAF organized a petition and letter-writing campaign to push for additional provisions to the HEROES Act targeted at supporting exclusively African-American communities, including the complete cancellation of student loan payments, priority status for African-American businesses to receive support loans, free COVID testing for only African Americans, and a freeze on rents, mortgages, and evictions. ¹⁰

COVID-19 Dashboard

BFAF also maintains the COVID-19 Dashboard, a national database of COVID-19’s prevalence among African Americans. The Dashboard tracks the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the African-American population in every county in the United States. ¹¹

Black to the Future Public Policy Institute

The Black to the Future Public Policy Institute is a joint project of BFAF and Black Futures Lab. The Institute creates policy recommendations based on the results of the Black Census Project. As of late 2020, few proposals are available, but the Institute is focused on combatting the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on African Americans. ¹²

1. “Pledge to Vote.” Black to the Future Action Fund. Accessed September 29, 2020. https://black2thefuture.org/pledge-to-vote/.
2. Steinbuch, Yaron. “Black Lives Matter co-founder describes herself as ‘trained Marxist.’” New York Post. June 25, 2020. Accessed September 28, 2020. https://nypost.com/2020/06/25/blm-co-founder-describes-herself-as-trained-marxist/.
3. Darden, Jenee. “What it Means to Rise.” Triton. April 24, 2019. Accessed September 28, 2020. https://tritonmag.com/what-it-means-to-rise/.
4. “Alicia Garza.” LinkedIn. Accessed September 28, 2020. https://www.linkedin.com/in/buildthemovement/.
5. “Alicia Garza.” LinkedIn. Accessed September 28, 2020. https://www.linkedin.com/in/buildthemovement/.
6. “Black Agenda 2020.” Black to the Future Action Fund. 2020. Accessed September 29, 2020. https://live-black2thefuture.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/BlackAgenda2020.pdf.
7. “Black Agenda 2020.” Black to the Future Action Fund. 2020. Accessed September 29, 2020. https://live-black2thefuture.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/BlackAgenda2020.pdf.
8. “Black Agenda 2020.” Black to the Future Action Fund. 2020. Accessed September 29, 2020. https://live-black2thefuture.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/BlackAgenda2020.pdf.
9. Whistle, Wesley. “Updated HEROES Act: Stimulus Checks, Student Loan Relief, And Money for Education.” Forbes. September 28, 2020. Accessed September 29, 2020. https://www.forbes.com/sites/wesleywhistle/2020/09/28/updated-heroes-act-stimulus-checks-student-loan-relief-and-money-for-education/#16de83732814.
10. “Tell Congress: Strengthen the HEROES Act by Adopting our COVID-19 Relief and Recovery Plan for Black America NOW!.” Black to the Future Action Fund. Accessed September 29, 2020. https://black2thefuture.org/b2f-covid19-relief-plan-online-petition/.
11. “Covid-19 Dashboard.” Black to the Future Action Fund. Accessed September 29, 2020. https://black2thefuture.org/covid-19-dashboard/.
12. “Black to the Future Public Policy Institute.” Black Futures Lab. Accessed September 28, 2020. https://blackfutureslab.org/black-to-the-future-policy-institute-2/.