The mission of the ACLS (American Council of Learned Societies) is to promote inclusion, equity, and diversity in the scholarly enterprise. They aim to enhance the scholarly enterprise by being broadly inclusive and welcoming of different backgrounds, cultures, and identities. This reflects in their fellowship programs which encourage applications from diverse backgrounds, recognizing the value that such diversity brings to scholarship.
The ACLS Digital Justice Grant aims to foster projects that diversify digital scholarship and promote justice and equity. It supports early-stage projects that engage with the interests and histories of marginalized communities, including, but not limited to, Black, Latinx, and Indigenous communities; people with disabilities; and queer, trans, and gender nonconforming people. The grant encourages experimentation with new materials and methodologies, openness to new knowledge sources, and community-engaged digital humanities projects. It seeks to address the disparity in digital project support and access among scholars from various fields and institutions with less digital project support. The grant includes financial planning coaching for long-term project sustainability.