Contacts:
Ronald Childs, Burrell Communications Group, rchilds@burrell.com, 312.282.5156
Kathy Reincke, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, kar@wkkf.org, 269.969.2079
BATTLE CREEK, Mich. – Today, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) named and convened 20 individuals who will serve on a newly established Solidarity Council on Racial Equity (SCoRE). These inaugural members are luminaries and thought leaders from advocacy, the arts, entertainment, business, education and media. At the council’s first meeting today in Washington, D.C. they began setting a course for two years of unified action to place racial equity center stage in public awareness. Their collective efforts will culminate in a global symposium in September 2020.
“Every one of these leaders stands at the forefront of equity in their individual professions,” said La June Montgomery Tabron, the Kellogg Foundation’s president and CEO who conceived the idea and formed the group. “As part of the Solidarity Council on Racial Equity we are coming together to reach beyond familiar circles and inspire more people to actively pursue racial equity.”
Solidarity Council on Racial Equity (SCoRE) members include: author Michelle Alexander, law professor Megan Davis, filmmaker Ava DuVernay, journalist Maria Hinojosa, author-activist and affiliated with UC-Berkeley Saru Jayaraman, Father Timothy P. Kesicki S.J., singer-activist John Legend, senior fellow Heather McGhee, professors Manuel Pastor and john a. powell, business executive Timothy F. Ryan, activists Dr. Hélio Santos and Linda Sarsour, writer Mayra Santos-Febres, attorney Bryan A. Stevenson, author Jerry Tello, anthropologist Irma Alicia Velásquez Nimatuj, professor David R. Williams, Parkland, Florida teacher and affiliated with The Center for Mind-Body Medicine Diane Wolk-Rogers and educator Kent Wong.
The personal invitations to serve on the Solidarity Council began in mid-summer as Tabron reached out to individuals already recognized as thought leaders in their fields. “Each has a voice that resonates with the Kellogg Foundation’s values and historic commitment to racial equity on behalf of children,” she said. “But even the most eloquent and dedicated voices have a hard time being heard right now.
“Every person I spoke with responded to the opportunity for a cross-sector platform to expand conversations and collective action around equity. When we stand together, we are closer to creating the society that all of our children deserve.”
To learn more about SCoRE and its members, visit http://score.wkkf.org.
About the W.K. Kellogg Foundation
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), founded in 1930 as an independent, private foundation by breakfast cereal pioneer Will Keith Kellogg, is among the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States. Guided by the belief that all children should have an equal opportunity to thrive, WKKF works with communities to create conditions for vulnerable children so they can realize their full potential in school, work and life.
The Kellogg Foundation is based in Battle Creek, Michigan, and works throughout the United States and internationally, as well as with sovereign tribes. Special emphasis is paid to priority places where there are high concentrations of poverty and where children face significant barriers to success. WKKF priority places in the U.S. are in Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans; and internationally, are in Mexico and Haiti. Follow WKKF on Twitter at @wk_kellogg_fdn.
