
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.

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.
2018 Webinars
In 2018, the National Community Action Partnership has hosted a a variety of webinars covering various facets of the topic of racial equity. These webinars are accessible below.
National Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemoration Webinar
Community Action commemorates the legacy of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., America’s advocate for social and economic justice for ALL people. Dr. King illuminated the complex intersection of poverty and racial inequity and called for the world to become a place where everyone belongs and has what they need regardless of their race and social location. Watch this webinar to hear from Nation Board Member Dr. Dalitso Sulamoyo on how Dr. King’s legacy guides his work, and to learn more about the Partnership’s vision for racial equity in America.