In its first decade, the Barr Foundation expressed its mission as being focused on building a better Boston for all. In the fall of 2007, we began an inquiry into whether we were doing all we could to address inequities, especially those related to race. We invited a team from the Applied Research Center and the Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity to take a close look at our work and to help us understand 1) to what degree we generated outcomes that were racially just; and 2) opportunities to improve. Many of our grantees contributed to this research through interviews, surveys, and focus groups. For the Foundation, this report provided a revealing new frame for how to think about the patterns of inequity affecting our mission and made us aware of how much more intentional we need to be.
In recent years many of Barr’s colleagues in Boston have joined us in pushing for greater diversity in the composition of their staff, leadership, and boards. However this report challenged us to recognize that diversity, while a necessary first step, is only that—a first step. If we truly aim “to build a better Boston for all,” we must work to influence and change the institutions and structures that perpetuate racial injustice.
For more detail on the report’s findings, both the executive summary and the research team’s final presentation to us are available below. The Applied Research Center and the Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity also published a report called Catalytic Change, which discusses the findings from their assessment at Barr alongside those from their work with the Consumer Health Foundation in Washington, D.C.
