Roundtable on Comprehensive Community Initiatives: Project on Race and Community Revitalization

About this grant

Aspen Institute’s Roundtable on Comprehensive Community Initiatives works to address the effects of racism at the community level and to identify and develop strategies for recognizing and dealing with race issues. The project was created in 1998 in response to concerns expressed by practitioners, researchers and funders about daily challenges of racism that affect the achievements of local initiatives.Funding will enable the roundtable to pursue activities that include collaborating with community and institutions to educate community members on issues such as education and child welfare; organizing a two-day seminar on racial equity; conducting a seminar on racial equity and community building for community leaders; publishing a volume of essays on race, structural racism and opportunities for the community-building field; and completing a working paper on the implications of structural racism for the youth field.Recent accomplishments included piloting a six-day seminar on racial equity for policymakers, nonprofit leaders and community-building practitioners; producing a variety of products to increase understanding of structural racism, its impact and ways to address the challenges it presents; and testing the practicality of the structural racism tools with groups in St. Louis, Missouri, and Washington, D.C.