Center on Community Philanthropy Announces 2019 Advancing Equity Award Recipients

Arkansas Teacher Corps and Delta Circles were announced as the recipients of the 2019 Advancing Equity Award from the Center on Community Philanthropy at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service Center on Tuesday. The recipients were announced at a reception to celebrate the third annual National Day of Healing.

Presented to organizations using innovative solutions to address racial inequalities in their communities and advance progress toward inclusion, each recipient was awarded with a $7,500 stipend.

Marcus Walton, Director of Racial Equity Initiatives at Borealis Philanthropy, and Kristell Caballero Saucedo, Senior Program Associate for the Racial Equity Initiatives at Borealis Philanthropy, were on hand to present the awards.

Arkansas Teacher Corps recruits, trains, and supports social justice-oriented individuals to serve as teachers for Arkansas students who need them the most. Based in Fayetteville, ATC has grown from incorporating readings on culturally responsive teaching to workshops promoting diversity and sensitivity awareness to critical consciousness workshops using a variety of mixed-group and affinity-space structures.

Teachers are supported over their three years to build the knowledge, skills, and mindsets to understand their social identity, recognize their inherent biases, utilize emotional intelligence, collaborate effectively across lines of difference, and commit to disrupting systems of oppression that continue to perpetuate injustice against Arkansas students. ATC’s work toward racial equity has all been internal, focusing on teacher training that empowers teachers to engage diverse students in culturally responsive pedagogy, which leads to a positive external impact to the Arkansas educational system.

Located in Helena, Delta Circles is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to help families end poverty in their lives and inspire communities to commit to long-term solutions for addressing poverty. Since 2009, Delta Circles has migrated from being a behavioral change support group to a nonprofit with 501(c)(3) status, and now a system change organization that is leveraging local controlled resources to create more equitable communities within the Arkansas Delta.

Most recently, Delta Circles created the Women Increasing Net-Worth (WIN) Saving Group to increase financial literacy, knowledge, and skills among African-American women within the Delta. In 2017, the WIN Saving Group saved over $10,000, increased credit scores by an average of 89 points, created an average of $5,800 additional income, and paid off two credit accounts.

The National Day of Racial Healing is an opportunity for people, organizations, and communities across the United States to call for racial healing, bring people together in their common humanity, and take collective action to create a more just and equitable world.

The National Day of Racial Healing is a part of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation effort — a national and community-based process to plan for and bring about transformational and sustainable change, and to address the historic and contemporary effects of racism.

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