Racial Justice Initiative
Strategic Plan 

Submitted to the Pohlad Family Foundation
May 2021

Executive Summary

In the fall of 2020, Research in Action (RIA) was contracted by the Pohlad Family Foundation to develop a strategic plan and implementation plan to guide this new funding initiative aimed at advancing racial justice for the Black community. The RIA-led Equity in Action process supported the Foundation’s development of a community-led vision for racial justice as it learns, plans, develops and creates the infrastructure needed to execute its own data-informed racial justice work. 

Informed by the community-led Advisory Council, the data collection included key interviews from 19 people with lived and/or advocacy experience in racial in/justice, survey findings from 44 previous Pohlad Foundation grantees, focus group interviews from 13 previous Pohlad Foundation grantees at racial justice-oriented organizations, and a racial justice inventory of 245 national and regional organizations engaging in racial justice work. These findings were contextualized by the Advisory Council and broader engagement with the community through a data walk. Recommendations for HHMFC 

RIA and the Advisory Council offer the following funding priorities & grantmaking processes for the racial justice initiative and all Foundation work.

 

Funding priorities 

  • Build capacity of Black led organizations leading racial justice focused work through multi-year capacity and infrastructure building grants

    • Invest in an ecosystem of Black mental health support services and access growing the infrastructure for healing 

    • Support the creation of an entity led by a board of Black children and family advocates that is funded to partner with local government to move policy and practice change that centers the holistic well being of the Black family unit

    • Fund efforts to reconnect Black families to the land: ownership, space, and preservation 

    • Reimagining public safety 

Grantmaking processes 

  • Community engagement in grantmaking processes

  • A Justice Focused Request For Proposal (RFP) and grant evaluation processes

  • Community relationship building innovations