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As we mark another Black History Month and celebrate Black futures, there is an urgency for us to address the existing divisions in our country and create solutions that move us closer towards our vision of a strong, inclusive, multiracial democracy with Black communities at the center. Some of the barriers we continue to see in communities across the nation include attacks on voting rights, biased immigration policies, blatant displays of white supremacy and white nationalism, and a decline inequitable economic opportunities.
In this second session of the Foundations of Racial Equity Series, we explore racial capitalism, which describes the current economic system of extracting social and economic value from people of color. Racial capitalism is based on the theft, exclusion and exploitation of the land, labor, and capital of people of color. Philanthropy—as a social, political, and economic strategy of society’s wealthiest people, mostly white men, and institutions that “do good” while moving wealth without tax exposure— upholds racial capitalism.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Community Based Organizations (CBOs) have responded quickly and nimbly to ensure Black, Indigenous, and other people of color who have been most impacted have access to timely and accurate information in multiple languages, tests and vaccines, food, internet, and so much more. These organizations are essential partners, trusted by the people they serve, who have taken on public health work that often goes beyond their core missions and programming because their communities need it.
California is on course to have one of the most inclusive state-wide data systems in the nation. The Cradle- to-Career Data System, signed into legislation in 2019, will bring together data from across the early childhood, K–12, postsecondary, and workforce sectors to provide policymakers, advocates, and communities with actionable data to address disparities and improve outcomes for all students throughout the state. One of the most unique aspects of the system is that it is being built with the intentional focus of putting data in the hands of the people to get them the information they need to help students succeed.
Over the next 20 years in the U.S., $35–70 trillion in wealth will transfer from one generation to another in the largest generational wealth transfer in history, mostly moving within wealthy white families. The policies that make possible this protection and accumulation of wealth are situated within the legacy of land theft, genocide of Native people, enslavement of Black people, and exploitation of natural resources. This context of racial capitalism has also given rise to wealth accumulation that, in part, birthed the philanthropic sector. Paradoxically, many of us working within philanthropy aim to contribute to changes in systems, structures, and outcomes that address the harms of interconnected systems like racial capitalism that favor some at the expense of others and the planet.
The Trust-Based Philanthropy Project, in partnership with the Environmental Grantmakers Association, Blue Sky Funders Forum, and Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders, is pleased to announce a four-part webinar series on using trust-based values to guide your philanthropy’s grantmaking practices, culture, structures, and leadership.
Pathways to Housing Justice: A 3-Part Series on Intersectional Solutions
We all deserve a decent place to live. It’s a matter of basic justice and a measure of who we are as a community. Having a stable, affordable home impacts our health, ability to find and keep a job, success at school, and connection to our communities. Our whole community does better when everyone has good, safe housing.