What if our laws were anti-racist?
Disrupting Institutions and Structures in government and philanthropy that perpetuate anti-Black racism and other intersectional discriminatory harms.
2021 GRANTS
DC Initiative on Racial Equity and Local Government
$26,922
To provide general support.
Montgomery County Racial Equity Network (MORE)
$20,000
To provide general support
Black Voices of Fairfax
$10,000
To provide general support
Leadership Montgomery
$49,000
To provide racial equity training to government employees and support the participation of government employees in the REAL Inclusion program
Government Leaders in Action Table
if’s Government Leaders in Action Table supports regional professionals who are operationalizing racial equity in local government. We provide capacity building and technical assistance in the areas of policy, healing justice and self-care.
Our 2021 participants include (from left to right):
Elaine Bonner-Tompkins (Senior Legislative Analyst at Montgomery County Council’s Office of Legislative Oversight); Temi F. Bennett, Esq. (if’s Director of Policy); Saida Agostini (Healing Justice Activist); Marlysa Gamblin (Racial Equity Expert); Dr. Brian McClure (Director of the District's Council Office of Racial Equity); Tiffany Ward (Montgomery County’s Chief Equity Officer); Dr. Amber Hewitt (the District’s Chief Equity Officer); Jaqueline Tucker (Alexandria’s Chief Equity Officer); Dr. Yanique Redwood, (if’s President & CEO); Karla Bruce (Fairfax County’s Chief Equity Officer); Dr. Anneta Arno (Director of DC Health’s Health Equity Office); and Samia Byrd (Arlington’s Chief Equity Officer).
Local Coalition Support
if supports local coalitions to transform how government resources are deployed, with the ultimate goal of disrupting and dismantling the public and private structures that perpetuate systems of extraction, greed and harm. Currently, if supports the Montgomery County Racial Equity (MORE) Network, the DC Initiative on Racial Equity and Local Government, and the recently incubated coalition, "Black Voices of Fairfax."
Leadership Montgomery
$49,000
To provide racial equity training to government employees and support the participation of government employees in the REAL Inclusion program
Montgomery County Racial Equity Network (MORE)
$20,000
To provide general support
DC Initiative on Racial Equity and Local Government
$26,922
To provide general support.
DC Policy Tracker Pilot
In partnership with Dr. Ibram X. Kendi and Boston University’s Center for Antiracist Research and Melville Charitable Trust, if has launched a Racial Policy Tracker pilot to identify and grade a sample of housing policies in the District as racist or anti-racist. Our research partner will analyze the policies that perpetuate racial inequities and provide advocates with the information needed to support their efforts. Simultaneously, in consultation with subject matter experts, a survey of scholarly literature, and data analysis, our research partner will identify and craft anti-racist policies that advance racial equity. Our data and data analyses will be made available in a public digital platform to ensure access by stakeholders, including policymakers, academics, advocates and community members.
Resourcing Radical Justice
if is a co-founder and co-chair of Resourcing Radical Justice (RRJ), a funders collective that centers Black liberation as the path to a thriving Greater Washington region. RRJ divests from white supremacy and invests in Black lives by advocating for philanthropic sector transformation, coordinating capacity building for and funding to Black- and POC-led grassroots organizers and lifting up and learning from radical organizers.
RRJ activities have included surveying Black people and other people of color in our local philanthropic sector to share stories about their experiences of interpersonal, institutional, and structural racism; hosting healing programs to reimagine how philanthropy and other workplaces dominated by a false hierarchy of human value are experienced; and clarifying collective action to transform the sector.
Virginia Power Building Funders
if is a co-founder of the Virginia Power Building Funders, which seeks to provide philanthropic support—through direct financial resources and other means—to institutions in Virginia that are led by organizers and advocates who represent and are building the power of those who are most impacted by racial inequities. It sees building power of leaders and organizations in the movement for racial justice in Virginia state-wide as the central path to transforming systems.
It also seeks to collectively leverage its power in their respective roles and institutions in partnership with movement and community leaders in Virginia, through a multitude of strategies including: collective learning, imagination, and philanthropic experimentation; building relationships with and investing in grassroots organizers, advocates, and other power-builders; supporting efforts that center the voices of those most directly impacted by racial injustices; collaborating with and engaging funders in supporting this work; exploring philanthropy’s use of its own power to build agency and power of communities; and stewarding resources through their roles as funders and their connections to a larger network of philanthropy.
Civic Action Working Group
if is a co-founder of the Civic Action Working Group, which seeks to advance philanthropic support for community organizing and advocacy and the infrastructure necessary to support communities and organizations that are undertaking actions that contribute to a stronger, more equitable civil society in the Washington, DC region. It will advance collective and individual action to promote civil society through different strategies, including: strengthening community-based organizations, especially those led by people of color; using all philanthropic assets to ensure community leaders of color are in positions of influence to affect societal well-being; and undertaking their own institutional actions to strengthen democracy and promote civil society.
Tools
if uses the following tools to further our mission, which is to advocate for racial equity and racial justice through programs and investments that advance the health and well-being of low-income communities and communities of color living at the sharpest intersection of oppression.
“A Racial Equity Impact Assessment (REIA) is a systematic examination of how different racial and ethnic groups will likely be affected by a proposed action or decision. REIAs are used to minimize unanticipated adverse consequences in a variety of contexts, including the analysis of proposed policies, institutional practices, programs, plans and budgetary decisions. The REIA can be a vital tool for preventing institutional racism and for identifying new options to remedy long-standing inequities” (Race Forward).
The organizational assessment tool created by Western States Center contains a sampling of questions designed to help organizations examine the ways in which they currently engage with issues of racial justice.