Behind the Curtain: Introducing Our New Equity Blog Series

In 2022, with new leadership in place, Fairfield County Forward was launched: a new strategic plan for putting equity, specifically racial equity, at the center of all we do.  Working to increase opportunity so more of our neighbors can thrive has been a core mission of the Foundation since its formation, but the stark realities of our current time – economic, cultural, social, political, and philanthropic – required a more diverse, equitable and inclusive perspective to guide the organization, our staff and team members, and us as individuals.

In working through what we hope to accomplish with these Equity Practice pieces, one touchstone we kept returning to is that everyone is on their own DEI journey – one which can be elating one minute, frustrating the next and almost always requiring vulnerability.

Our equity journey is one without a specific destination or a promised straightforward path. There are off-ramps and on-ramps, detours and occasionally gridlock.

There are also shortcuts, landmarks, and better maps available. That guidance is found in listening to other travelers, helping each other create solid ground on which to travel, sharing resources and information – all while continuing to reflect on where we have been, where we are and where we want to go.

Putting these ideas into action, we offer these blog posts to provide stories and experiences we’ve had here at FCCF – and as humans who work here – on our road to creating a more equitable world in which to live, work and play. We welcome and encourage you to share your reflections with us, in any format and with an option to remain anonymous.

Click here to read the first post: Behind the Curtain – Equity Reflections with Rebecca Cordero.