In this moment of reckoning on race sweeping across the U.S. and the globe, many of us are left questioning how to make this momentum last in order to create real change. As always, we believe people power is the answer.
Here, we highlight a few community-led organizations that have mastered the art of public mobilization. These groups have been leading the charge for racial justice within communities, and are well-equipped to sustain the movement’s current energy using participation-maximizing tactics like centering impacted community perspectives and providing multiple entry points for audiences to get involved.
As the world has now seen, we should always be supporting and uplifting racial justice orgs and Black-led community movements, not just during certain news cycles.
A few of our team members share what they appreciate about these people-powered racial justice organizations, in their own words:
From Alex Malave:
“I celebrate Black Visions Collective for being a transformative space for QTBIPOC by not only committing to a future where all Black people will prosper and be liberated from systems of oppression but a “now” that invests in their healing and joy. I believe their deliberate organization of protests in conjunction with celebratory community spaces emphasizes the historical and current resilience of the Black community and the need for a new narrative where autonomy is guaranteed.”
From Shannon Gordon:
“I think one of the most important organizations, especially at this moment, is Creative Reaction Lab.
Creative Reaction Lab takes inequitable issues that Black and brown communities once looked to local leaders to help solve and places them in the hands of the communities that are directly affected. Creative Reaction Lab provided opportunities for Black and brown kids to use design and creative problem solving to address issues such as educational inequalities, urban planning, as well as leveraging curriculums geared towards helping individuals affected by the criminal justice system.
These workshops allow students to work together with the teachers, and other professionals to reimagine and implement an equitable future. Creative Reaction Lab, in my opinion, allows Black and brown kids to be the heroes of their own stories in their communities.
In watching Antoinette Carroll speak at Adobe 99U presentation, it’s essential for the organization to uplift the people often forgotten in equity conversations: Ingenious communities, LGBTQIA communities, and Disabled People. In listening to her speak about the organization’s goals while educating viewers on regular vocabulary we use that is problematic, I learned that equality and equity are far from the same.”
From Emma McDonald:
“I’m highlighting Brooklyn Movement Center because of their commitment to community-led activism and programming. BMC is a Black-led Central Brooklyn based organization that is focused on building community power through intersectional organizing. The membership model is built around centering members who are most directly impacted by the issues they campaign on, offering multiple pathways for supporting their work.
BMC has guided me on actions I can take that are personal, local and immediate (a lens our equity partners at Pacific Educational Group encourage using). From hosting and facilitating panels on how the NYPD budget breaks down, to featuring youth-led Q&A with local leadership, to election guides and beyond – I’ve learned so much during my membership.”
Learn more about these organizations on their pages below. We hope you will consider supporting them now, and beyond this moment, through recurring donations, membership, or amplifying their work.
for Equity & Evidence