racial equity and justice

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, increased awareness of violence against Black people and events surrounding the presidential election, ECCF began to intentionally dialogue about ways to more deeply understand longstanding racial inequities that have prohibited society from moving forward together and are pervasive right here in our own back yards. We also began to explore the role ECCF could play in advancing a more racially just and equitable Essex County.

The result is a thoughtfully crafted plan that involves a continuum of work that we seek to incorporate into all of our efforts as a community foundation. The strategy includes the following pillars, which will serve to ground the work we do every day – both internally, and externally in our cities and towns:

Listen, Learn and Reflect

ECCF, as part of its learning process, continuously reflects on why and how racial inequities exist to inform our work and spur action and change within the organization and throughout our region.

Organizational Action

ECCF and its work are grounded in equitable and inclusive practices, creating conditions and modeling actions that advance racial equity towards a racially just world.

Systemic Change

ECCF, in its role as a community leader, inspires philanthropy and influences efforts that result in more equitable systems and structures, giving greater access and opportunity to all in Essex County.

The work to stop racial injustice has no expiration; it is not an initiative with a predetermined end date or a fixed set of actions that exist in a single silo. Rather, the effort will live in perpetuity and become foundational to all of ECCF’s work moving forward.

This work has already begun in numerous places throughout the foundation, including:

• A 2021 Institute for Trustees racial equity track for nonprofit board leaders to learn ways to incorporate racial equity into their work,
• New racial equity data available on ImpactEssexCounty.org that helps us all to better understand our communities,
• A racial equity capacity-building series for nonprofit leaders to learn and strategize organizational changes,
• ECCF board, staff and committee learning sessions during which participants began the dialogue about race and structural racism,
• The start of an internal learning resource library for board and staff to access for personal learning and growth,
• Bi-weekly meetings with an internal racial equity working group that defined our commitment and plan,
• And the launch of a new, permanent racial equity committee, comprised of community leaders who are knowledgeable and committed to this vital work.