11 Years of Centering Blackness!

Shaping The Root’s Future Together

As part of our 10th anniversary milestone last year, we embarked on an in-depth community assessment in partnership with Castro Consulting. Together, we designed and conducted a comprehensive report that included key staff interviews and a community-wide survey. Our goal was to capture the pulse of those we serve, assess our impact, and chart a path forward.

Gathering feedback from our community is essential to who we are. It reaffirms our commitment to being a responsive and inclusive organization. With an incredible 99% participation rate in our survey, the findings underscore the deep connections within our community and our extraordinary capacity for engagement.

This report tells the story of how we thrive and create spaces of joy and belonging for BIPOC individuals in a challenging context. The community assessment also found that while The Root prioritizes the needs of BIPOC folks, we also create a welcoming space for our white community members and create opportunities for multi-racial community building and movement work. These insights highlight the shared values and collaborative spirit that define our community and inspire us to continue fostering environments where everyone can contribute to collective liberation.

We invite you to dive into the insights from our community assessment below. The insights shared here reflect not only the voices of those most impacted by our work but also the powerful potential of centering marginalized identities in the ongoing journey toward justice and healing. Together, we continue to dream, build, and thrive!