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Episcopal City Mission distributes $2.75 million in reparations to Massachusetts organizations supporting justice

September 15, 2026

[Episcopal News Service] Episcopal City Mission, a Boston nonprofit affiliated with the Diocese of Massachusetts, distributed $2.75 million in reparations to 25 Massachusetts-based organizations that are dedicated to promoting racial and economic justice and equity, truth-telling, reconciliation and strengthening communities. The announcement was made Sept. 15 at a press conference at St. Cyprian’s, a historically Black Episcopal church in Roxbury. Reparations are “part of our commitment to following Jesus,” Arrington Chambliss, Episcopal City Mission’s executive director, said in a Sept. 15 press release. “There is no reconciliation without repair given the history that necessitates this work. This moment is not an ending but an important step in a much longer journey toward truth, accountability, and repair,” Chambliss said. “We hope these payments will serve not only as a tangible commitment to repairing historic harms but also as an invitation for other similar Christian and faith-rooted institutions to engage in courageous acts of justice.” Since its founding in 1844, Episcopal City Mission has committed to combating poverty and systemic injustices at their root causes. Its reparations initiative stems from years of historical research, community engagement and reflection. The organization formed a committee called Reparations Advisors and Stewards to guide the decision-making process on recipients. Cynthia Perry, a professor at Boston College’s Woods College of Advancing Studies, helped facilitate the initiative as lead project consultant. The recipient organizations, which are all led by Black, Indigenous and people of color, address different areas of social justice, such as the Massachusetts Bail Fund for keeping low-income individuals from pre-trial incarceration, the Chappaquiddick Tribe of the Wampanoag Indian Nation to support the original Indigenous people of Chappaquiddick Island and Martha’s Vineyard, and Resilient Roses Respite Corp. for youth and young adult programming and mentoring.  Reparations in the United States date as far back as the 17th century, when Quakers propounded that formerly enslaved people were entitled to compensation from their enslavers. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act, which included a formal apology for the U.S. government unjustly incarcerating Japanese Americans during World War II and $20,000 payments to concentration camp survivors. Discussions of reparations for Black Americans made a widespread modern resurgence in 2014 after Ta-Nehisi Coates’ essay “The Case for Reparations” was published in The Atlantic. In 2019, Evanston, Illinois, an affluent suburb of Chicago, passed the first reparations law in U.S. history to compensate Black people for slavery and discrimination. The city has given $25,000 grants for down payments or home repairs to more than 300 recipients since approving the payments in 2021. The concept has also spread to supporting redress for Native Americans, including land restitution and compensation, institutional accountability and monetary compensation. Many Episcopal organizations, churches and dioceses are in varying stages of considering, developing and implementing financial initiatives devoted to reparations, often acknowledging that much of the church’s financial foundation and physical structures were built on enslaved labor and other forms of racial exploitation. Reparations programs are underway in several institutions, including the Diocese of Ohio, the Diocese of Texas, the Diocese of Washington, Virginia Theological Seminary, the Diocese of Massachusetts, the Diocese of Western Massachusetts, the Diocese of Michigan, the Diocese of Chicago, and the Diocese of Long Island. Since 1994, seven resolutions at General Convention have supported reparations for various historic injustices, such as The Episcopal Church’s role in supporting the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Indigenous boarding schools, including C011, “Support Legislation for Reparations for Slavery,” in 2006, and A015, “Create a Task Force on Reparations,” in 2024. –Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.