United Way in Triangle adopts new approach to end poverty: fight racism

Until 2021, the Triangle Land Conservancy would not have qualified for funding from the United Way of the Greater Triangle.

Funding traditionally went to nonprofits that focus on hunger, affordable housing, mental health, education and career readiness — not land protection and stewardship.

But with the United Way’s new Anti-Racism Community Fund, whose purpose is to eradicate poverty systemically through an anti-racist approach, the Triangle Land Conservancy was an excellent candidate to receive the funds. The fund launched last year and has supported 29 local nonprofits’ equity and anti-racism initiatives with allocations totaling $425,000.

The Triangle Land Conservancy had applied for money for its Good Ground Initiative, which uses its conservation tools and resources to increase land ownership, retention and economic opportunities for people of color.

“A picture of poverty is not one-dimensional,” said Kierra Hyman, who oversees the Good Ground initiative at the Triangle Land Conservancy. “I think it definitely does start with having people of color, whose communities are most affected by (poverty), have some sense of autonomy, have ways to acquire autonomy over land and then providing resources for them to both help their communities, as well.”

Since 2020, United Way leaders tried understanding the role of systemic racism and how it intersects with poverty, said Nick Allen, chief programs officer for the United Way of the Greater Triangle. The United Way decided to reach out to nonprofits who the organization traditionally hadn’t funded, such as the Triangle Land Conservancy.

“The overwhelming majority of the people served through our investments are people of color,” Allen said. “And they engage in education and food and health and housing systems. Why are they experiencing these outcomes at larger rates than other folks? And by definition, that is systemic racism.”

‘Anti-racism isn’t political’

The United Way of the Greater Triangle serves a network of nearly 100 local nonprofits, said Eric Guckian, who has been CEO of the United Way of the Triangle for nearly five years. When he became CEO, Guckian said there was a lot of groundwork for the organization to make and changes to how things had been run.

“When we started this journey, less than 15% of our overall portfolio (of nonprofits) were led by people of color,” he said. “Now that number is creeping up to 60%. And that’s more in line with the reality (of the need).”

But for any of these changes to happen, he said, it was important for the organization to get on the same page about one thing: their stance on racism.

“It is not political to be anti-racist,” Guckian said.

In the context of a nonprofit, anti-racism work means being more intentional about the types of groups and initiatives that get funding. It also means acknowledging that people of color face greater socioeconomic disparities that are systemic and prevent them from breaking out of the cycle of poverty.

Guckian acknowledges that the anti-racism framework he and Allen proposed in 2020 for the organization’s new chapter was intended as a political stance. In its 100-plus year history, United Way has reaffirmed its position as a nonpartisan organization.

“We all personally, and systemically, need to embrace the fact that racism is a stain — a permanent stain — on this country,” said Guckian, who previously served under former N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican who is now running for U.S. Senate. “We cannot move forward if we don’t recognize, not only its existence then, but its existence now.”

One of Guckian’s initiatives includes the “10 to Watch” fund, a cohort of 10 nonprofits, most of which are led or founded by Black, indigenous and other people of color.

Overall, learning and understanding the United Way’s role as a local funder became the focus as the organization navigated how to best help the community and combat the data that often shows that people of color are most affected by poverty, Allen said.

“We didn’t invent anti-racism at the United Way,” Allen said. “We just simply learned from kind of the practice and the teachings and the knowledge that’s been gained in this fight over the many, many years that this has been a thing.”

Neighborhood Impact

As an extension of their anti-racism work, the United Way also is launching a new strategy where neighborhood experts, in addition to existing nonprofit leaders, will look into what is going right and wrong in their communities. This group will then find systemic solutions for those problems across neighborhoods and communities in the Triangle.

Nine community organizers will receive funding for their work totaling more than $100,000. They are: Felicia Arriaga, a criminal justice reform advocate; Kamal Bell, a youth and food justice advocate; Melissa Florer-Bixler, a pastor and author; Yasmin Fozard, a youth and environmental justice advocate; Troy Johnson, a youth and education justice advocate; Byron Laws, a voting rights advocate; Maria Mayorga, an immigrant rights advocate; Sonia Padial, a mental health advocate; and Kerwin Pittman, a criminal justice reform advocate.

Laws, Mayorga and Pittman were three of the panelists in the Triangle Martin Luther King, Jr. Committee’s annual Noon Day Observation Monday. They spoke about their work as community leaders and discussed what it means to be a “beloved community,” a term coined by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

“For us to have a beloved community, I implore, I ask, look at what (King Jr.) did. Look at the things that are happening in our community. How can we support? What can we do to bring our community closer?” Mayorga said. “Having a beloved community is not about me agreeing [...] and then desensitizing, forgetting about it, not doing anything. No, what can I do?”