Community Foundations as Leaders of Place-Based Equity Work

 
 

CFLeads and Public Equity Group (PEG) began collaborating in 2022 to document the equity journeys of 13 community foundations that participated in the CFLeads Racial Equity Network (2017-present).

Convened by CFLeads, a national network of community foundations, the Racial Equity Network aims to build the collective capacity of community foundations interested in advancing equity.

CFLeads and PEG have launched a field report and 13 case studies that spotlight how community foundations are advancing racial equity and diversity within their regions.

Equity Learning Lab: Field Resources

 
 

Back in 2020, as the country was grappling with horrifying incidents of racial injustice and violence and a global pandemic, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded a cohort of organizations seeking to advance their learning and progress on racial equity. This effort, called the Equity Learning Lab (ELL), involved almost 40 organizations, all of which are working on transforming health and healthcare with a focus on health equity.

When Public Equity Group began the ELL journey back in 2020, we knew that we wanted to create a space where we could share our most valuable stories, tools and resources, and insights from the ELL experience, as nothing quite like it, on its scale, had been done before. 

It is our greatest hope that these ELL resources will continue to support organizational efforts to cultivate inclusion and belonging for diverse teams, and more directly center racial equity in culture and strategy, to achieve more racially equitable outcomes. Now more than ever we are inspired to advance work that calls forth all of our community members’ beautiful talents and multiple intelligences - in service of equity and justice.

PEG memo on SCOTUS affirmative action implications

 
 

  • Hewlett Foundation shares resources to prepare for and respond to the Supreme Court’s affirmative action decisions, including from Public Equity Group, ACLU, Munger, Tolles, and Olson and others

  • Explore Public Equity Group’s memo on how the Supreme Court’s Affirmative Action ruling can impact the workplace and how organizations can protect diversity programs.

    • The legal implications of the SCOTUS affirmative action decisions are still being determined (and re-litigated) by courts and regulatory bodies. While we’ll do our best to update these resources accordingly, we encourage you to consult legal counsel for the latest developments

  • Explore the Financial Times article, “Corporate diversity in the crosshairs after US Supreme Court ruling” (June 29, 2023), which outlines how the Supreme Court’s ruling creates hardships for organizations:

    • “[Per PEG Legal Team] the Supreme Court’s legal reasoning in the college cases could be applied in other cases aiming to end companies’ ability to use race as a factor in training, leadership and mentorship programmes designed to correct historic underrepresentation”

SSIR article on PEG’s Efficacy Before Scale framework (Now part of SSIR’s “Essentials” ebook)

 
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An article by John Newsome, Igor Rubinov and Aneesha Capur in the Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR), lays out the “efficacy before scale” framework. To invest in and grow promising organizations and programs in a way that promotes efficacy prior to significant scaling and expansion, there are three pathways to follow: piloting, testing, and iterating. The article lays out valuable case examples from Mission Asset Fund, Working America and Nurse Family Partnerships showing notable impact after following one of pathways to scaling with efficacy.

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The key to this “efficacy before scale” approach is a three-step process:

  1. Build the prototype to demonstrate (early) results: Experiment, test, and refine programmatic approaches based on evidence, feedback, and clear metrics

  2. Refine and “prove” the case: Codify the model to determine which elements can and must be replicated, guided by data and metrics, and develop “proof points” to show significant impact with chosen populations or target areas

  3. Plan to scale: With clarity on effectiveness and replication, develop plans for expansion, replication, and/or dissemination, built on strengths of the refined model

Read the full article here.

Learn more about other PEG Publications.