Our Racial Equity Work
As the Community Action Network aims to effectively eradicate the causes and conditions of poverty, we understand that racial inequity rests at the intersection of multiple barriers that impede access to economic security for children, families and communities. To foster equitable access to a thriving future for all children and families, the Partnership is pleased to offer new tools and resources to strengthen the Networks capacity to analyze the intersection of race and poverty in the lives of the entire community.
Community Action Race and Poverty Listening Sessions
The National Community Action Partnership will be hosting regional listening sessions with the Community Action Network. The aim of the regional listening sessions is to listen to the members of our Network by creating an opportunity for local CAA, state, and regional leaders to share stories about their experiences of racial inequities and injustices and their local responses. This will also be a space for Network leaders to share local and state priority needs that will inspire national, regional, state, and local strategies as we work collectively to build resiliency, power, and social and economic mobility for everyone in our communities.
Taking Action Against Structural Racism
On May 29, National Community Action Partnership released a statement about the recent murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and other members of the Black community. In light of these events, and in keeping with our continual push for justice and racial equity, the Partnership has drafted a short list of initial steps for taking action against structural racism in our country. It is certainly not exhaustive, however, we believe these are important steps to take, both for us as individuals and for your Community Action Agency. Additionally, we’ve compiled a bibliography of resources for Community Action to understand, communicate, strategize and take action to eliminate structural racism.
Partnership Affirms Its Core Values (5/29/20)
Washington, DC – Our world is reckoning with a pandemic for which there is currently no cure. Already, COVID-19 has taken 100,000+ lives in the US and it has consumed millions more. We mourn for all who have been infected and affected by this crisis. In a very short time, the pandemic has shifted everyone’s reality and none of us will ever be the same. While COVID-19 has unleashed a threat on the health and economy of our nation, it has also revealed a pre-existing condition that places all of us at greater risk. The hierarchy of human value and to be more specific, RACISM, has served as an activator that has accelerated the loss of life and disproportionate losses to important populations in our country. Persons of color, who are in many cases, workers with low incomes and live in places that were already struggling are suffering great physical, economic, and social harm.
To download the statement, click here.
Racial Healing
In 2016, The Partnership joined a coalition of more than 100 organizations to partner on a Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT) enterprise supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The TRHT enterprise empowers communities to embrace racial healing and uproot conscious and unconscious beliefs in the hierarchy of human value. The coalition seeks to move the nation beyond dialogues about race and ethnicity to unearthing historic and contemporary patterns that are barriers to success, healing those wounds and creating opportunities for all children. Click here to access the full coalition announcement. “The TRHT enterprise builds on WKKF’s long standing work in racial equity and aligns with Community Action’s mission of ameliorating the causes and conditions of poverty, building on past and current Partnership efforts to address inequality and structural racism,” said Denise Harlow, Chief Executive Officer of the Community Action Partnership.
The Community Action Network has been a central pivotal force in eradicating poverty for low-income children and families in local communities for over 50 years. Engagement with TRHT will provide Community Action Agencies and their partners with awareness, new tools and increased capacity to analyze the intersection of race and poverty in the lives of children. It will also assist CAAs in their efforts to develop effective strategies to dismantle the negative impact of that intersection at the child, family, community, and institutional levels that will ultimately support local efforts towards healing and transformation. “Community Action plays a key role in many communities throughout our country. By way of our network, we are uniquely positioned to support community healing and to advocate for economic and racial justice on the local, regional and national forefront. Our strength comes from the Community Action ‘Promise’ to ‘help people and change lives’. This latest initiative paves a way for embodying the spirit of hope and improving communities for all of America,” says Harlow.
Community Action Partnership Key Member of Rx Racial Healing Mobilization Campaign (7/18/19)
Washington, DC – In a briefing before the Helsinki Commission today (July 18, 2019), Dr. Gail C. Christopher outlined a new approach to eradicating racism and confronting religious and ethnic bias. Dr. Christopher’s Rx Racial Healing campaign is a mass mobilization effort designed to facilitate the healing of nations that have been afflicted by a history of oppression rooted in racism, anti-Semitism, and religious and ethnic bias. The national Community Action Partnership is one of five organizations working together to invigorate efforts to facilitate racial healing, improve equity in communities and eradicate racism… Click here read the full press release.
Click here to download Dr. Christopher’s press release on her briefing before the Helsinki Commission. To download her written testimony, click here.
Video Resources and Webinars
Community Action Conversation in Response to Racism and COVID-19
On Wednesday, June 3, Partnership Board Chair, Bryan Duncan, and Catrena Bowman-Thomas, Executive Director of the Northern Kentucky Community Action Commission, had some powerful remarks during our webinar