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.

Invest in Impact

The change we want to see in the world requires the leadership and expertise of communities most impacted by injustice. But, too often, we replicate the harms we want to address by expecting those communities to provide free labor and uncompensated capacity. In Minnesota, we’re proud to be at the forefront of authentic community-led research, building genuine partnerships with grassroots organizations and impacted people that respect and compensate their time and expertise. But that work requires resources.

Watch our impact video above and donate today. Your contribution will go directly to:

Resourcing research that centers the voices of community members and organizations:
From the cost of providing transportation or child care at a community gathering to compensation for Community Action Council members over the course a multi-year project, Equity in Action requires funding that traditional research budgets often overlook. From stipends for community members who take a survey to funding for small, grassroots organizations that serve directly impacted people, Equity in Action recognizes that equitable research MUST resource community members and partners for their expertise and their capacity
Providing pro bono services to small community-led organizations:
Research is critical to effective and enduring community change — but many organizations led by communities most impacted by injustice have limited financial capacity. Equity in Action ensures that community organizations on the frontlines have access to key research, like setting a strategic vision and evaluating impact.

Donate today

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

CREATE

intentional space for partners to engage in ongoing learning and redirect power to the community to name and solve problems on their own terms
COLLABORATE

with impacted communities and partners across sectors to reveal and address complex problems using mixed methods evaluation, quantitative surveys, qualitative focus group and semi-structured interviews, and other emerging methodologies co-designed by impacted communities
REBALANCE

power by convening new tables that bring stakeholders together with different scales of influence and power to grow impacted community members capacity to lead
ELEVATE

how community members are creating knowledge in their everyday lives and identify concrete policy and practice changes that make a real difference
AMPLIFY

lived experiences that reveal root causes of racial injustice and reshape popular debates at the local and national level

Current Project

Justice in Institutions for Black Women, Girls, and Femmes 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.

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!

Click here to contact us!

Our Board

Kamisha Johnson

CHAIR
Kamisha is known as Healer, Leader, Advocate and Mother in the community. Kamisha is a therapist by education but has transformed many lives through cultural remembrance and love in our community. Kamisha has a passion for healing the community through focusing on mental health, while using intuitive healing techniques that create radical self-love, self-care and healing from past traumas. Kamisha's goal is to continue Courageous Conversations on the stigma of Mental Health and trauma in marginalized communities. Kamisha promotes intensive self-discovery and transformative practices.
Dr. Catherine Squires

VICE CHAIR
Over the past two decades, Dr. Catherine R. Squires has engaged in multiple community partnerships to uplift and share local Black histories, support BIPOC writers, host conferences and facilitate intergenerational story sharing. She has published multiple books and articles on media, race, gender, and politics. After 20 years in academia, Dr. Squires retired from her position as Associate Dean of the Humphrey School of Public Affairs and Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Minnesota. Currently she works with individuals and organizations to develop and advance ideas through research, writing, art, and healing movement practices.
Ruth Crowe-Lane, CPA, Esq.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & BOARD MEMBER
I am a happily married lesbian Certified Public Accountant and an Attorney. I have my Juris Doctor from the University of Minnesota Law School and my B.B.A. from the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire. I have over 15 years of experience in the accounting field in the areas of financial reporting and analysis, bookkeeping, accounting software, budgeting, and tax. I have 10 years of experience in the legal field in the areas of contracts, tax, nonprofits, business entity formation, and civil rights. For fun, I enjoy home renovation projects, hiking, travel, and spending time with my wife and two dogs.
Tyrai Bronson

TREASURER
Tyrai Bronson (she/they) is the CEO + Founder of LEEP Consulting, which works side-by-side with clients on their intercultural capacity building journey. She is a passionate, energetic leader, facilitator, and trainer. Prior to founding LEEP Consulting, Tyrai served as the Vice President of Capacity Building for a national strategy firm and the Diversity & Inclusion Manager for a non-profit in the Twin Cities. Earlier in their career, they had the privilege of building and practicing curriculum development skills while working in elementary school classrooms. Tyrai has a Master of Arts degree in Organizational Leadership and has earned an Equity & Diversity certificate from the University of Minnesota.