Problems

I want to My community is
participate changing, and now that
in the fate of people with money want
my community to live here, we can’t
and the nation. afford the rent anymore.

We can engage people in finding solutions We can build affordable housing in communities We can help communities
that work for everyone. with increasing opportunities. owned green businesses,
they need to prevent
 The climate is People need jobs in The country is diverse
changing and my community, but and we have a new
there aren’t enough
we face more majority forming that
nearby and we don’t
disasters. can help strengthen
have good public
transit where I live. our nation.

create community- We can invest in public transit that connects We have to take race into account when we
and the infrastructure high-poverty communities to jobs in and make policy so that we create opportunities
disasters. around cities, building healthy communities for people of color and help build a healthier,
and stronger regional economies. richer society for us all.
Ide as
B u i ld i n g Sus ta i n a b le Co m m u n iti e s .

To build a world in which we all thrive, we need The current fiscal crisis has created new challenges
ideas. Ideas move us to act and show us the way. for equitable reconstruction in the Gulf Coast South.
CSI provides analysis of the underlying structure CSI has developed an ambitious new program to
of unequal opportunity and develops policy ideas use existing federal disaster preparedness grants
that can change that structure over time. to help vulnerable communities protect and rebuild
themselves.
Rural Black residents of the Columbia, South
Carolina region came to CSI when the County Planning
Commission introduced new zoning policies that
would make it more difficult for Black, poor landowners
to develop their land. CSI documented the likely
impacts of the proposal and worked with residents
to create a sustainable development plan that would
nourish rural communities and create a healthier
Columbia, changing the debate in the County Council.
 Positive & Negative Cycles
Illustration:
Policies can create opportunities To build opportunities for everyone we must
or hamper them create and win transformational policies

Policies create the middle class and suburbs, Policy ideas that
but they discriminate by race invest in people,
including people
Cities lose white population and of color
jobs so the tax base shrinks

Transit does not follow the jobs to the suburbs Adopt

so too many people of color can’t either Support local opportunity- Build alliances
advocates building across race
policies
Cities subsidize development to entice
wealth back, but policies don’t support
enough affordable housing
Inform
People of color are displaced as investment the public
comes back to the cities conversation
Le a d ers h ip
Su pp o r ti n g G r a ss ro ot s Le a d ers .
To change the world, ideas must be owned and carried
by effective leaders. CSI supports the activists and
community leaders who can galvanize communities
and the country to build structures of opportunity.
Gulf Coast communities were not equally
prepared or protected when Hurricane Katrina hit.
Reconstruction has been unequal too. CSI has
brought together activists from across the region
to work together to advocate for fair rebuilding.
And CSI has incorporated the Alston Bannerman
sabbatical program, which has supported community
organizers of color across the nation and the spectrum
of social justice issues. Over the years, the program
has supported nearly two hundred organizers of color.
These alumni are exemplary practitioners of a vital
profession. Community organizing is key to a truly
representative democracy, making it possible for the
most vulnerable Americans to demand their fair share.
CSI is expanding the Alston Bannerman initiative.
In addition to sabbaticals, we now provide senior
fellowships to develop new policy ideas and
organizing strategies. And we hope to work with
alumni as a national network of leaders that can
cooperate on the many problems that we must
overcome together.
 Als ton Ban n erma n i n iti ative
Distribution of Past Alston Bannerman Fellows

1
1 Guam
2 Alaska
3 Hawaii
2 3
4 Puerto Rico
4
Co m m u n ic ati o n
Ta lki n g A bo u t R ace Rig h t.

Ideas lead to structural transformation when they
spark the public imagination and change our sense
of how the world should be. CSI examines how race
figures in public debates, tests strategies for fostering
a more productive conversation, and creates tools for
leaders to talk about race effectively.
During the 2008 presidential election, CSI monitored
public discussion of race in the electoral context.
For too many years, tacit appeals to racism have
corrupted our political system and undermined
progressive candidates; this time, we were there
wherever it cropped up.

In 2007, CSI tested a “frame breaking” strategy that

challenged how people think about race, giving us
direction on how to open up the public dialogue on
race conscious programs to strengthen the nation.
We are doing more empirical testing and developing
tools for the field.
 E x a m ple
Stop Dog whistle racism

2008 was a historic election year, and an

amazing opportunity to see how race functions
in our national political discourse. CSI launched
StopDogWhistleRacism.com to pull together, from
news stories and commentary, a comprehensive
picture of how race was represented, and how
racism was employed, to affect local, state, and
national elections. In over twelve hundred posts,
we examined media coverage, campaign rhetoric,
political advertising, and reactions from the
blogosphere and the pundit class.
Sta f f
Maya Wiley
Executive Director

Maya Wiley is the founder and Executive Director

of the Center for Social Inclusion. A civil rights
attorney and policy advocate, Ms. Wiley graduated
from Columbia University School of Law in 1989.
She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from
Dartmouth College in 1986. She has litigated,
lobbied the US Congress, and developed programs
to transform structural racism in the US and in
South Africa. Prior to CSI , she worked for the
American Civil Liberties Union National Legal
Department, the NAACP Legal Defense and
Educational Fund, Inc., in the Poverty and Justice
Program, the Civil Division of the United States
Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of
New York, and the Open Society Institute.
 Boa rd / I n fo
Madeleine Adamson Brittny Saunders Colin Greer Idelisse Malave
Project Coordinator Senior Advocate President Former Exec. Director
New World Foundation The Tides Foundation
Jeanne Baron Lynda Turet
Communications Advocacy Coordinator Connie Cagampang john powell
Director
Cassandra Welchlin Heller Executive Director

Director of Southern
Donor/Activist Kirwan Institute for
Yesenia Bran the Study of Race
Programs
Adm. Assistant Richard Healey and Ethnicity,
President Ohio State University
Steven Cordova B oa r d o f Di r ecto r s
The Grassroots Policy
Executive Assistant to
Catherine Albisa Project Ramon Ramirez
the Executive Director
Executive Director President
National Economic and Paul Hudson Pineros y Campesinos
Jacob Faber
Social Rights Initiative President and CEO
Researcher Unidos del Noroeste
of Broadway Federal Bank (PCUN)
Denis Rhoden Roger Clay
Researcher
President Mahdis Keshavarz Ron Shiffman
Insight Center for Principal
Professor
Denyce Norment Community Economic The Make Agency Pratt Institute
Administrative Director Development
 The Center for Social Inclusion works to unite public policy research and grassroots advocacy to
transform structural inequity and exclusion into structural fairness and inclusion. We work with
community groups and national organizations to develop policy ideas, foster effective leadership,
and develop communications tools for an opportunity-rich world in which we all will thrive.

To find out more about CSI

© 2009 Center for Social Inclusion. Creative: Tronvig Group.

or to make a donation, visit

centerforsocialinclusion.org
or write to us at:

Center for Social Inclusion

65 Broadway, Suite 1800
New York, NY 10006
Tel (212) 248-2785
Fax (212) 248-6409
info@thecsi.org