What is Racial Equity?

Racial equity means...

Acknowledging that racism exists.

Working together to fix problems caused by discrimination.

Ensuring People of Color have fair access to resources.

Creating a more inclusive community with opportunity for all.

Donate to support racial equity.

Our Commitment to Racial Equity

We believe that racial equity is essential to the success of our region and its people. We further believe that advancing a more equitable and inclusive community is core to the mission of the Hampton Roads Community Foundation.

Race has long held a defining place in American society. It is embedded in our culture, laws and policies, educational institutions, and economy. The result is a system of racial bias and inequities that limits opportunities for people of color. If left unchallenged, such structural racism threatens our future.

To be sure, this system is bigger than the Hampton Roads Community Foundation and the region. It is nonetheless a powerful force pushing against “a thriving community with opportunity for all”—what our community foundation envisions for the people of Hampton Roads.

RACIAL EQUITY ADVISORY COUNCIL

The Hampton Roads Community Foundation is grateful for the members of our Racial Equity Advisory Council, who met for the first time in April 2022. These Hampton Roads residents from diverse socioeconomic, racial, ethnic and gender groups provide a range of community experiences and expertise toward our vision of a thriving community with opportunity for all.

Racial Equity Advisory Council Members

• Martha Ambler - Community Volunteer
• Viviana Andrade - Director, Hispanic Resource Center of Coastal Virginia
• George Berry - Owner, Pioneer Transport Inc. DBA FTBT Transport LLC
• Johnny Finn, Ph.D. - Associate Professor of Geography, Christopher Newport University
• Sharon S. Goodwyn - Counsel, Hunton Andrews Kurth, LLP
• Manolita Akiko Holadia, Chair - Attorney, Asian Business Association of Hampton Roads
• Barbara Hamm Lee - Executive Producer and Host, Another View
• Taikkyah Swift - Community Volunteer
• Kimberly Brown Williams, DSL - Associate Executive Pastor, The Mount
• Harry Zhang - Professor, Old Dominion University
• Jonathan Zur - President & CEO, Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities

Owning Our History

In 2018, the community foundation began looking inwardly at our policies and practices around equity as well as our engagement with residents and community partners. Since then, we have:

• Offered a grant to support Equity Assessments for nonprofit organizations around the region. The grant supports nonprofits in developing a plan to embed racial equity into their day-to-day operations. Three organizations have participated thus far, and a second round of grants opened for applications in January 2024.
• Offered a grant to support diversity, equity and inclusion training for employees of nonprofit organizations in Hampton Roads.
• Worked with a consultant, LM Strategies, to coach staff and board members about racial equity issues, and to create a Racial Equity Statement and plan.
• Hosted the annual Black Philanthropy Month celebration to amplify Black voices often left out of traditional philanthropy.
• Expanded grant guidelines to require nonprofits to report racial demographic data on their boards, staff, and clients in order to get a more comprehensive picture of our community, who we help, and opportunities for support.
• Commissioned the Giving Black®Hampton Roads study to learn about Black philanthropists and giving trends.
• Joined diverse community organizations, including the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Coastal Virginia, Asian Business Association of Hampton Roads, Black BRAND, and others.

The work continues with trainings, conversations, research projects, and ongoing assessment of our internal practices and external actions.

Community Conversations

The community foundation is a convener. We bring together people from all backgrounds to tackle important community issues, such as racial equity. Here’s a sampling:

The Seventh Annual Black Philanthropy Month Celebration

The Hampton Roads Community Foundation hosted the seventh annual Black Philanthropy Month celebration, “Philanthropy and HBCUs: Supporting our Future,” with guest speaker Dr. Dawnn Lewis, who played Jaleesa Vinson-Taylor on the TV sitcom “A Different World.” Lewis joined a panel discussion with Dr. Javaune Adams-Gaston, the president of Norfolk State University, and Dr. Makolah M. Abdullah, the president of Virginia State University. NSU’s former rector, Devon Henry, led the conversation at the historic Attucks Theatre in Norfolk.

Learn more.

Race and Money: How You Can Make an Impact” Beneath the Surface: Three Years Later

In October 2023, the Hampton Roads Community Foundation hosted “Race and Money: How You Can Make an Impact” at the Attucks Theatre in Norfolk.

This event allowed people from all walks of life to have a safe space for meaningful conversations about race and money.

The three-part event was a follow-up to “Beneath the Surface: Race and the History of Race in South Hampton Roads," a collaboration between the Virginia Humanities and the Foundation exploring the ways that race has shaped and continues to shape this region and its communities.

Learn more.

Dred Scott Presents

In honor of the National Day of Racial Healing in January, the community foundation, in partnership with Virginians for Reconciliation, hosted Dred Scott Presents: Sons and Daughters of Reconciliation. The event convened a civil rights panel to discuss how United States laws have fostered discrimination. It featured descendants of plaintiffs and judges in two landmark 19th-century U.S. Supreme Court cases – The Dred Scott Decision and Plessy v. Ferguson. 

America to Me

The community foundation sponsored an Understanding Hampton Roads civic engagement forum exploring the intersection of race, equity and education. It included a screening of the first episode of the America to Me documentary followed by a panel discussion, which included local school and community leaders as well as student activists.