28 Think Tanks & Advocacy Organizations that Significantly Influenced My Book

If you want to learn more about issues I cover in this book in an ongoing way—and you want to figure out either policies to advocate for or strategies to consider in your own circles of influence and concern—here are twenty-eight think tanks and advocacy organizations whose work inspires me.

[NOTE: I capped this list at 28, but it easily could have been 40-50. Let me know if there are organizations you’d recommend on these issues.]        

Brennan Center for Justice: https://www.brennancenter.org/about/mission-impact. From their website: The Brennan Center for Justice is an independent, nonpartisan law and policy organization that works to reform, revitalize, and, when necessary, defend our country’s systems of democracy and justice. [Each description below is drawn directly from the organization’s website.]

Brookings Institution: https://www.brookings.edu/about-us/. The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to conduct in-depth, nonpartisan research to improve policy and governance at local, national, and global levels.

Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice: https://www.bullardcenter.org/. The Robert D. Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice at Texas Southern University was launched to address longstanding issues of systemic inequality and structural racism that cause disproportionate pain, suffering and death in Black and other people of color communities.

Children’s Defense Fund: https://www.childrensdefense.org/policy/policy-priorities/. The Children’s Defense Fund champions policies and programs to improve the odds for America’s children. We focus our advocacy on the whole child because we believe children don’t come in pieces. We seek to end child poverty, give every child a healthy start, a quality early childhood experience, a level education playing field, and safe families and communities free from violence—with special attention to children involved in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.

Color of Change: https://colorofchange.org/about/. Color of Change leads campaigns that build real power for Black communities. We challenge injustice, hold corporate and political leaders accountable, commission game-changing research on systems of inequality, and advance solutions for racial justice that can transform our world.

Economic Policy Institute: https://www.epi.org/about/. The Economic Policy Institute’s mission is to inform and empower individuals to seek solutions that ensure broadly shared prosperity and opportunity.

EdBuild: https://edbuild.org/. EdBuild was an organization that brought common sense and fairness to how states fund public schools. It closed its doors in 2020, but its website features reports and tools organized into three primary sections: (1) The School Funding System Is Broken; (2) There Are Ways To Fix It; and (3) There Are Tools To Guide You, with data and policy information to support reform efforts.

The Education Trust: https://edtrust.org/. Committed to advancing policies and practices to dismantle the racial and economic barriers embedded in the American education system: Equity-Driven ? Data-Centered ? Student-Focused.

Enterprise Community Partners: https://www.enterprisecommunity.org/about. Enterprise Community Partners is a national nonprofit that exists to make a good home possible for the millions of families without one.

Equal Justice Initiative: https://eji.org/about/. The Equal Justice Initiative is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society.

First Five Years Fund: https://www.ffyf.org/. Our mission is to ensure all children from birth through age five have equitable access to affordable, comprehensive, high-quality care and education to support their healthy development and help them achieve their full potential in school and life.

Grassroots Law Center: https://grassrootslaw.org/. Fighting for freedom from racial oppression in the American legal system.

Higher Ed Equity Network: https://www.higheredequitynetwork.org/. The Higher Ed Equity Network works to create a more equitable higher education system with an intentional focus on the needs of Black, Latino/a/x, Indigenous, and other students who are harmed by persistent systemic barriers linked to their racial and ethnic identities.

Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC): https://www.lisc.org/. LISC connects local groups across America with the capital and technical know-how to help build inclusive, resilient communities of opportunity.

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund: https://www.naacpldf.org/. The Legal Defense Fund (LDF) is America’s premier legal organization fighting for racial justice. Using the power of law, narrative, research, and people, we defend and advance the full dignity and citizenship of Black people in America.

National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO): https://www.nafeonation.org/about/. NAFEO is the nation’s only national membership association of all of the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Predominantly Black Institutions (PBIs). Founded in 1969, by the presidents and chancellors of HBCUs and other equal educational opportunity institutions, NAFEO is a one of a kind membership association representing the presidents and chancellors of the public, private, independent, and land-grant, two-year, four-year, graduate and professional, HBCUs and PBIs.

National Collaborative for Health Equity: https://www.nationalcollaborative.org/our-programs/. At the NCHE, our goal is to change the course of racial inequality and the health inequities that come as its result. To that end, our variety of programs use many different methods to ensure that people of color have equal opportunity for healthy lives.

National Low Income Housing Coalition: https://nlihc.org/about. ?We educate lawmakers and the public about the need for affordable homes. We mobilize members and supporters across the country to advocate for good housing policy. We shape public opinion of low income housing issues.

National Skills Coalition: https://nationalskillscoalition.org/. National Skills Coalition (NSC) fights for a national commitment to inclusive, high-quality skills training so that more people have access to a better life, and more local businesses see sustained growth?.?.?. through expert analysis and technical assistance, broad-based organizing, targeted advocacy, and cutting-edge communications.

Opportunity Finance Network (OFN): https://www.ofn.org/. OFN is the leading national network of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and a financial intermediary. OFN increases capital flow, strengthens CDFIs, and amplifies the voice of the CDFI industry. CDFIs advance racial equity, combat persistent poverty, fight climate change, and more. We partner with investors, funders, and policymakers to align capital with opportunity.

Partnership for Southern Equity: https://psequity.org/. PSE is a nonprofit organization that advances policies and institutional actions that promote racial equity and shared prosperity for all in the growth of metropolitan Atlanta and the American South. Through forums, research, and organizing efforts, PSE brings together the regional community to lift up and encourage just, sustainable, and civic practices for balanced growth and opportunity.

PolicyLink: https://www.policylink.org/about-us. PolicyLink is a national research and action institute advancing racial and economic equity by Lifting Up What Works?. PolicyLink seeks to deliver and scale results in the following arenas: (1) Equitable Economy (promoting economic inclusion and ownership to eliminate poverty); (2) Healthy Communities of Opportunity (creating opportunity-rich communities in all neighborhoods and regions of the country that enable low-income people and communities of color to thrive); and (3) Just Society (building power and expanding agency to ensure that all systems and institutions are just and free of racial bias, to allow the most vulnerable to participate and prosper).

Poor People’s Campaign—A National Call for Moral Revival: https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/. We rise to demand that the 140 million poor and low-income people in our nation—from every race, creed, color, sexuality and place—are no longer ignored, dismissed or pushed to the margins of our political and social agenda. We rise not as left or right, Democrat or Republican, but as a moral fusion movement to build power, build moral activism, build voter participation, and we won’t be silent any more! We rise to change the moral narrative and demand that the interlocking injustices of systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, the war economy/militarism and the distorted moral narrative of religious nationalism all be ended.

Smart Growth America: https://smartgrowthamerica.org/. Smart Growth America currently focuses on three specific priorities: Climate change and resilience, advancing racial equity, and creating healthy communities.

Southern Poverty Law Center: https://www.splcenter.org/about. The SPLC is a catalyst for racial justice in the South and beyond, working in partnership with communities to dismantle white supremacy, strengthen intersectional movements, and advance the human rights of all people.

Urban Institute: https://www.urban.org/about. The Urban Institute is a nonprofit research organization that provides data and evidence to help advance upward mobility and equity. We are a trusted source for changemakers who seek to strengthen decision-making, create inclusive economic growth, and improve the well-being of families and communities.

U.S. Partnership on Mobility from Poverty: https://www.mobilitypartnership.org/about. The Partnership consists of 24 leading voices representing academia, practice, the faith community, philanthropy, and the private sector. The Partnership’s collective ambition is that all people achieve a reasonable standard of living with the dignity that comes from having power over their lives and being engaged in and valued by their community.

White Men for Racial Justice: https://www.wmrj.org/. The Opportunity—White men continue to hold the primary levers of political, economic, and cultural power and, therefore, have a unique duty and opportunity to act.

To purchase my new book on Amazon, CLICK HERE.

To read the Foreword, Preface, and Intro to the book for free, CLICK HERE.