Who created this platform and what is the goal?
The Indianapolis Foundation, an affiliate of Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF), is a not-for-profit charitable foundation with a mission to mobilize people, ideas and investments to make this a community where all individuals have equitable opportunity to reach their full potential—no matter place, race or identity. The Indianapolis Foundation has goals that will take years—if not decades to achieve, while at the same time trying to make life better for everyone today. Creating this platform is a vital part to its commitment to dismantle systemic racism and create equitable opportunities for all.
A message from The Indianapolis Foundation leadership:
Brian Payne
The MVMT10K has greatly evolved from a very simple idea: encourage thousands of people in Central Indiana to go on a racial equity learning journey. Before the pandemic, we were on track to help scale Child Advocates’ two-day Undoing Racism workshop (now called Interrupting Racism for Children) to train 1,200 people per year. We internally talked about the movement of 6,000 because within five years 6,000 people would become knowledgeable about how racism harms all people and how systemic racism continues to hold people back from equitable access and opportunity to thrive.
Pamela Ross
As we socialized the idea of a “movement” with the staff and board of CICF and into community conversations, the idea of a more robust set of ongoing learnings and relationships took hold. What if we could help curate a weekly practice of learning, connecting and eventually doing for 10,000 or more neighbors that would lead to making Central Indiana the most racially equitable community in the country? If we do make this happen together, Central Indiana will become one of the most culturally and economically powerful places in the United States. Mental, physical, and emotional well-being will reach national highs. This is what we imagine, and why your participation and commitment is so important.
—Brian Payne, president & Pamela Ross, vice president of community leadership and equitable iniatives
MVMT10K is a tool for you to learn more about the history of systemic racism, its impact on both communities of color and White people, and how we can work towards becoming more anti-racist in our daily lives. You will be able to engage with others who share your commitment and build community centered in growth and a common goal of building a more equitable Central Indiana.
Neither The Indianapolis Foundation nor CICF claim to be experts in anti-racism. We are inviting the community to join us in our continued learning. This is not a prescribed checklist on how to become anti-racist. This is a space to help connect you to resources and support as you navigate this work. (Think of it as a gym for your journey towards anti-racism.)
A special thank you to our Movers who identify as a person of color—
We are incredibly grateful for the role of people of color in advancing equity and acknowledge the weight of this work is too often soley carried by those impacted by the generational trauma of racism. We understand that a lot of the content within this application could be information you already know from your own, lived experiences. We also recognize that the onus is on White people to dismantle systemic racism. However, this application is for you, too. The history of people of color in this country and the origins behind race and racism are missing from our education systems—which affects us all. We also know the pressures of assimilating into a culture of White supremacy are real and unlearning that is real work. And finally, we recognize that our content may not completely represent your lived experience, yet we hope you see our intention in providing diverse perspectives.
While this application may be intended for a primarily White audience, our hope is the unique gifts that lay within of communities of color are elevated and celebrated. We invite you to find a place within this space that brings you hope for a stonger and more equitable community.
I would like to see it explained somewhere how/to whom this platform will be rolled out to… my instinct says that those who need it the least will complete the “experience” while those that need it the most will not.
I need to understand better exactly what we want our movers to do–and i frame it in terms of study-curriculum v. acts of equity. I know those two things overlap, but want to make sure I can articulate to the groups I am engaging what is expected of them when they sign up. reading v. action: specifics.