logo
  • Nonprofit News
  • Management
    • Boards and Governance
    • Communication
      • Framing & Narratives
    • Ethics
    • Financial Management
    • Fund Development
    • Leadership
    • Technology
  • Philanthropy
    • Corporate Social Responsibility
    • Donor-Advised Funds
    • Foundations
    • Impact Investing
    • Research
    • Workplace Giving
  • Policy
    • Education
    • Healthcare
    • Housing
    • Government
    • Taxes
  • Economic Justice
    • Economy Remix
    • Economy Webinars
    • Community Benefits
    • Economic Democracy
    • Environmental Justice
    • Fair Finance
    • Housing Rights
    • Land Justice
    • Poor People’s Rights
    • Tax Fairness
  • Racial Equity
  • Social Movements
    • Community Development
    • Community Organizing
    • Culture Change
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Gender Equality
    • Immigrant Rights
    • Indigenous Rights
    • Labor
    • LGBTQ+
    • Racial Justice
    • Youth Activism
  • About Us
  • Log in
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Webinars
    • Leading Edge Membership
    • Sponsored Webinars
    • Economic Justice
  • Tiny Spark Podcast
  • Magazine
    • Magazine
    • Leading Edge Membership
Donate
Economy / Economic Development, Inequality

Kellogg Foundation Leader Says Race Remains an Issue

Saras Chung
February 9, 2012
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
0 Shares

 

 

February 8, 2012; Chicago Sun-Times | According to one of the nation’s most powerful women in the nonprofit sector, race is still an issue.

 

Dr. Gail Christopher, a decision maker on grants and national vice president at W.K Kellogg Foundation—one of the world’s 10 most influential foundations, with over $7 billion in assets—sits as one of the few African Americans in a powerful role in America’s largest foundations.

 

Christopher says, “It is not the blatant racism that hurts our children—though it’s there. Rather, it’s the stereotypes… Our economic divides are expanding every day, and the subtext of the political debates are all racial.”

 

In a keynote address at the annual fundraiser of the North Lawndale Employment Network in Chicago, Christopher declared that, “This country has embodied a fallacy, a belief in racial hierarchy for longer than it has been a country. The majority of children being born today are children of color, most of those children growing up in impoverished conditions. If we’re going to actualize the promise of democracy, we have to stand up for our children.”

 

Christopher’s statement is bolstered by 2010 U.S. Census data confirming what earlier surveys have hinted at: 49.8 percent of infants under age one are members of a racial-ethnic minority—an increasing trend from 42.4 percent in 2000. These ethnic minorities include individuals of African American, Latino and Asian descent as well as a widening number of people who report to be two or more races.

 

William Frey, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, believes that this demographic shift is significant and points to the requisite for progressive political and civic leaders to link racial and generational divides. Frey writes that these divisions embolden discussions of issues such as immigration and enduring budget mêlées over revenue and government spending agendas.

 

Christopher’s point is intensified by the relationship between poverty and race in the U.S. With 16.7 percent of African Americans unemployed in 2011 compared to eight percent for whites, the undertones of racial discrimination loom. –Saras Chung

 

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
0 Shares

About The Author
Saras Chung

Saras Chung is a PhD Candidate in Social Work at WashU. She promotes strategies in education for healthy and engaged youth.

Related
Berkeley, California Pioneers Novel Strategy to Boost Lending to Worker Co-ops
By Steve Dubb
November 18, 2019
The Accountability Collision Course: An Interview with Tom Kochan
By Nonprofit Quarterly
August 29, 2019
San Antonio Nonprofit to Buy Legacy Businesses as Social Enterprise Strategy
By Karen Kahn
August 21, 2019
Homegrown Economic Development Bears Sustainable Fruit in Virginia
By Steve Dubb
July 23, 2019
Study of Chicago Finds Persistent Shortage of Investment in Communities of Color
By Steve Dubb
May 31, 2019
British Alarmed They’re Approaching US Levels of Inequality
By Ruth McCambridge
May 14, 2019
other posts by The Author
Change.org Drops StudentsFirst and Stand for Children
By Saras Chung
June 22, 2012
Group Bills Okla. $9.5M in Fees After Foster Care Settlement
By Saras Chung
June 21, 2012
Nonprofit Harnesses Older Professionals Willing to Share...
By Saras Chung
June 8, 2012
A Series on Sensemaking Organizations
The Sensemaking Organization: Designing for Complexity
The Sensemaking Mindset: Improvisation over Strategy
Structuring for Sensemaking: The Power of Small Segments
logo
Donate
  • About
  • Contact
  • Newsletters
  • Write for NPQ
  • Advertise
  • Writers
  • Funders
  • Copyright Policy
  • Privacy Policy

Subscribe to View Webinars

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by GDPR plugin
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.