Acting for Racial Equity
Amid a society that has structural racism rooted and sustained in its everyday structures and relationships, creating institutional strategies for racial equity demands commitment. The initiative has brought deep-seated issues to the surface, such as the historical silencing and erasure imposed on Black people, the resistance and embarrassment of White people, and the many other challenges to building anti-racist perspectives and initiatives.
In light of this commitment, in 2017, we began including racial equity as a dimension in our internal policies and as a focus of our investments with partners. In 2022, we intensified this commitment. We restructured our operations and incorporated racial equity as an overarching strategy across all priority impact objectives.
Dealing with racial equity at the institutional level is dealing with highly internal and personal issues, which stir very painful feelings in the entire team. The tendency was for guilt to render paralysis, but we agreed not to let the guilt stop us, but to tend to and welcome these feelings. That was essential to make the work happen.
Deloise de Jesus
Racial Equity Manager
Racial equity to build a more just and more advanced Brazil.
To develop a racial equity strategy, we worked based on recognizing our place of speech and contribution and started to actively listen to those who came long before us. We invited leaders of Black movement organizations to speak on the vision of a better and transformed Brazil in the next ten years. We presented our positive impact objectives and welcomed critical comments, perceptions, and ideas that could enhance the quality and effectiveness of our commitments.
We also formed a Racial Equity Committee and fostered immersive experiences and training for the entire team to support internal processes so that our decision-making would include anti-racist perspectives. The committee also influenced other organizations in the impact ecosystem to prioritize racial equity in their strategies and lines of action.
In 2022, Associação Nova Escola received the ‘Racial Equality Seal’ from the São Paulo Local Government. The seal recognizes private institutions and organizations that implement affirmative actions and policies and meet the stipulated minimum requirement of a 20% staffing level of Black employees. Today, our Black staff is at 42.6%. The seal is here to ensure we keep heading in the right direction.
Simone Reis
People, Management, and Diversity Manager at Associação Nova Escola
Working for racial equity requires investments
Taking intentional action toward racial equity does not only require creating processes and examining feelings. It also requires investing resources. Partners and co-investors that link their resources to this objective contribute to the focus, quality, and scope of the positive impact.
Continuing the partnership with Imaginable Futures was an outstanding achievement in 2022 that worked the levers of our Systemic Racial Equity Map.
An institutional anti-racist commitment requires anti-racist actions
Alongside the British Council, Associação Nova Escola and Instituto Reúna, and through the K-Brazil Skills for Prosperity Program, we have already impacted 2.2 million 6th to 9th grade students and 14,300 educators across the country. The program aims to prepare Black girls to continue their studies and build a professional career.
We supported the call for proposal on Education and Black Identities – Racial Equity Policies, from Fundo Baobá. The call for proposal selected 12 Black organizations, groups, and collectives from all over Brazil to promote the fight against racism in education through actions, projects, programs, and racial equity policies.
We participated in the writing and co-funding of Educação Já’s (Portuguese for Education Now!) racial equity document “Educação Já: an agenda for Brazil”—a coordinated political effort led by Todos Pela Educação and Mahin Consultoria Antirracista —to introduce an education proposal to the platforms of 2022 candidacies for state and federal office that leaves no student behind.
