Equity in Action Way
Foundation
Our mission
The Equity in Action Way Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that invests in actionable research, authentic community engagement, and community-led solutions for social transformation across the intersections of housing stability, health equity, and criminal justice.
Our Origin
Our work is inspired by and rooted in the leadership and scholarship of Dr. Brittany Lewis, who developed the Equity in Action process model over years of engagement with hundreds of impacted community members.
This model intentionally redistributes power to the most impacted communities from the start of a research process to the final decisionmaking. Rather than seeking feedback on ideas created without them, Equity in Action elevates community members as project leaders and content experts at every stage of our work, from describing the problem to developing research processes to determining meaningful solutions. Rather than a transactional approach, this process actively supports community members in building power, capacity, and knowledge to continue to make change after the project has ended.
Our Role
Established in 2024 as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, we are a new foundation exploring our role and defining our course through the implementation of our first major project: the Missing and Murdered Black Women and Girls Initiative.
As we evolve, we envision offering educational engagement, like donation-based webinars, for our philanthropic peers to understand the value of actionable research, authentic community engagement, and the creation of reparative solutions.
We support organizations that
Current Project
Missing and Murdered Black Women and Girls Initiative
In 2024, the Equity in Action Way Foundation was awarded a Bush Community Innovation Grant and contracted with Research in Action to embark on a five-year process to 1) assess how Black women and girls perceive their level of vulnerability to violence and 2) measure the progress of key state agencies toward reducing Black women and girls’ vulnerability to violence. Using the innovative Equity in Action process, this project will once again center the expertise of impacted communities to co-create a model framework for assessing safety and vulnerability of Black women and girls not just in Minnesota, but across the nation. Learn more.
Partner with us
From government policies to nonprofit programs, research is used to shape our daily lives in countless ways. But, for generations, researchers have entered communities with their own agendas, extracted data from those most harmed by injustice, and released findings that are utterly removed from the people most impacted.
Partner with the Equity in Action Way Foundation to change that!
Our Board
Make a donation
Your support makes our work possible! Please consider a tax-deductible contribution to advance our efforts today!