ERASE Racism Receives Funding to Address Racial Disparities in Long Island's Public Schools
(PRWEB) August 27, 2013 -- ERASE Racism has received a $20,000 grant from the Long Island Community Foundation for continued support of the organization’s Education Equity Campaign, which was created to address the disparities in the quality of education that is offered in Long Island school districts. This funding will support efforts such as identifying intervention strategies; organizing work groups and developing an action plan.
For the past ten years ERASE Racism’s work has showed that Long Island schools are both racially segregated and unequal. In 2004 the organization designed a conference (and published a companion monograph) entitled Brown V. Board of Education: The Unfinished Agenda, which challenged the widely accepted narrative that Long Island has a high-quality public school education system for the region. In 2009, the organization premiered its documentary, A TALE OF TWO SCHOOLS: Race and Education on Long Island, which shows how the educational success of two black students from Long Island with similar academic motivation and other social characteristics was strongly dependent on where the student attended school, rather than on individual aptitude. ERASE Racism also has had opinion articles appear regularly in the media to demonstrate the failure to provide excellent education to all students.
“We are encouraged by the continued support of a local foundation that’s focus is to improve our region and are pleased The Long Island Community Foundation is helping us address disparities in the quality of education in Long Island school districts," says ERASE Racism’s President Elaine Gross. This grant was made possible, in part, by the Erwin P. and Pearl F. Staller Charitable Fund, a donor-advised fund at the Long Island Community Foundation.
About ERASE Racism: ERASE Racism is a regional organization that leads public policy advocacy campaigns and related programmatic initiatives to promote racial equity in areas such as housing, public school education and healthcare. It engages in a variety of research, education and consulting activities to identify and address institutional and structural racism, primarily on Long Island.
The Long Island Community Foundation (LICF) is the Island’s community foundation, making grants to improve our region and helping donors with their philanthropy since 1978. LICF identifies community needs, strengthens the Island’s nonprofit sector, encourages philanthropy, and, with their generous donors, has built a permanent endowment to address these needs. They have invested more than $135 million in grants from hundreds of funds established by individuals, families, and businesses. LICF is a division of The New York Community Trust, one of the country’s oldest and largest community foundations. To learn more about the Long Island Community Foundation – or to become a donor— visit their website.
Elaine Gross, ERASE Racism, http://eraseracismny.org/index.php, 516-921-4863, [email protected]
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