Catalyzing Leadership for Equity

• Published in: Policy File 2022
• Main Authors: d, LesLeigh D, Cooper, Shauna M, Cusella, Claire, Williams, James Ladi, Leary, Kimberlyn
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Subjects: Business; Urban Institute

Beginning in the summer of 2020, many public and private organizations and institutions made new internal and external commitments to racial equity. A core component of these commitments are pledges to create or expand diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and to develop comprehensive approaches to advance racial equity within these organizations. Over the last two and a half years, these organizations and institutions have paid increased attention to the need to recruit, engage, learn from, and invest in equity-focused leaders of color. Many of these leaders have stepped into newly created leadership positions and are working to design, implement, and drive new equity initiatives and investments. While leaders of color have long championed racial equity in government, nonprofit, philanthropic, and corporate sectors, there have also long been leaders at the community level who have advanced racial equity through organizing, advocacy, movement building, and other local efforts. However, it has been well-documented that the supports, training, and resources available to equity-focused leaders of color, especially community-focused leaders, have not adequately met the needs of these leaders and the communities they serve. In order to better understand this challenge and to develop recommendations for the development, implementation, and investment in equity-focused leadership development programs, the Urban Institute conducted a comprehensive study with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. We focused on understanding leadership development programs for equity focused leaders of color and the layered social, emotional, financial, and other supports that these leaders need.