Amidst a tumultuous summer, the Foundation piloted a Racial Equity Organizational Assessment tool. We spoke to five organizations participating in the Community Learning Fund to reflect on the weeks following the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Manuel Ellis, Rayshard Brooks, and Jacob Blake. They shared how their work became newly defined in the last year and signaled a turning point to double down on their efforts to be anti-racist.
Our Collaborative Action Networks are the heart and soul of the Graduate Tacoma movement. Over 120 partners come together each month to discuss strategies to support Tacoma students.The ability for our incredible partners to continue to support students in this way given the unprecedented challenges presented by the pandemic and our ongoing and elevated racial unrest speaks to the power of collective action and the Graduate Tacoma community.
We believe that the truest form of equality can only be achieved when we have finally interrogated, abolished, and redefined the harmful policies against Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) and economically marginalized communities. In the context of education in our state, many factors are at play. It begins with voting. How you vote – up and down the ballot – matters. Period.