Team:

• Giannina Fehrer-Cabral

• Meghan Hunt

• Anna Saltzman

Reflections on the REDI KC Community of Practice

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation supports organizations in Kansas City (KC) to provide residents with the opportunity to achieve economic stability, mobility, and prosperity regardless of race, gender, or geography. As part of this work, the Kauffman Foundation was interested in cultivating a shared understanding of racial equity, diversity, and inclusion (REDI) amongst those who serve Kansas City. From Spring 2021 through Fall 2022, the Kauffman Foundation brought together 14 organizations across issue areas, along with members of the Kauffman Foundation’s own staff, for an 18-month Community of Practice (CoP). Facilitated by the National Equity Project (NEP), the community of practice aimed to support participants in critically examining racial equity in their personal lives, at their organizations, and collectively across Kansas City through monthly facilitated sessions.

The guiding framework for the community of practice was the Liberatory Design Framework, an approach developed by NEP for addressing equity challenges in complex systems through a design lens. Through the CoP, participants were invited to see and understand the history and effects of racial oppression in Kansas City, engage with one another to better understand these challenges, and act within their own organizations and together by designing and trying potential solutions.

Throughout this process, Engage R+D, an evaluation and learning firm, conducted surveys and interviews with CoP members, observed a sample of CoP meetings, and hosted a series of learning sessions to help participants document and reflect on their experiences. The evaluation included participatory elements: through the learning sessions, CoP members reflected on data and themes that surfaced through the evaluation, made sense of them together, and discussed what was needed going forward. In the final learning session, participants were guided to co-write the story of the community of practice and developed the headlines to frame each section of this brief.