Beyond Dialogue: Igniting Racial Justice in a Shifting Political Landscape

The annual gathering of leaders in Puerto Rico offers a unique space for connection and growth. Here, we find opportunities to heal, to advance racial justice, to build bridges among foundations, and to nurture the hope that fuels our collective aspirations.

Robert K. Ross, former CEO, The California Endowment

Organized by the Racial Equity Building Institute for the Americas (REBIA, a program of the Fundación Comunitaria de Puerto Rico or FCPR), the Racial Equity Builders Dialogue conference aims to both connect Black philanthropic leaders across the Americas and link Black knowledge creators throughout the Americas and the Caribbean. In his remarks at the event, quoted above, Ross truly captured the spirit of last February’s conference in San Juan.

This work is rooted in the work of the FCPR itself, which has focused heavily on supporting the Afro–Puerto Rican community. Racism in the Puerto Rican context shows up differently than on the US mainland, but its impact is undeniable. FCPR has long prioritized support of Afro–Puerto Ricans, such as through its work in Loíza, a municipality of about 23,000 people known for its Black arts community.

As was noted in NPQ back in 2018, FCPR’s approach on power, community organization, civil society, and racial equity sets it apart from the more established philanthropic approach focusing on strengthening large, established institutions.

REBIA emerged out of this institutional commitment to racial equity. It aims to advance “grassroots anti-racist solutions for systemic change by impacting public policy and creating a new narrative of inclusion and racial equity for Afro-Latino communities.” REBIA has two main goals: 1) link racial justice work to the work of artists and culture bearers; and 2) broaden the “racial equity” conversation beyond the borders of the United States to encompass all of the Americas. This year’s conversations also necessarily tackled the challenges facing racial justice advocates in the United States due to the election of Donald Trump as president.

Arts and Culture

A significant takeaway for attendees from outside of Puerto Rico were the powerful examples of Puerto Rican grassroots resilience that integrate the arts with activism.

Racism in the Puerto Rican context shows up differently than on the US mainland, but its impact is undeniable.One of the panels during the conference called “Arts as a Catalyst for Racial Justice” explored the remarkable transformative power of artistic expression in challenging dominant and often harmful narratives and in truly empowering marginalized communities.

Artist and activist Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez emphasized creating the superhero La Borinqueña as a powerful Afro-Boricua character (Boricua is the Indigenous Taíno term for people born in Puerto Rico), specifically to combat negative stereotypes and provide much-needed representation for the community. He uses La Borinqueña’s storyline as a vehicle to weave in Puerto Rico’s complex realities and to serve as a symbol of hope and resilience, particularly in contexts like the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, offering a form of narrative healing.

Representing AgitArte, codirector and artist Jorge Díaz Ortiz explained that the organization centers often-ignored working-class, antiracist, and anticolonial narratives, using art to declare community presence and power. He detailed that AgitArte takes a direct approach, employing printmaking and puppetry as “agitation propaganda” to amplify grassroots demands and critique oppressive systems like colonialism and racism, and specific policies like the 2016 Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA)—the US federal control board that promoted austerity and debt repayment, public school closures, and the privatization of electricity in the process. Díaz Ortiz also emphasized the healing power inherent in AgitArte’s collective artmaking process and their integration of cultural work into mutual aid efforts, which provides holistic community care during crises.

During the conference, 42 Afro–Puerto Rican high school graduates from 17 communities were presented with the Benito Massó Scholarship, an award named after an Afro-Boricua writer and psychologist who lived in Loíza. The celebration of these students powerfully affirmed Black Puerto Rican identity, by investing in the next generation of Afro-descendant leaders, grounding the conference’s themes in the specific triumphs and resilience of the local Afro–Puerto Rican community, and fostering genuine pride and providing resonant motivation for advancing racial justice.

Confronting the US Political Crisis

While Puerto Rico was at the center of the conference, an event focused on racial equity could not ignore recent developments in Washington, DC. A session titled “Protecting Philanthropy” focused squarely on practical strategies for safeguarding nonprofits’ fundamental ability to support democratic resilience, emphasizing the critical importance of effective advocacy. A panel moderated by Tanya Katerí Hernández, Archibald R. Murray Professor of Law at Fordham University School of Law, explored the critical role of legal strategy in protecting philanthropic work dedicated to racial justice in a challenging climate. Featuring insights from Annette Martínez (executive director of the American Civil Rights Union or ACLU of Puerto Rico), Leah Watson (senior staff attorney of ACLU’s Racial Justice Program), and Dariely Rodriguez (project director of Economic Justice at Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law), the discussion highlighted current threats, necessary defenses, and proactive measures.

[F]unding must specifically be designed to address the unique and often complex needs of Afro-descendant communities.

Panelists outlined significant legal pressures impacting philanthropy’s ability to support racial justice. Martínez emphasized how racial justice rollbacks on the US mainland impact Puerto Rico. Like the rest of the United States, Puerto Rico and Puerto Rican nonprofits have faced threatened freezes to federal aid, jeopardizing essential services. Given this direct attack on rights and the reduction in public resources, Martínez called on philanthropy to assume a vital role, step up to support marginalized communities and defend human rights during this challenging period.

Watson focused more on racial justice on the US mainland, explaining how right-wing attorneys are pursuing “reverse discrimination” claims under the Equal Protection Clause (Section 1981). Watson identified three priority areas of strategic response: 1) using First Amendment principles to defend free speech and association via grantmaking); 2) establishing principles of nonprofit autonomy rooted in corporate structure and mission; and 3) reestablishing appropriate application of antidiscrimination laws to support, not hinder, efforts addressing systemic barriers.

Rodriguez, for her part, emphasized internal steps that foundations could take, including conducting legal risk assessments in advance of possible attacks, clearly articulating the mission alignment of racial equity work, refining grantmaking language, establishing pooled funds for grantee legal defense, and increasing collaboration through networks like the Association of Black Foundation Executives (ABFE).

Rodriguez also emphasized the value of strategic investment in movement lawyering—also sometimes called rebellious lawyering—as crucial for integrating legal strategies with community goals. She called for a longer-term positive policy agenda anchored on support for stronger civil rights enforcement, for policies requiring better disaggregated data collection, for robust laws that impede Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP suits), and clear rules protecting nonprofit advocacy.

Broadening the Conversation: Beyond the United States

While the panel about threats to racial justice in the United States garnered considerable attention, the conference looked to encourage the advancement of racial equity throughout the Afro-descendant diaspora throughout the Americas.

The Coalition for the Environmental Territorial Rights of Afro-descendant Peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean consolidates multiple organizational efforts being developed by diverse manifestations of social movements that aim to defend, position, and preserve the ancestral territories where Afro-descendant communities have historically lived.

With a clear voice, conference participants explicitly recognized Afro-descendant diaspora organizations and Black-led organizations as essential pillars in the broader movement for racial justice.

Speakers emphasized that funding must specifically be designed to address the unique and often complex needs of Afro-descendant communities. This includes providing robust support for mutual-aid initiatives, which empower communities to proactively address their own needs and build internal resilience, as well as making strategic investments in essential infrastructure development, such as access to education, affordable and comprehensive health care services, and safe and stable housing options.

Guests also discussed asset-based community development as an essential tool to building racial equity, particularly asset mapping—an approach that systematically identifies the full spectrum of resources currently available within a specific community or region. This means focusing not just on financial capital but also human capital (the skills and expertise of individuals and organizations) and social capital (the strength of community networks and relationships). This type of mapping visually creates inventories of resources, capacities, and strengths within a specific neighborhood or community, often created collaboratively with residents.

Participants emphasized the need to foster deeper and more meaningful collaboration with key organizations such as the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, a vital global platform for addressing the rights, concerns, and lived experiences of Afro-descendant communities worldwide; ABFE, a major player in strengthening the philanthropic sector’s overarching commitment to racial justice through leadership development and strategic guidance in the United States; and the Caribbean Philanthropy Alliance, which actively promotes greater collaboration and resource sharing among funders operating within the diverse Caribbean region.

Collaboration among foundations, nonprofits, and these key partners could involve concrete actions such as joint research, codesigned leadership initiatives, aligned policy advocacy, and coordinated regional funding. Such strategic partnerships would ultimately create a more effective, aligned, responsive ecosystem supporting Afro-descendant communities.

Organizing the Diaspora: The Vital Role of Afro-Descendant Organizations

With a clear voice, conference participants explicitly recognized Afro-descendant diaspora organizations and Black-led organizations as essential pillars in the broader movement for racial justice. They also collectively called for the development and implementation of clear and effective strategies to provide robust and sustained support to these crucial entities.

In addition to elevating the power of arts and activism, a key message at the conference was the vital need to invest in the broader movement ecosystem. This includes establishing mechanisms like pooled funds to support grantees facing legal defense costs and strategically funding movement lawyering to ensure legal tactics are integrated with community goals. Furthermore, leaders were encouraged to foster collaborative legal strategies, working through networks to share resources and knowledge, and collectively defend the sector’s ability to advance racial equity.

The power of building diasporic and cross-regional networks through events like the Racial Equity Builders Dialogue lies precisely in the tangible exchange of strategies and in the shifts in perspective they inspire. These are not just abstract connections—participants and organizations are able to adopt specific, real learnings from their time in community together.