December 6, 2022 (Warren, Ohio) – The Raymond John Wean Foundation, Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley (CFMV) and Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership (TNP) have come together to build upon ongoing race equity and inclusion efforts. Each of the three organizations’ leaders have participated in Rockwood Leadership Institute’s “Art of Leadership” and the Racial Equity Institute workshop –both extensive, interactive trainings.
Upon learning of Rockwood’s first-ever “Growing White Leadership for Racial Equity” training, Foundation staff sought input from its alliance of leaders including strategic partners Matt Martin, executive director of TNP, Ian Beniston, executive director of Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. and Deryck Toles, founder and CEO of Inspiring Minds and fellow Rockwood alum, on recommending this training for future REI offerings.
This new pilot offering is currently only open to Rockwood alums and “invites leaders who identify as white into deeper awareness, partnership and activism for racial equity in their leadership.”
Martin and Shari Harrell, president of CFMV, promptly applied and were admitted into the training’s founding cohort, described by Rockwood as “a space to freely explore the challenges that can diminish the potency of our work for racial equity. Together, training
participants will build self-compassion, personal power, and positive self-identity in service of liberation.”
In support of this effort, the Wean Foundation and CFMV are co-funding both organizations’ registration, with CFMV and TNP supporting the in-kind expense of the two executive director’s time to participate in the five-day training to take place this month.
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About the Wean Foundation: The Raymond John Wean Foundation is dedicated to community-building in underresourced communities of Warren and Youngstown in Ohio’s Mahoning Valley. The Foundation leverages a dynamic combination of grantmaking, capacity building, convening and partnerships to provoke new thinking, strengthen communities and disrupt the status quo to achieve its vision: empowered residents creating an equitable Mahoning Valley. Visit weanfoundation.org to learn more.