Statement on Racial Equity
“Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
– James Baldwin
All of Milwaukee’s children have inherent talent, inherent worth, and infinite possibilities – they are as gifted and as capable as any and every other child. Educational opportunity and access to high-quality school choices, however, are not equally distributed within our city. City Forward Collective exists to secure our city’s future by eliminating these educational inequities and ensuring that every Milwaukee child has access to high-quality K-12 school options.
For far too long, Milwaukee has sat at or near the top of lists cataloging various racial and ethnic disparities in opportunities and outcomes. K-12 education in the city is not exempt from this painful narrative, nor from the root causes that have created and continue to sustain these inequities. In particular, Black students in our city have materially less access to high-quality schools and are achieving academic success at significantly lower rates than their peers. In turn, they are entering adulthood with less of a chance to thrive and live lives of agency and self-determination.
We firmly believe that these narratives reflect failures of adults and systems. Our children are the solution, not the problem. In turn, it is our collective responsibility to unapologetically speak out and courageously fight to dismantle the injustices that perpetuate inequitable and lower quality-of-life outcomes.
As an organization, our core value of Justice calls for us to serve as a leading voice and actor in these efforts.
Our core value of Impact drives us to focus on data and results – both quantitative and qualitative – to set measurable goals, plan and execute against them, and honestly and critically evaluate and reflect on our performance in pursuit of continuous improvement.
Our core value of Equity directs us to take this same, impact-centered approach to eliminating the gaps in resources and opportunities and the disparities in outcomes faced by our city’s students, families, and communities.
It is these values – Justice, Impact, and Equity – that directly inform our commitment to sharing data about the performance of our city’s students and schools, including disaggregated data by subgroup whenever possible.
Leaders in both local government and the private sector have committed themselves to pursuing racial equity:
- City of Milwaukee: Racial Equity (milwaukee.gov) and Racial Equity Data (milwaukee.gov)
- Milwaukee County: Achieving Racial Equity (milwaukee.gov)
- Metro Milwaukee Association of Commerce: Equity – Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (mmac.org)
We commend and support these and other efforts. Our own commitments are taken in the same spirit of facing these uncomfortable realities – to use data to shine a light both on what is working, and on where there’s work to be done – so that we can in turn work together to change this narrative and truly secure our city’s future.
This is a living document
Humility and self-reflection are essential to living out our core values. Therefore, we commit to cultivating a willingness to listen, to learn, to be wrong, and to change our minds. For that reason, we see this statement as a living document. We will revisit it frequently to ensure it represents our best thinking on these important topics. We view this process as critical to advancing our mission.
(Note: While this statement is intended to address inequities related to racial and ethnic identities, we are aware that inequities also exist along other lines of identity, and we are likewise committed to addressing those through our work.)
