Tracking Action
Sharing the engagement, initiatives, and work tied to the Ferguson Commission Report’s 189 Calls to Action
At the core of the Ferguson Commission’s report, Forward Through Ferguson: A Path Toward Racial Equity, are the 189 Calls to Action — 189 recommendations sourced from the experiences, input, and research of over 3,000 St. Louisans, and issued by the Commission to address racial inequity in the St. Louis region.
Even before the report was released, organizations throughout the region began to take ownership for the Calls to Action that tied to their existing efforts. But pursuing any effort as ambitious and far-reaching as implementing the 189 Calls to Action in Forward Through Ferguson requires a support infrastructure.
At the final Ferguson Commission meeting in December 2015, the Commission called for the formation of Forward Through Ferguson, an entity named after the report, to serve as a catalyst for connecting resources in the region with the Calls to Action. While our region boasts tremendous resources, including people and organizations who’ve focused their careers on addressing the challenges we face, the outcome gaps between white and black citizens of the region haven’t just persisted — they’ve increased.
Forward Through Ferguson has begun work to address those gaps by beginning to articulate a clear path and vision for Racial Equity in St. Louis, working with existing regional resources to support Racial Equity efforts, and facilitating the implementation of those 189 Calls to Action.
Since early January, we’ve met regularly with people and organizations from across the region. We’ve talked with non-profit leaders, corporate leaders, community leaders, faith leaders, and political leaders. We’ve talked to students and teachers, parents and children; to everyday St. Louisans who directly feel the impact of racial inequity, and want to do something about it. And we’re encouraged by the serious interest people have expressed, their willingness to collaborate and innovate, and their commitment to investing in this work long-term.
As we’ve seen small victories — where someone has latched on to a Call to Action, and begun to make an impact in that area — and seen some of those small victories snowball into larger ones, we realized it would be helpful to visualize the landscape of change we are seeing, and share it publicly. This tool will allow people throughout the region to see that change really is happening, find ways they can become involved in the work, and help identify gaps where more resources are needed.
With that in mind, we’re excited to release the first iteration of the Forward Through Ferguson Action Tracker, a document that identifies engagement, initiatives, and work tied to Calls to Action from the Commission report. In it, you’ll find the organizations we know of that have stepped up, the signature priority area they’re working to address, and brief notes about their effort. We’ve also identified whether there has been communication between the organization and Forward Through Ferguson on the activities listed, and if there has been more formal engagement between Forward Through Ferguson and the identified organization.
For now, the Action Tracker is just a Google Spreadsheet, so it has obvious limitations. But we’re committed to evolving it into a more and more useful tool for the organizations who are engaged in the work, and the citizens who want to support it. We hope you’ll check it out.
What else can you do now?
Take the Racial Equity Baseline Survey, to help us assess the current state of the region.
Subscribe to the Forward Through Ferguson email list, to make sure you get our periodic updates on progress, events, and new feature stories and videos.
If you or someone you know of is implementing a Call to Action, and it’s not listed in the Action Tracker, let us know through this form: bit.ly/FTFSubmitYourAction
If you are working on a new policy, initiative, or program and want help aligning it with the report recommendations, contact us at alignment@forwardthroughferguson.org.
And if you’ve been meaning to read the report, but haven’t yet, start with A Citizen’s Guide to Forward Through Ferguson — How You Can Act on the Ferguson Commission Report (in just five minutes! from the comfort of your home!).
