Secondary Purpose

A secondary purpose of Empathy Mental Health is to promote the achievement of race equity. Race equity is the condition where one’s racial identity has no influence on how one fares in society. It is a fundamental element of social change across every issue area in the social sector. Yet the structural racism that endures in U.S. society, deeply rooted in our nation’s history and perpetuated through racist policies, practices, attitudes, and cultural messages, prevents us from attaining it. The impact of structural racism is evident not only in societal outcomes, but in the very institutions that seek to positively impact them:
- Race Outcomes Gap. People of color fare worse than their white counterparts across every age and income level when it comes to societal outcomes. They experience significant disadvantages in education, economic stability, health, life expectancy, and rates of incarceration.
- Racial Leadership Gap. BoardSource’s Leading with Intent: 2017 National Index of Nonprofit Board Practices found that people of color comprise 10% of CEOs, 10% of Board Chairs, and 16% of Board members. Compared to 40% of the working population, these figures indicate a large gap between race demographics of the working population and social sector leadership. Building Movement Project’s recent report, Race to Lead: Confronting the Nonprofit Racial Leadership Gap, highlights that the racial leadership gap is not a pipeline problem, nor is it due to differences in education, skills, or interest; rather, it is a structural problem within the sector.
https://buildingmovement.org/reports/race-to-lead-confronting-the-nonprofit-racial-leadership-gap/
The attainment of race equity requires us to examine all four levels on which racism operates (personal, interpersonal, institutional, and structural), recognize our role in enduring inequities, and commit ourselves to change. Empathy Mental Health will center race equity as a core goal of social impact in order to fulfill our organizational mission.