Today we release Unrealized Impact 2.0: The Hard Truth about Where We Are and Ways to Move Forward. This marks the culmination of a year and a half of work, all fueled by a mix of love and hate and informed by a lifetime of experiences. Hate. We hate that this kind...
This week marks the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising led by: Marsha P. Johnson, a Black trans woman; Sylvia Rivera, a Latina trans woman; Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a Black trans woman; and Stormé DeLarverie, a multi-racial butch lesbian, among others. Their...
As a kid, I sometimes hated my name. People often misspelled it or told me that the way I spelled it was a boy’s name. It was frustrating to be referred to as “Mr. Grimsley,” and this mislabeling taught me an important lesson early on about patriarchy. From there, I...
As June comes to a close, we are reflecting on two particularly important moments and the role of education - and of educating - in the work of racial justice. June began with the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre and also marked the declaration - finally -...
I often chuckle at a picture in my family home (which hangs in the elegant living room where no one ever sits) of my aunt’s high school prom. My 23-year-old uncle is standing in between my 25-year-old mom and my 17-year-old aunt as everyone grins from ear-to-ear. What...
NOTE: At the end of this letter, we have compiled a list of articles, resources, calls to action, and organizations to support learning, advocacy, affinity spaces and action. April 2021 The ongoing violence against Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) people across...
As we prepare for a pivotal moment in our political history, social sector leaders are grappling with the uncertainty of this election as they plan for an imminent new reality this week (and beyond) and the looming impact that will have on their teams.What do I say?...
Clearly, painting “Black Lives Matter” in the street doesn’t undo a legacy of racist policies. Most of us have a sense that releasing public statements supporting the Black Lives Matter movement won’t automatically eliminate the need to interrogate exclusionary...
We held a teamwide discussion recently on the concept of resilience, and asked Promise54 team members to share their reflections on how and where they learned about resilience and how they’re considering it today. When we entered into the conversation we were...
In this moment many organizations are scrambling to articulate commitments to DEI, anti-racism, and racial justice and to do the hard work of living and leading in alignment with those commitments. As leaders work to figure out how to do all of that, there is often a...