"Racial Equity Is the Core Issue Out of Which Everything Else We Do Flows"

"Racial equity isn't something we do because it's a nice thing to do. It's the core issue out of which everything else we do flows." La June Montgomery Tabron, president and CEO of W.K. Kellogg Foundation, shared that idea in an interview, in which she emphasized how racial equity is a crucial part of the transformation needed to improve the United States.

Tabron discussed how the foundation has amplified its racial equity and reconciliation work through its Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (THRT) framework, a national and community-based process to plan for and bring about transformational and sustainable change, and to address the historic and contemporary effects of racism.

The initiative, launched in January 2016, builds upon the foundation’s decades-long commitment to advancing racial healing and racial equity throughout the nation.

On institutional philanthropy's role in adopting and advancing a racial equity lens, Tabron said:

There was a time when Americans didn't want to speak about race, and the fact that race-focused conversations are more common today and we have a shared vocabulary that we can use to discuss these issues is something we at the foundation are pleased about. That change required leadership, and I think we were willing, and our board was willing, to step into that leadership space and name, squarely and forthrightly, what was happening in our country and the impact it was having on our children. And, of course, we want the transformative part of the work to be embraced and funded by others.

Read the full conversation in Philanthropy News Digest.

Image: Twitter / W.K. Kellogg Foundation