Equity Leadership Initiative
The Equity Leadership Initiative intends to cultivate, mentor, and seek access for individuals who identify as Black, Hispanic or Latino, Indigenous, Asian, and multiracial from across sectors to build a pipeline of leaders of color in positions of influence in Rhode Island.
Over the past year, the Foundation has been focused on a series of community engagement and assessment activities intended to meaningfully inform the way we work and how we can best serve the state in the years ahead.
A critically important part of this work is the review of our approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and of our efforts to ensure that equity is embedded in all that we do as Rhode Island’s only community foundation.
Evaluation of the Equity Leadership Initiative (ELI), and the development of an evolved approach to the program, are embedded in this review process.
If you would like to receive notification as soon as the application period for the next ELI cohort opens, please sign up by clicking here, or write to us at info@rifoundation.org.
Focusing on social justice and racial equity
The program’s goal is to inspire a deeper commitment to social justice and racial equity in Rhode Island by working with existing leaders of color on their leadership journey.
We're excited to introduce the 2023/2024 cohort of the Equity Leadership Initiative.
ELI Alumni
Meet the Equity Leadership Initiative alumni, and find out what they're doing now.
ELI Steering Committee
Addressing the underlying causes of inequity and working to eliminate disparities is one of our core organizational values, and has been an important part of our work for years. It’s a lens that we use to make decisions about how we allocate discretionary funding and civic leadership resources. Now is the time to commit to listening more, and doing more, and to hold ourselves accountable to this focus.