St. Paul, Minn. (June 2, 2010) – The Saint Paul Foundation’s Facing Race We’re All in This Together initiative received a grant of $1.8 million to expand its Saint Paul-focused anti-racism work to the entire state of Minnesota. “Facing Race We’re all in this together” is an initiative of The Saint Paul Foundation that addresses racism. The vision of Facing Race is to create a more equitable, just and open region where everyone feels safe, valued and respected.
Facing Race (www.facingrace.org) meets people and institutions where they are, giving them the tools they need to discuss issues of race and racism, and moving them to take action to end racism and discrimination.
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation awarded grants to 119 organizations as part of its America Healing initiative to support racial equity and healing.
“Our community has some very stark racial disparities, and racism has played a very real and insidious role in creating these imbalances,” said Carleen Rhodes, president and CEO of The Saint Paul Foundation. “Discomfort about racism prevents us from moving the conversation about racism forward.
“We are grateful to the Kellogg Foundation for the generous funding that enables us to share the Facing Race dialogue program throughout Minnesota with individuals, organizations and communities that are committed to undoing racism,” she added.
In an unprecedented effort to address the devastating impact of racial inequities on communities across the country, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation launched recently a five-year, $75 million initiative – America Healing – that aims to improve life outcomes for vulnerable children and their families by promoting racial healing and eliminating barriers to opportunities.
The goal of the America Healing initiative is to engage communities and support them in the hard work of racial healing and addressing the effects of historic and contemporary structural issues, such as residential segregation and concentrated poverty.
During the first phase of America Healing, 119 organizations will receive grants totaling $14,613,709 specifically to support community-based organizations’ healing efforts among racial and ethnic groups that address historic burdens, disparities and barriers to opportunity. Their efforts will focus within local communities to increase opportunities for children in education, health and economic areas. Grantees represent 31 states and the District of Columbia and all racial and ethnic population groups. To highlight the desire of communities to work together on racial healing, the foundation created a signature video, capturing the spirit of the initiative.
The video can be viewed at www.AmericaHealing.org.
