ACT for Alexandria is embarking on a journey with our colleagues across the City to achieve a future when race no longer predicts one’s outcomes in life; when everyone has what they need to thrive, no matter what neighborhood they live in, the color of their skin, their gender, or where they were born.

As Alexandria’s community foundation, this vision of a vibrant community is core to our work.  To move this vision forward, we are launching our Racial Equity Capacity Building Initiative, including

• Workshops that address what it means to be an ally for racial equity and build bridges to ensure equity, opportunity and inclusion for everyone. These one-day workshops will be open to everyone in the community.
• A Design Lab with participants from the workshops to capture feedback about their desired continued learnings around racial equity with the goal of creating a peer cohort group to begin in October 2019.
• A six-month Learning Lab to equip leaders in effective racial equity implementation in their organizations.
• Community conversations that bring people together for dialogue to build deeper understanding and surface new ideas and solutions.
• Capacity-building grants that help nonprofits build know-how and knowledge about racial equity with their staff, board and constituents.

ACT’s Racial Equity Initiative is made possible by the generous support of the Meyer Foundation, Bruhn Morris Family Foundation, and Kaiser Permanente.

Learn About Our Racial Equity Capacity Building Opportunities:

Allyship workshops:  What does it mean to be an ally for racial equity? 120 individuals participated in ACT’s sold-out Allyship workshops in May and June (led by Whitney Parnell, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Service Never Sleeps) to learn more about how to use their areas of privilege to advance racial justice and what it means to adopt an allyship lifestyle. We added two additional Allyship opportunities including a 2-session evening option on August 19 and 20 from 6-9pm and an all-day option on September 13 from 9am – 4pm. Both were also Sold Out!! If you would like to be added to the waitlist and notified of future workshops, please contact brandi.yee@actforalexandria.org. 

*APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN*  Capacity-building grants - ACT is making some exciting changes to our capacity building grant program for 2019 related to our approach and our funding priorities.  In light of our commitment to equity, we are exploring a trust-based approach to grantmaking.  We will be accepting applications for strategic planning, racial equity and community engagement projects.  Letter of Inquiry applications are now available and due on September 20. Click here to learn more. 

*APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN*  Learning Lab - ACT, in partnership with Service Never Sleeps, is piloting a Racial Equity Learning Lab cohort program from October 2019 - April 2020. We are seeking participants who desire to grow individually, to implement equity in their organizations and to contribute to a more racially equitable Alexandria.  Individuals interested in advancing racial equity change in their organizations are encouraged to apply for the six-month cohort program. For more information, click here. 

Join the ACT for Alexandria Team!

Are you passionate about making a difference in the Alexandria community? Do you have experience working with fundraising, donor relations and/or donor outreach? Then, ACT for Alexandria would love to hear from you! We are hiring a part-time Development Officer. To learn more about this position, click here.