Keecha Harris and Associates, Inc.

On these 3 seasons of #TheRACEPodcast, our discussions about advancing racial equity work in philanthropy often come down to this one point: Without executive leadership steadfastly championing racial equity, that work cannot be sustained or realized. Joe Sciortino, Executive Director of The Schmidt Family Foundation, is a steadfast champion for racial equity and has led pivotal transformations to advance their racial equity work. This is why we awarded Joe with the inaugural North Star award at KHA's 25th Anniversary Celebration a few weeks ago! This special episode with Joe gives you a glimpse into the mind of a true leader on racial equity in the philanthropic sector. He generously shares with us how he thoughtfully collaborates with his board, integrates racial equity into the foundation's grantmaking, and how he invests in his own leadership development so he can do this work even better. Here's a blueprint for how to lead on race in philanthropy 🎧 https://ow.ly/MYTW50TsLwx

Learning cohorts deepen your impact relative to your philanthropic investment. Think: "2 + 2 = 5." Our team members Horace Duffy and Macaire Eidson, M.Ed, NBCT joined Ginny Hodges McLendon with Wells Fargo, Alan Peterson, II, Ph.D. with Invest Atlanta, and Olivia Rios with Cold Mountain Consulting LLP at National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC)'s conference to share lessons from co-creating a thriving learning cohort as part of the Wells Fargo Open for Business Fund, a $100 million investment in diverse small business owners across 5 markets. From early 2022 into next year, we’re working together to engage intermediary organizations in a learning cohort to: ✅ cross-pollinate strategies from diverse leaders' experiences ✅ create long-lasting peer relationships amongst MBEs ✅ and synthesize learnings for participants to take back into their markets -- creating a positive ripple effect in communities hardest hit by the pandemic. In our session, we shared insights from designing and facilitating a cadence of learning sessions and shared the measurable impact of the OFB investment. Just as one example: reaching more than 203,000 small businesses and empowering them to preserve or create 254,000 jobs (data through the end of June 2023.) Have a question about facilitating learning cohorts? Reach out to us! #MinorityBusiness #EconomicEmpowerment #LearningCohort #RacialEquity #SmallBusiness

Constantly confronting systems of injustice, inequality, and oppression in the workplace adds layers of emotional labor that can take a toll on your well-being. Chapter 1 of "Hear Us Now: Racial Equity in the Workplace," contains the wisdom of six social impact leaders who talk about the crucial role of intentional self-care, nurturing relationships, and healing in the context of racial equity work. Learn more from them in this article! Those of us leading racial equity change management processes need to shower ourselves with kindness, empathy, and compassion. The future world we're working towards depends on it. #Empathy #Humanity #Compassion #RacialEquity #ChangeManagement

The Race, Healing, and Joy initiative centers the brilliance of Black Reproductive Justice leaders as the movement pushes forward in post-Roe America. Genelle Monger, CNP is an instrumental part of this work. 𝘈𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘴 … “I'm assisting with a series of interviews aimed at documenting the stories of Black leaders in the Reproductive Justice movement and those closest to the issue(s). Our goal is to highlight successes while also acknowledging the challenges of being in the front lines of the movement. We also hope to see deeper investment in Black-led RJ, ensuring that these critical voices are at the forefront of change. I always try to bring some fun to our Zoom meetings—whether that's dancing to celebrate or finding ways to lighten the mood when discussing heavy topics. Joy is what’s going to keep us going, especially in Reproductive Justice work – given the current political climate. To persevere in such a hostile environment, it’s crucial to remind ourselves why we got involved in this work in the first place.” Learn more about Genelle's approach at: https://lnkd.in/evyPcs5w #BlackLeadership #ReproductiveJustice #Philanthropy #RacialEquity #Joy

A critical component of racial equity work is the ability to examine privileged identities - the systems that create privileged identities, and the advantages and benefits those identities confer. It is particularly difficult in the highest seats of power to disentangle achievements that have been earned on one's own merit from achievements that have were possible because of privilege. However, for true racial equity work to be possible, it is necessary for leaders to interrogate their identity and demonstrate honesty and vulnerability. A major shoutout to Joe Sciortino, Executive Director of The Schmidt Family Foundation, for modeling this process and sharing your deep learning with us on this latest episode of #TheRACEPodcast 🎧 https://ow.ly/MYTW50TsLwx

“Maternal and child health has been a part of my life since I was little because my mom is a breast cancer survivor. Her illness showed me the importance of living a healthy lifestyle, having equitable access to the healthcare needed to do so, and how important mothers (and women, in general) are to the family unit. I strongly believe that if we take care of women and children in our society, they, in turn, will help take care of everyone else. This is not about feeding into stereotypes of women “staying at home” ... women just naturally tend to uplift and support others in collective ways that 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵. Focusing on ensuring the health of women and children means we will create healthier communities, overall.” Genelle Monger, CNP is a project management consultant supporting the Race, Healing, and Joy initiative. Learn more about her work and approach at: https://lnkd.in/evyPcs5w #ReproductiveJustice #MaternalHealth #WomensHealth #ProjectManagement #SocialImpact

This episode of #TheRACEPodcast was 10 years in the making 🙌 In 2014, Joe Sciortino, Executive Director of The Schmidt Family Foundation, embarked on a racial equity journey in partnership with Keecha Harris and Associates, Inc.. What does 10 years of internal and external work advancing racial equity in philanthropy add up to? A very rich episode, full of important lessons. Tune in🎧 https://ow.ly/MYTW50TsLwx

Racial equity transformation work is not easy, nor for the faint of heart. We designed our new book “Hear Us Now: Racial Equity in the Workplace” as one tool for your toolkit. In this weekly LinkedIn newsletter, we'll be sharing a few key highlights from each chapter. We hope this newsletter (and the book) will reach even more people like you -- doing the hard work of systematically transforming your foundation, corporation, or government agency to contribute to an environment that supports the full humanity of the people around you! #RacialEquity #WorkplaceCulture #SocialSector #SocialImpact #Philanthropy

Are you or a colleague attending National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) in Atlanta this week? Our team members Horace Duffy and Macaire Eidson, M.Ed, NBCT will be joining Ginny Hodges McLendon with Wells Fargo, Ashlee Reevely with Invest Atlanta, and Olivia Rios with Cold Mountain Consulting LLP to share lessons from co-creating a thriving learning cohort to support communities of diverse small business owners across 5 markets. Come by and say hello! 👋🏾 #LearningCommunity #NMSDC #MBE #MinorityBusiness #RacialEquity

Carmen J.M. Simon, Senior Manager of Business Alignment and Development and Jeremy Arnold, Project Manager III – shared the stage at our 25th anniversary celebration to acknowledge the thinkers, doers, and problem-solvers that make KHA what it is. As Jeremy shared: ✔️ "We are educators, with staff like Sierra, Macaire, Horace, and Bianca merging lessons from the classroom with the practices of our firm ✔️ We are entrepreneurs with staff like Melendi, Ilver, and Marilyn capitalizing on lessons from their own endeavors ✔️ We are communicators, with staff like Reagan and Keesha hosting their own podcasts that center messages of equity, justice, inclusion, and belonging ✔️ We are servant leaders with staff like Carmen and myself (Jeremy) extending our experiences in public service to the change we are making today And we don’t do this work alone; it’s accomplished through close collaboration with our cabinet of consultants - Tania, Gina, Ali, Blanca, Genelle, Stephanie, Linda, Heather, Josh, and Panya to name a few. And of course, Keecha, our visionary leader who reminds us to dream in service of what’s possible." 📣 𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳? 📣 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘱 𝘰𝘯 𝘓𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘥𝘐𝘯 𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 – 𝘸𝘦’𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘬𝘦𝘺 𝘫𝘰𝘣 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘴! #RacialEquity #Philanthropy #SystemsChange #ConsultingFirm #Leadership