The W.K. Kellogg Foundation is committed to being an effective anti-racist organization and to helping this country achieve racial equity. Racial Equity refers to principles of fairness and justice. Racial equity work describes actions designed to address historic burdens as well as to remove present day barriers to equal opportunities. This is accomplished by identifying and eliminating systemic discriminatory policies and practices. Specific remediation strategies, policies, and practices are also required. These actions address the effects of historic injustice and prevent present and future inequities. This is a long term national strategy that engages local communities. The work will benefit vulnerable and marginalized children, a disproportionate number of whom are growing up in families and communities of color. Our approach to racial equity is inclusive. We will focus on priority concerns for vulnerable African American, Native American, Latino/Hispanic American, Asian American, Pacific Islander, Native Hawaiian, Arab American, and European American children and families within the context of their communities. W.K. Kellogg Foundation supports a diverse collection of community-based, regional and national projects designed to:

• Promote racial healing;
• Mitigate the effects of structural racism; and
• Help to eliminate institutionalized and structural racism.

We define racial healing as group efforts to acknowledge the wrongs and group suffering of the past while trying to address the cumulative and current consequences of the past injustices. To heal literally means to restore to wholeness, to repair damage, and to set right. Through social healing efforts we strive to acknowledge and to achieve our unity, our "oneness" as a human family.

We use the structural racism definition of the Aspen Institute Roundtable on Community Change which states that structural racism refers to the system in which public policies, institutional practices, cultural representations, and other norms work in various, often reinforcing ways to perpetuate racial group inequity in every key opportunity area, from health, to education, to employment, to income and wealth.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation seeks proposals from community-based organizations that foster racial healing. Communities should recognize that the journey to racial equity and racial healing can be long and demanding, but it is a journey that promises rich rewards – a dynamic sense of common humanity and a better future for our nation's children.

To fully heal our nation's racial wounds, we must have a change of heart in which our pride yields to our memory, and we are able to confront our racial history with honesty and humility, acknowledging both the wrenching pain of this history and the structural racism that is its legacy. And we must take both personal and collective responsibility for grappling with and conquering this legacy. Racial healing will have been achieved when we live, not in a colorblind society in which persistent racial and ethnic divisions and disparities are buried under the alter of "individual responsibility," but in a society in which there is broad and sustained support across racial and ethnic lines for policies and practices that seek to dismantle structural racism and to promote enduring racial and ethnic equity.

The Kellogg Foundation recognizes the complex challenges organizations and communities face in their efforts to identify and overcome the legacy of racism and racial discrimination. Therefore, the Foundation is soliciting proposals from organizations that are: (1) currently engaged in this work; (2) are willing to become part of a larger national community of practice striving to build and sustain the field of racial healing and racial equity work; and (3) willing to participate in research and evaluation efforts designed to capture and disseminate critical success factors. Process and outcome evaluation strategies are required to help accelerate progress and gain results to propel vulnerable children to success.

Our standard grants do not support direct or grassroots lobbying. Direct lobbying occurs when an organization communicates with a legislator or legislative staff about a specific piece of legislation and reflects a view on the legislation. Specific legislation encompasses proposed legislation, legislation already introduced, ballot initiatives, referendum, bond measure, etc. Grassroots lobbying is a communication with the general public that reflects a view on specific legislation AND encourages people to contact their legislative representation in order to influence that legislation. Please also note that since the Tax Code requires public charities to maintain qualifying levels of public support, our funding will normally not exceed 25 percent of an organization's total support (revenue) for its previous four reporting tax years.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation community-based racial healing and racial equity funding strategy will award grants up to $400,000. Applicants are also encouraged to seek local funding partners, such as local community foundations; however, this is not a pre-requisite for receiving funds from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Eligible Projects

To be considered for funding, the community-based organization must be working to promote racial healing within and between racial and ethnic groups within specific geographic areas. Note, national programs that have projects within local communities may also be considered.

(1) Healing strategies may include:

a. Training and learning experiences

b. Dialogues

c. Local history narratives and/or exhibits related to racial history

d. Race-relations and human rights education and assistance

e. Outreach, media, and communication efforts on racial issues

f. School and organizational curricular projects

g. Storytelling and documentation of local racial histories

h. Local regulatory or policy initiatives such as school reform health disparities or citizen engagement efforts

(2) Working to mitigate the effects of discrimination and structural racism through sustained coalitions and/or multi-sector partnerships with clearly stated goals and projected outcomes that affect the lives of marginalized children.

(3) Working to eliminate institutional and structural racism through awareness, education, information dissemination, and creative views of media. Related community asset/opportunity assessment or mapping strategies will also be considered.

This grant opportunity seeks to strengthen and bolster community-based approaches for racial healing and racial equity efforts targeting vulnerable and marginalized children. The Kellogg Foundation anticipates awarding grants up to $400,000. You are invited to submit a proposal for our Community-Based Racial Healing work as outlined in the Request for Proposals (RFP). To review the RFP, click here.

Deadline: To be considered for this grant, please submit your proposal online no later than September 30, 2009. The review and decision-making process will be ongoing throughout the RFP period from July 1, 2009 to September 30, 2009. For more information and details please visit their web site. To review the RFP (PDF format) please click here.

To view other available funding opportunities please click here.

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