Equity and Belonging in Our Work

There is no way to separate our two areas of focus — democracy and economy — from racial inequality in the United States.

You probably don’t need us to tell you: Historically and today, race is the single most significant indicator of whether a community has a say in public decisions or has access to a level playing field in our economy.

Historic and current policies and practices designed to shut the door on Black, Latino, Asian, and Indigenous people also often shut out low income white communities. The reverse is also true: Policies and practices that increase access and opportunity in communities of color also tend to do so in low-income white communities when they are universally accessible.

We draw heavily on john powell's groundbreaking approach, Targeted Universalism, in our work to identify and develop policy tools that can support progress for white, Black and brown communities. Targeted Universalism focuses the policy debate on measurable outcomes — both of specific communities and for our whole society.

Much of our focus is action-oriented research and policy development, but we also seek to build civic strength in our community as part of our mission. We recognize that intergenerational poverty weakens our democracy itself. Strengthening our democracy requires fostering a shared sense of belonging and connection in our community. We work to cultivate this sense of belonging and connection for everyone.

We bring our full selves to our learning related to racial equity and to building belonging in our community. We don’t view ourselves as experts or leaders in this space. We know that we have more work to do.

We observe that our community is learning and evolving, too — and that our engagement as a civic organization will both shape and be shaped by what’s happening in our community. We will take risks and may make mistakes. We hope that we’ll have the courage to find our humanity (and perhaps even some laughter) in those learning moments — and keep showing up with our full selves and full commitment