The news out of Minneapolis this week is a painful reminder of a pattern of structural racism that continues to endure in this country. The pandemic has elevated conversations about reworking systems and values, and this senseless death puts in stark relief just how much we, individually and collectively, need to rethink what kind of society we want to live in and what kind of communities we want to build.
As hard as we try, sometimes our work just does not feel like it measures up to the problems that exist. But I challenge us all to understand that this is our collective work to do. We must understand not just how our individual organizations have roles to play in driving racial equity and closing disparities, but that we as a collective of individuals and organizations have a responsibility to catalyze action to create a better, more equitable and just civil society for all people. We invite you to do that with us.
Whether it is through taking action on our public policy work, joining us in conversation and reflection with Upswell, or considering how each of us has a role in shaping our impact on our communities, we hope you see Independent Sector as a go-to community to do all of that and more. As we collectively push toward ensuring all people thrive, we also recognize the need to pause, reflect, and make sense of this world together. We hope we honored that desire in our first Upswell Pop-Up last week. Based on feedback, we believe we did, and we wanted to share a summary of what happened with everyone who couldn’t attend. Please read the summary blog post here and join us for the next one on June 5.
Lastly, while Congress continues to consider fixes to the current COVID-19 relief programs, we are also looking to the future on how our recovery will turn into civil renewal for our communities and country. We’ll be able to share more on this work in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, please know that Independent Sector is here to serve your organizations and this sector, and should there be anything we can do to help, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me directly.
