Click here to watch a video featuring The HOPE Fund and the Racial Equity Initiative.

Through the Racial Equity Initiative, the Community Foundation aims to identify and work with leadership of LGBT People of Color organizations in southeast Michigan to increase their capacity to meet the needs of their constituents. The first phase of the project will focus on assessing what administrative and management tools are needed to help these organizations become more effective. The second phase will involve financial support for building the capacity of these agencies in areas identified through the training and assessment phase. Organizations will also benefit from intensive training in areas such as board development, volunteer management and fund raising. The program will be overseen by a volunteer advisory committee of the Community Foundation’s HOPE Fund, a fund that serves the needs of southeast Michigan’s LGBT community.

The Community Foundation received two grants totaling $150,000 to launch the Racial Equity Initiative. The first was a challenge grant of $75,000 from Funders for Lesbian and Gay Issues (FLGI), a New York-based philanthropy. FLGI awarded the grant to the Community Foundation in August 2007 as part of its national LGBTQ Racial Equity Campaign. FLGI required the Community Foundation to raise an additional $75,000 in matching contributions as a condition of the grant award. Then, in November 2007, the Kalamazoo-based Arcus Foundation announced an additional grant of $75,000 to the Community Foundation, allowing the organization to meet the LFGI challenge and launch the project.

According to Karen Zelermyer, executive director of FLGI, extensive research shows that racial inequities persist in every indicator of well-being, including health and wellness, school readiness, economic success and civic participation, among many others.

“Funding for organizations serving LGBTQ people of color has been woefully inadequate, which profoundly impacts the health of this population,” says Zelermyer. “We launched the LGBTQ Racial Equity Campaign to assist local funders to strengthen the organizational capacity and support the leadership of LGBTQ people of color organizations, projects and individuals.”

The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan was one of eight organizations chosen by FLGI to participate in this national campaign. Community Foundation staff developed the project in partnership with local leaders of people of color organizations, as well as with leadership of The HOPE Fund.