Statement:

As the country mourns George Floyd and too many other Black Americans who have been the victims of racism and police brutality, Running Start is angry and heartbroken.

In this moment, our commitment is to the young Black women who are integral to our community and our hope for a better future. As we know, conversations change depending on who’s at the table, which is why Running Start trains young women to run for political office. The great Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm (the first Black woman elected to Congress) once said, “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring in a folding chair.”

That’s why Running Start can and will use our power to change what leadership looks like in this country. Our duty as an organization is to ensure that young Black women’s voices are heard. We will continue to work every day to ensure that Black women are strongly supported in the Running Start family, and that all Running Start participants are equipped not just to lead, but to be leaders in the fight against injustice and racism.

Running Start commits to:

• Holding community forums to solicit feedback directly from our community (details of the first one below)
• Including explicitly anti-racist curricula in each of our programs
• Continuing a rigorous new monitoring & evaluation project to provide a sense of who is in our community, the effectiveness of our programs, and how to improve both
• Adding racial justice resources to our online Network
• Working with facilitators and mentors who reflect our community
• Partnering with organizations and speakers that focus on uplifting marginalized communities. Some of the organizations we love include: Higher Heights for America, Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Vote Lead Impact, Rebecca Thompson International
• Making sure that we are reaching the Diversity & Inclusion standards we have set for ourselves by hiring a professional consultant on internal and external diversity, equity & inclusion efforts
• Continuing to have this conversation and adding to this list

We invite all members of our community to continue this discussion with us at a Community Forum on Friday June 5th at 12:15 pm Eastern. RSVP here: bit.ly/RSforum06