We acknowledge the urgent need to address systemic practices and racist policies that have created insurmountable barriers to opportunity. In our work, we will listen to and lift the voices and experiences of impacted people and communities.
We are actively engaged in ensuring racial equity for all.
We are committed to shifting how we do philanthropy. It begins with using a racial equity lens in all that we do.
We acknowledge the urgent need to address systemic practices and racist policies that have created overwhelming barriers to opportunity for Black and Brown people. In our work, we will listen to and elevate the voices and experiences of those most impacted by systemic inequities.
The Cousins Foundations work to build empowered, thriving communities. We are committed to racial justice, equity, and healing. Our community partners are on the ground addressing the many needs of those across our communities; our mission has been, and will continue to be, to strengthen their work and voices. Furthermore, we are even more acutely focused on communities in our city that have borne the brunt of systemic racism, and those that do not have access to adequate education, healthcare, food, housing, and economic opportunity. The racial disparities and injustices in these areas have existed for generations and were only magnified and deepened by the COVID-19 crisis in early 2020.
Our work seeks to provide the support necessary to build a healthy ecosystem of resources in our community, and we want to leverage our position to foster opportunities for collaboration and partnership. We work along the spectrum of direct support to families and individuals, with a goal of understanding, and dismantling systems of oppression affecting the communities we serve through community awareness, advocacy, and action. This work is more important now than ever and the urgency is clear.
Beyond our close partners, we are looking deeper in our community to build trusting relationships with organizations and leaders that have not traditionally had access to family foundations and the funding community of Atlanta. We will support BIPOC-led institutions, businesses, and organizations. That is our responsibility. We embrace the long-term work we must undertake if we are to begin breaking down the systems of racism in philanthropy. We are committed to ensuring diverse, community-driven voices are engaged in and deeply influential in our grant-making decisions.