Through learning opportunities, workshops, and commissioning and sharing research, we are building a collective understanding of our region’s racial inequities and how they came to be. We are also helping to construct a more inclusive narrative for equitable change.

We are a major investor in the Fairfield County Community Wellbeing Index, a report published every three years that provides important information about how people are doing in our region. It looks at things like quality of life, equity, and overall wellbeing. The report shares data in different areas like health, education, housing, income, and community satisfaction. This report monitors trends in different parts of Fairfield County over time, which helps us plan how to best use our resources to work for equity.

We also received nearly $500,000 in Federal funds for a research study on how inequities in areas like education, housing, jobs, and health affects our region and how making things more fair can bring economic benefits and other positive outcomes for all.

In 2022-23, we funded a special exhibit at Gateway, Housatonic, and Norwalk Community Colleges called “Designing for Democracy.” This interactive traveling exhibit showed how justice, equality, and power can be seen in our buildings and surroundings. The exhibit and related events were a chance for our community to learn more about the barriers and opportunities for fair housing.

In 2020, we worked with Dr. Tiffany Manuel and the Center for Housing Opportunity to research what people think about housing costs and related issues. The project looked for opportunities to talk about housing equity in a new way to build public understanding and support. Dr. Manuel’s findings were shared in a report called The Way Forward: A New Narrative for Housing in Fairfield County.

In 2019, we funded two research reports to better understand better what women and girls need in our county, and what stops them from getting help: Count Her In: A Status Report on Women and Girls in Fairfield County and Count Them In: A Landscape Analysis of Fairfield County Organizations Supporting Women & Girls.

Through events that bring people together for community dialogue, we are building bridges and relationships that support information sharing and collective action. And we are working to share important ideas and information on a broader scale, both in our region and across the country.

In 2023, our President & CEO Mendi Blue Paca was interviewed for The Business of Giving podcast, discussing how we are working with partners to fight economic inequality and racial disparities.

In 2022, our staff led panel discussions and took part in Innovative Solutions to the Affordable Housing Crisis, an event hosted by Foundation House. This gathering brought together key leaders in the field to talk about creative ways other communities are solving affordable housing problems, and how we can apply those ideas in Connecticut.

We also partnered with the Ferguson Library in 2022 to host a talk by Dr. Robert Livingstone to discuss his book, The Conversation. Dr. Livingstone’s work focuses on how talking honestly about racism can make big changes in people and organizations.

In late 2020, we held Community Conversations, a series of five webinars that brought together leaders, advocates, and community members from Connecticut to discuss important topics like how to change longstanding systems, closing the fairness gap, racial equality, and how we respond to and recover from COVID-19.

In 2019, we funded the Undoing Racism Series through Bridgeport Generation Now and the Bridgeport AntiRacism Collective; and supported other community talks, including one with Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, the author of How to Be an Antiracist.