FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Xakota Espinoza
[email protected]
917-633-7932

Race Forward and Center for Social Inclusion Uniting As One Organization

Two leading racial justice non-profits join efforts to advance racial equity

June 28, 2017 (New York, NY) – Two leading national racial justice nonprofit organizations, Race Forward: The Center for Racial Justice Innovation and Center for Social Inclusion (CSI), today announced that the two organizations are uniting under the name Race Forward. Glenn Harris, current president of CSI, will serve as president of the new organization.

The decision to combine efforts and integrate the two organizations was borne out of opportunity, abundance, urgency, and a mutual desire for greater alignment and multiplied efforts to deliver on both organizations’ core principles of advancing racial equity and supporting communities most impacted by structural racism.

“Given the urgency of the political moment – a vibrant movement for racial justice across the country, and growing pushback against this movement – we could not pass up the opportunity to explore how coming together will help us rise to this moment,” said Rinku Sen, who will be transitioning to the role of Race Forward Senior Strategist after serving 11 years as President and Executive Director.

 Both Race Forward and CSI have a long history of significant work on the front lines of the racial justice movement, bringing systemic analysis to complex race issues and helping people take effective action toward systemic racial equity in government, organizing, philanthropy, journalism, and other fields. As the United States stands at the brink of the greatest rollback of civil rights in decades, Sen and Harris recognized a unique opportunity to increase support for communities of color facing a period of heightened persecution and anxiety, while deepening a mutual commitment to build an inclusive democracy.

 "Uniting as one organization is about combining our experiences, skills, and talents to address the multiple crises that communities of color face in this country,” said Harris. “Our work remains the same: to transform institutions and to partner with communities to use policy, culture, and narrative to center racial equity." 

Center for Social Inclusion catalyzes communities, government, and other institutions to dismantle structural racial inequity and create equitable outcomes for all. Race Forward advances racial justice through research, media, and practice. Race Forward publishes the award-winning daily news site Colorlines, which will continue to operate under the helm of Harris, and presents the biennial Facing Race National Conference.

Expanded work for the new Race Forward will incorporate CSI’s existing strategy to advance racial equity and will be organized into five functions: transforming institutions ; narrative shift; movement and capacity building; policy development; and research.

In the coming months, the two organizations will undergo a strategic integration process, while existing programmatic work will continue in their current forms. Both teams are eager to identify new and innovative ways to continue their institutional work while deepening the new Race Forward’s commitment to partnering with communities to advance equity and foster the next generation of racial justice leaders.

For more information or media inquiries, please contact Xakota Espinoza at [email protected] or 917-633-7932. 

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Race Forward advances racial justice through research, media and practice. Founded in 1981, Race Forward brings systemic analysis and an innovative approach to complex race issues to help people take effective action toward racial equity. Race Forward publishes the daily news site Colorlines and presents Facing Race, the country’s largest multiracial conference on racial justice.

Founded in 2002, Center for Social Inclusion catalyzes community, government, and other institutions to dismantle structural racial inequity and create equitable outcomes for all. CSI’s core program, the Government Alliance on Race and Equity, is a national network of government working to achieve racial equity and advance opportunities for all.