Focus Areas

Our county has a high cost of living and wealth is unequally distributed. In particular, Black and Brown residents have a fraction of the wealth of White households, leaving them in precarious financial situations when a crisis strikes and with fewer economic opportunities overall. We work on making it more affordable to live and thrive in Howard County, and to accumulate wealth, by focusing on two of the most expensive monthly budget items for many residents: housing and food. We also seek to help dismantle and reverse policies that have created hurdles for residents of color to build, maintain and pass on wealth.

We are working to:

• Remove barriers to obtaining and sustaining affordable, high-quality rental housing and home ownership​.
• Ensure food and nutrition security by increasing access to affordable healthy food and drink options​.
• Build long-term, generational wealth in communities of color to close the racial disparity gap in wealth attainment.

We cannot do our work alone. We value our community partners and grantees and believe they can make big change happen. We recognize that this type of systemic change takes time and we seek to work with partners to build the base, create policy wins and catalyze sustained movements. We also work to adjust our community’s dominant narratives around race in Howard County.

We promise to:

• Form close and trusting relationships with grantees.
• Fund community organizations that want to connect, organize and advocate for policy change.
• Link grantees through communities of practice to learn and exchange ideas.
• Offer technical assistance in areas uplifted by our grantees.
• Challenge dominant narratives through communications campaigns and allied partnerships.