R.I. Foundation committing $8.5M to address racial disparities, inequities

RHODE ISLAND FOUNDATION announced Monday that it is committing $8.5 million over the next three years to address and help eliminate racial inequality in the state. / COURTESY RHODE ISLAND FOUNDATION
RHODE ISLAND FOUNDATION announced Monday that it is committing $8.5 million over the next three years to address and help eliminate racial inequality in the state. / COURTESY RHODE ISLAND FOUNDATION

PROVIDENCE – Offering grants to support minority-owned businesses, investing in nonprofits serving Rhode Islanders of color and making significant monetary commitments to improve communities that have been left behind are among the initiatives the Rhode Island Foundation has undertaken to help close the racial inequality gap in the state.

But Rhode Island Foundation CEO and President Neil D. Steinberg feels the nonprofit funder needs to do more, and the organization is now putting multiple years and increased funding to help with the situation.

The foundation introduced Monday a new initiative where it is committing $8.5 million over the next three years to lead and strengthen community efforts focused on diversity, equity, access and inclusion, focusing primarily on racial equality.

Steinberg told Providence Business News Friday that the multi-year, multi-million-dollar commitment is “above and beyond” the foundation’s normal grant-making initiatives, which includes support for education and health care, housing, the environment and education.

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Steinberg said the foundation wanted to put a “stake in the ground and lead by example” in addressing underlying issues of racial disparity in the Ocean State.

“[Racial inequity is] not new, we knew there were populations – the Black and Latino populations specifically – where there were many health disparities that were a factor in COVID-19,” Steinberg said. “There’s a lot of talk about diversity and equity, inclusion, racial equity, all prompted by current events, some negative current events and hopefully some positive current events. But, we wanted to … make a commitment, we are Rhode Island’s community foundation and we wanted to go above and beyond.

“This is a long time coming, but this is an investment in the community. That’s what we see this as.”

In an initial statement, Steinberg said the reality is the work toward addressing racial and social inequities has been “under-resourced in Rhode Island” and a community-wide focus in tackling the issues has been “lacking.” When asked why he felt that way, Steinberg said he’s a believer that the social and economic will “has to exceed the political will to get things done.”

“There’s a lot of people talking about it. We need to see the action,” Steinberg said. “We need to see the commitments. We need to see investment in the community here in Rhode Island. If we close achievement gaps in education, we have a better workforce. If we close disparities in health care, we have a healthier population and potentially lower health care costs. If we address everything that impacts people across the board, we will have a better economy.”

Steinberg also said the community needs to go deeper in providing capital for under-resourced businesses in communities of color.

The foundation, as its first act of this commitment, will launch its Equity Leadership Initiative. Angela Bannerman Ankoma, who was executive vice president and director of community investment for United Way of Rhode Island, is joining the foundation, and will serve as a vice president and executive director for this initiative.

The foundation said one effort of this initiative will be to identify, mentor, cultivate and seek opportunity for individuals who identify as Black, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Indigenous from across sectors. It also plans to help build a pipeline of future leaders in established influential positions across Rhode Island.

“That’s big for us,” Steinberg said. “It’s big and it’s different. This will bring in people from the business community, the nonprofit community and from the political community to provide opportunities to highlight leaders in the state. We need to identify and provide opportunities within these communities for true leadership. There’s already leaders, but we need more leaders.”

An advisory group will come in and structure the Equity Leadership Initiative program, Steinberg said.

The foundation also plans to launch an “outreach and engagement effort” to listen to local diverse communities and learn how to best allocate the resources. Steinberg said the foundation will proactively reach out to the communities to understand what the needs are, but also ask the communities themselves to offer the foundation any input possible.

James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.

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