Race Forward is a nonprofit racial justice organization with offices in
Oakland, California, and New York City.[1] Race Forward focuses on catalyzing movement-building for racial justice. In partnership with communities, organizations, and sectors, the organization build strategies to advance racial justice in policies, institutions, and culture.[2]
History
Race Forward was founded by Gary Delgado in 1981, and was known as the Applied Research Center until 2013.[3][4] Delgado remained in leadership until 2006, after which point Rinku Sen became executive director.[5] In 2017, Race Forward merged with the Center for Social Inclusion and is now under the leadership of Glenn Harris, former President of the Center for Social Inclusion.[6] Rinku Sen remained with the organization as Senior Strategist.[5]
Activities
Race Forward advances racial justice through research, media, and leadership development.[7] The work of Race Forward focuses on finding ways to re-articulate racism to draw attention to systemic racism.[8] Their work is based on an intersectional understanding of race and the impact of racism alongside other social issues.[3]
Race Forward emphasizes three principles: using specific and plain talk to say what you mean about race issues; focusing on impact rather than intention; and using strategic terms as well as moral arguments.[7] The organization has published research reports and editorials on issues such as
millennials and their attitudes towards race, environmental issues and grassroots organizing, race and religion, and police accountability.[9][10][11] Race Forward uses research on community demographics and shifting populations of Black communities to understand and support community organizing efforts.[12]
Race Forward publishes the daily news site Colorlines, published by Executive Director Rinku Sen. Colorlines was initial a magazine, and it transformed into a website in 2010.[8]
In 2015, Race Forward launched an interactive multimedia tool called "
Clocking-In," designed to highlight race and gender inequality in service industries.[27]
Conference
Race Forward presented Facing Race: A National Conference. Facing Race is the largest national biennial gathering of racial justice advocates, journalists, community organizers, artists, and more.[28] The November 2016 conference in Atlanta featured speakers including
Isa Noyola,
Alicia Garza,
Jose Antonio Vargas, and
Michelle Alexander, and included discussion about strategic responses to the election of President Donald Trump, with a focus on solutions and opportunities to grow existing racial justice agendas.[1] In 2018, the conference in Detroit featured keynote speaker
Tarana Burke, founder of the
#MeToo movement.[29]
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^Arnold, Eric K. (2017). "The BLM Effect: Hashtags, History and Race". Race, Poverty & the Environment. 21 (2): 10.
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^Duncan, Garrett Albert (2000). "Urban Pedagogies and the Celling of Adolescents of Color". Social Justice. 27 (3 (81)): 41.
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^Epstein, Kitty Kelly (2005). "The Whitening of the American Teaching Force: A Problem of Recruitment or a Problem of Racism?". Social Justice. 32 (3 (101)): 100.
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^VOLANTE, LOUIS (2008). "Equity in Multicultural Student Assessment". The Journal of Educational Thought. 42 (1): 23.
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^
abDelgado, Gary (2004). "Recruitment of Advocacy Researchers". Journal of Public Affairs Education. 10 (2): 170.
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^Shaw, Kathleen M. (2003-12-19). "Using Feminist Critical Policy Analysis in the Realm of Higher Education: The Case of Welfare Reform as Gendered Educational Policy". The Journal of Higher Education. 75 (1): 76.
doi:
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^Bond-Graham, Darwin; Liu, Yvonne Yen (2012). "Communities of Color Organize against Urban Land Grabs". Race, Poverty & the Environment. 19 (1): 66.
ISSN1532-2874.
JSTOR41762547.
^Kanny, M. Allison; Pizzolato, Jane Elizabeth; Johnston, Marc P. (2015-05-18). "Examining the Significance of "Race" in College Students' Identity Within a "Postracial" Era". Journal of College Student Development. 56 (3): 241.
doi:
10.1353/csd.2015.0023.
ISSN1543-3382.
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^Sánchez, Patricia (2014). "Research and Policy: Dignifying Every Day: Policies and Practices That Impact Immigrant Students". Language Arts. 91 (5): 371.
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