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Rhonda Broussard, Founder of the Nonprofit Beloved Community, Gets Real About Supporting Black, Queer Women at Work – and So-Called “Professional Attire”
Rhonda Broussard is an award-winning education entrepreneur, sought-after public speaker, and founder and CEO of Beloved Community. This nonprofit seeks to create sustainable paths to regional racial and economic equity at the nexus of schools, work, and home. Her vision for Beloved Community is informed by her leadership in education and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s goal “to create a beloved community” that would “require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives.” Broussard is also the author of “One Good Question: How Countries Prepare Youth to Lead.”
Learn what Broussard has to say about the women who inspire her, the worst career advice she ever got, and the meeting that changed her life.
How Technology Can Be Used To Address DEI In The Workplace
As a society, we often talk about the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), yet rarely do we know what it looks like or the level of commitment it takes to create inclusive and equitable communities. For many companies and organizations, DEI is simply a box they need to check. It’s mistaken for adding a person of color to a board or to an organization’s executive leadership. And oftentimes it looks like blanket statements of solidarity and half-baked pledges to “be more equitable,” efforts that are superficial at best. But DEI is so much more than that.
Introducing Stephanie Taylor, Our New COO
Stephanie Taylor comes to Beloved Community as an equity leader and change agent with 20 years experience serving youth, families, and communities in the nonprofit sector. With expertise in leadership coaching, strategic planning, operations, and board governance, Stephanie has devoted her career to building the capacity of nonprofit organizations and operationalizing strategies to maximize impact.
New Orleans Coalition Pushes for Child Care Measure with Multigenerational Effect
In February, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. awarded a $5 million Advancing Cities prize to the NOLA C.A.R.E.S. coalition (New Orleans Louisiana Creating Access, Resources and Equity for Success) to help child care workers and to expand access to affordable childcare. “This is one issue that everybody gets,” says Erika Wright, the bank’s vice president of global philanthropy. “People feel this acutely. Families are struggling, and the ripple effects impairs our economy’s ability to function.”
What We Learned: Kansas City Equity in Schools Cohort 2021
In partnership with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Beloved Community launched our inaugural Equity in Schools (EIS) Kansas City Cohort in January of 2021. We were joined by eight participating organizations, 4 large districts and 4 charter networks; these organizations include: Shawnee Mission School District, Liberty Public Schools, Blue Valley Schools, Lee’s Summit R-7, Academy for the Integrated Arts, Brookside Charter, USD 232, and Citizens of the World Charter School.
Beloved Community Names Lesley Brown Rawlings Vice President of Strategy
Sustainable equity is a very real possibility that we can achieve with intentional commitments, policy decisions, investments and practices. What holds us back from my vision is lack of will and lack of knowledge.
We Are Beloved
The beloved community is more than just our team and our organization. The beloved community is a global vision in which all people can share in the wealth of the earth. As a radical concept shared by millions of people over the course of generations, we realized it was necessary to define what the Beloved Community meant for us. What makes us Beloved Community?
Exposure Therapy for Allies
One of my favorite rituals at Beloved Community is starting each meeting with a warm welcome. It’s a way to connect with one another in a virtual space and sometimes to connect with yourself as you share personal anecdotes or fond memories. Our team’s latest warm welcome question sure put me in a nostalgic mood: “Who is a TV character that you identified with at a young age?”
Decentering Mythology & Consumerism.
Thanksgiving itself is part of American mythology. As a child, you may have heard this story, one centered on white kindness and “pilgrims and indians” gathered together in harmony over dinner. However, the real history of the holiday, like much of this country’s past, describes the violence of white supremacy and colonization.
National Native American Heritage Month: Centering African-Native Americans.
November is National Native American Heritage Month, a time to celebrate Indigenous Peoples of the Americas, a time to learn and reflect on the original inhabitants of this continent. Owing no doubt to my own ethnic heritage and work (I am a Louisiana Creole and a member of the Atakapa-Ishak Nation) I’d like to reflect on persons who are of both African and Native American ancestry.