We’re In This Together
About Us
The Black-led Social Change Project is a multi-disciplinary planning effort facilitated by a team of Black practitioners and activators from across the Houston region that was funded by Houston Endowment.
The purpose of this project was to create an action plan by and for Black-led organizations with a focus on strengthening how Black-led organizations are supported in Black-led social change through areas such as collaboration and engagement, the implementation of non-profit management practices, and increasing financial sustainability.
From June-September of 2022, we engaged a broad range of Black-led organizations working in the Houston region, which included workgroups, surveys, and interviews, conducted by a team of local BIPOC consultants and facilitators.
This was an iterative, participatory process. We listened, documented, and listened again in hopes of making recommendations about what is needed to strengthen the Black social change infrastructure in Harris.
Ecosystems
The social sector in Houston is part of a larger ecosystem of Black-led organizations working for change. In fact, though we are the fourth largest city in the nation, we are not early in doing this work. We follow in the footsteps of other communities who surveyed their Black leaders to identify assets and areas for strategic investment. #buildblackhou is honored to join a movement for Black-led organizations to be acknowledged and funded for the important work they shepherd.
We are grateful to these communities for generously sharing their learnings. As such, we offer this website in the spirit of collective learning and work.
Here are some of the communities we looked to during the planning process:
- Austin – The Black Fund at Austin Community Foundation: Advancing Equity and Racial Justice (2022)
- Bay Area – Black-Led Organizations In The Bay Area: From Crisis To Change (2015)
- Philadelphia – How African-American-Led Organizations Differ from White-Led Organizations: Research Report on African American Nonprofit Organizations in Philadelphia (2016)
- Seattle – The Case for Investing in King County’s Black-Led Organizations (2020)
*Each of these communities went from listening to resourcing Black-led organizations more strategically.
Insights
We surveyed and talked to Black leaders to gather insights about their work. The purpose of the survey was to have high-level view of the organizational health of Black-led groups.
We also surveyed foundations that fund work in the Houston area. Early in the planning process we received community feedback that a survey of their needs with no changes from philanthropy would be a pointless exercise. We hope the survey findings become a philanthropic advocacy tool for Black leaders working toward those changes.
Surveys
Here are the questions that we asked on each survey:
FAQ
What will come of all of this?
The outcome of this process is:
- Data on the organizational health of Black-led organizations in the Greater Houston region (TX),
- Invitations to strengthen Black-led organizations by resourcing in key areas identified during the study,
- A living dataset, research, and tools that are available for Black-led organizations to use in its storytelling, work, or continued appeals for support,
- Identifying folks across the ecosystem of Black-led initiatives and programming for network building, programmatic support, relationship development, and a chance to be in spaces where the unique challenges of Black leaders are seen, heard, and acknowledged.
Next steps will be the development of proposal(s) to build out infrastructure that is responsive to the needs identified throughout the process.
What was your overall approach to this work?
Throughout the Black-led Social Change Project, we created a number of opportunities for the community to contribute and drive the work being done. Our goal was to find out what Black-led organizations throughout the Houston region need to do their work most effectively, and what funders can do to offer support, instead of causing harm.
We developed and conducted a survey to identify and understand the ecosystem of Black-led organizations in Harris and surrounding counties. Additionally, we surveyed local, regional, state, and national funders who a) fund in the Greater Houston area and b) fund Black-led organizations.
Beyond the survey, we created focus groups, discussions, events, and other gatherings with opportunities to collectively talk about Black-led organizations in the Houston area, where they work, their goals and needs, and the different types of resources that would best support them.
We have synthesized the findings of this landscape study to produce reports, summaries, and other resources. These are designed to share insight into the work, challenges, and structural concerns that Houston area Black-led organizations face, to shed light on current philanthropic practices and funding processes, as well as provide recommendations to better support Black-led organizations.
How were people chosen to get involved?
Those involved with the project were identified through existing lists, giving guides, and with the help of people like you! We invited leaders from Black-led organizations across the region to join us.
From June – October 2022, we spent time outreaching to and hearing from BLOs across the greater Houston region. During this time we identified 130 BLOs.
We held 12 organization-focused events during the data collection period. We followed up with three additional events – two data gallery meetings where participants were able to share initial reactions to our learnings and one virtual summit in June 2023.
Over the course of the planning process, 88 organizations attended at least one event.
Who Funded #buildblackhou?
Houston Endowment awarded a planning grant to support Black Impact Houston to engage in community planning.
What is a Planning Grant?
Who facilitated this work?
While we had a team of consultants, activists, and facilitators holding the space for the project, keep in mind this project was about community learning. During the planning process, we guided one another.
We would like to acknowledge a few folks who made special contributions to this work:
- Ashlynn Raquel Media was our social media strategy and management
- LDR Advisory provided analysis support for the organizational survey and thought partnership
- Maya Ford of FordMomentum! for communications strategy and thought partnership
- The team at Purvaib for graphic design and communications services
- Sharda Sekaran provided communications strategy and copy for the final #buildblackhou website
- Sondra Duckert of SD Consulting was our web developer for the final #buildblackhou website
You can learn more about the core team below.