Advancing Racial Equity

sahana mantha - co-founder, FFG

“Advancing Racial Equity and Social justice precede Equality of Opportunity, Economic Security, and Social Mobility. The FFG principles and values of leading without labels, inspiring inclusivity, and championing equity ensure we have conscious collaborations and a consistent community to enable long-term systemic change.

FFG team advocates for and amplifies the voices and lives of those who have been marginalized for far too long. We started small and must continue to address the systemic and generational issues faced by women of color in our society. FFG continues to build community networks to advance marginalized women and women of color in Racial Equity, Financial Well-Being, Career Journey, and Digitally Forward.

Now, more than ever, it is critical to collaborate and build ecosystems for an equitable and just world.

90% of the women we support are Black. Therefore, advancing racial equity is central to our work, and we continue our commitment to people of color, particularly women and their children.”

“African Americans make up the largest ethnic group facing homelessness. 40% of the homeless population is under the age of 18 in America, over $1.3 million teens are living unsupervised and a large majority are not prepared to live independently, lack financial and emotional support, and are even more likely to be undereducated. All these statistics leave this population particularly vulnerable to abuse and most likely to end up struggling to thrive in a capitalist society.

FFG has provided an impactful change in the Charlotte community and beyond. FFG now reaches beyond the greater Charlotte community through relationships and the support FFG has continued to provide young women; they have started to refer friends and family that they believe would benefit from the incredible leaders, coaches, and community that is FFG. Since establishing the programs and processes on a solid foundation, FFG has been instrumental in scaling the structure and focus of FFG, increasing to 9 states and building a network of participants and coaches in all of these states. In addition to leading expansion efforts, FFG has introduced innovative ways to leverage technology and incorporate FFG’s foundational principles of racial and gender equity, inclusivity, and leading without labels. With expanded reach FFG has economically empowered an even greater number of women around the country, program participants have secured full-time employment, and some have completed college, inspired their communities, and set an example of what one can achieve with the support of an organization that truly values these young women and sees their potential.”

Khiana Deas - Responsible sourcing, Bank of America

"Empowerment is essential to the livelihood of all people, especially Black and people of color. The lack of equality prevails from education to healthcare, housing, and other social issues. Women suffer immensely from these disparities, with Black women bearing the brunt in all facets. Women and people of color deserve equal treatment and the right to be involved in the decisions and systems affecting them. The fight for gender and racial equity has been underway for quite some time, but before equity can fully be achieved, we must attain racial justice and gender parity. We must actively champion and advocate for women and people of color daily and in all situations. 

FFG is founded on the premise of inspiring inclusivity, championing equity, and being a force of change in pursuit of economic empowerment. I am proud to lend my voice and perspective as a Black woman to FFG to share experiences my communities face as we work to advance racial and gender equity."

In 2014, a study released by Harvard University and the University of California Berkeley ranked Charlotte, the city where FFG was founded, last among the 50 largest US cities in upward mobility. Access to economic opportunity in Charlotte is far too often aligned with one’s zip code, a product of years of redlining policy and racial segregation. It is to no one’s surprise that correlating income and education levels in these parts of Charlotte lag behind the rest of the city. This structural and systemic issue created circumstances that have become insurmountable for many people in Charlotte.

A core tenet of Foundation For Girls (FFG) is “Champion Equity.” This slogan characterizes the organization’s goal of creating an inclusive environment where all individuals, regardless of where they come from, have access to economically empowering resources and the confidence to share their voice in the community. FFG delivers its mission to women who are homeless, single teen moms, foster care recipients, human trafficking survivors, and domestic violence abuse victims, a majority of whom are women of color. These women often live in low-income areas and do not have access to adequate educational tools that promote success in today’s society.

Decades of unfair policies against minorities have inhibited fair access to housing, employment, wealth, and social capital. These policies overwhelmingly affect Black, Latinos, and people of color, especially regarding housing stability. Many low-wage jobs in Mecklenburg County are occupied by Black and Latino individuals, creating a racial income gap and putting them at a significant disadvantage when competing with housing inflation. During a 2020 Point-in-Time (PIT) Count of people experiencing homelessness, 79% identified as Black/African American, and 3% identified as Latinx. This ratio is extremely disproportionate as Black/African Americans only comprise 31% of Mecklenburg County's general population.

All of the women participating in FFG programming have experienced homelessness. Data (as reported in the 2020 State of Housing Instability and Homelessness Report) has shown housing programs, including a rental subsidy and/or supportive programming, reduce the likelihood of an individual returning to homelessness.

In 2019, FFG piloted a rental assistance program that provides a subsidy to aid qualified participants in securing housing upon moving out of their transitional living space.  Since its inception, FFG has assisted 160 women in obtaining stable housing. 90% of the subsidy recipients are women of color.

 Social networks, a structure of individuals connected by interpersonal relationships, are a crucial component of economic mobility. They provide access to resources, support, and information for social capital. According to the How We Rise study by Brookings Institute, Black and Latino individuals in the Charlotte community lack social capital due to segregation in the racial and residential sectors. Compared to White peers, Black women and men have smaller networks and weaker connections. The Latino community, especially the women, have the least expansive social network and social capital in Charlotte.

Foundation For Girls believes sincere relationships profoundly impact one's journey to economic empowerment. We bring together a team of well-versed coaches dedicated to investing intellectual, emotional, and social capital to bridge the social network gap and provide our marginalized women with a consistent community and the opportunity to connect with professionals outside their immediate circle. We recognize our women of color are subject to unequal struggles due to systemically racist factors and hope with these relationships, we can inspire inclusivity and champion each other into a more equitable society.

Ashley Guzman - digital marketing & communications, dimensional fund advisors

“I firmly believe that one of the biggest impediments to economic freedom in the United States is the racial wealth gap. According to a 2019 Institute for Policy Studies study, “the median White family has 41 times more wealth than the median Black family and 22 times more wealth than the median Latino family. Despite aspirant rhetoric and sensationalized media stories, the racial wealth divide has not improved over the past three decades. The divide has grown considerably as wealth concentrates at the top, leaving the rest of the country an increasingly smaller share. 

While we wait for policies that impact wealth distribution to evolve and change, the poorest and most vulnerable in our communities are experiencing the greatest hardship. That is why social change organizations like Foundation For Girls aim to redirect the life trajectory of women affected by systemic and institutional racism. From increasing immediate household income through teaching digital skills and career skills to preparing women of color to qualify for homeownership loans through financial skills, these are the actions that need to be taken at a local level now to support closing the gap and leveling the playing field for women of color across the country.”

• FFG advances racial equity by providing emotional support and resources to marginalized women, 90% of FFG women are Black women, primarily in the American South. The organization fulfills many roles someone’s biological family would normally fulfill. This looks like knowledge about organizing your finances, applying for a job, and having someone to call when times get hard.

• FFG excels at treating houseless individuals with dignity and respect. FFG stands out from peer organizations because it doesn’t “discount” the resources it supplies to individuals when helping them establish a foundation to get back on their feet. This includes providing these individuals and their children quality food, clothes, and personal care items. This organization truly treats its participants as equally deserving individuals.

• Because of FFG’s coaching model, volunteers are not one-time participants who “do a good deed,” go home and never interact with the persons they are helping. The FFG model puts volunteers and participants face-to-face in an ongoing coaching relationship. By connecting two opposite parties on the socioeconomic range, community members who interact with FFG get first-hand experience learning about communities they may have never crossed paths with. This widens up our volunteers’ worlds so when they go back to their circles, they’re able to talk about issues on race, poverty, and community with a real-world perspective. Often, this looks different than the assumptions society makes based on the media.

Words of Janet Ganoung - The longest-standing member of the FFG Community :
1.  Inclusive Community: FFG does not select participants based on any racial quotas. The target population we serve comprises marginalized women in greatest need. It just so happens that those in greatest need are primarily people of color.

2.  Diversity of Leadership and Coaches: I feel it is extremely important to emphasize the diversity of the leadership, coaches, and volunteers of FFG. As difficult as it is for participants to ask for and receive help, a certain comfort level comes to them by seeing that many of the people working on their behalf look like them.

3.  Invested Community Members: Though we don’t have to have lived the experiences that our participants have faced to be able to help them, there is an immeasurable inspiration that comes from a coach or volunteer who has “walked the walk”. When participants learn that some of the coaches and investors have walked in their shoes, there is a certain degree of immediate trust and respect.

4. Providing Consistency and Stability: Our relationships with participants are deep and long-lasting. Participants come to us having had a life-long series of failed relationships and of being betrayed and abandoned. Trust is not in their wheelhouse. But we show them that as long as they are willing to be a reliable partner in return, we are there for the duration, with stability and consistency.

5. Creating Ripple Effects:  The effectiveness of FFG is in how it propels young women toward financial independence, alters life trajectories and generational change, and extends back into our broader communities. Because we, as coaches, volunteers, and mentors, get more of a real-world perspective, we are then motivated to become involved in other areas of social justice that directly affect our participants,  such as affordable housing, accessible transportation, elimination of food deserts, etc. And we realize that the only way systemic racism will become a thing of the past is if we elect leaders who will effect real change rather than settling for the status quo. Working with FFG empowers us to realize how influential our collective voices are as advocates in the broader community and world.