Meeting Hatred With Dignity: Community Foundations Rally to Stop Hate-Fueled Violence

Demonstration in WAshington, D.C. in response to a wave of anti-asian violence in 2020 and 2021. bgrocker/shutterstock

Hate-fueled violence has been on the rise in recent years, from mass shootings to a wave of attacks on Asian Americans. According to data from the FBI, last year, reported hate crimes reached their highest level in more than a decade, with some experts warning that the number is likely much higher than those reported. 

Earlier this year, President Joe Biden hosted the United We Stand summit at the White House to share the steps the administration has taken to address the issue, while also putting forth a vision for a more united nation. During the summit, a group of former White House officials announced the launch of Dignity.us — a bipartisan citizens’ initiative that will aim to address and reduce hate-fueled violence in the U.S.

The initiative brings a lot of presidential heft to the issue; it’s co-chaired by John Bridgeland, Cecilia Muñoz, Melody Barnes and Joe Grogan, who served as directors of the White House Domestic Policy Council under presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump, respectively. It’s supported by the Bush Institute at the George W. Bush Presidential Center, the Carter Center, the Obama Foundation and the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation. 

Philanthropy has also rallied to the cause. Several major philanthropic institutions have provided funding for Dignity.us, including David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Ford Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Open Society Foundations and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, among others. In addition to funding from large foundations, Dignity.us has also received crucial support from the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. While SVCF isn’t providing financial support, it is engaged at the strategic level, providing time, expertise, and above all, connections to help the initiative reach its goal. The foundation helped rally dozens of other community foundations to participate in the effort.

“What [community foundations] do is, we network,” said Nicole Taylor, SVCF’s president and CEO. “We like to share information about what’s working in our different communities, regardless of our size or scale. And we’re in every region. We’re in every state. We’re in rural communities. We’re in urban communities or in suburban communities.”

Uniting against violence

Dignity.us isn’t looking to reinvent the wheel. Rather, the initiative is looking to “uncover the hope already being produced” by crowdsourcing ideas in a way that will uncover the most effective methods. 

The first phase of Dignity.us involves gathering information on what methods have worked and may work in countering hate-fueled violence. In addition to convening researchers and experts, the initiative is also reaching out to social innovators, advocates, philanthropists and leaders. It has also invited Americans to share testimonials, insights and ideas on how to address the issue on their website.

Crucially, Dignity.us aims to engage in listening sessions across all 50 states, territories and tribal lands in the United States, including in communities that have already been affected by such violence. These include Buffalo, New York; Orlando, Florida; and Uvalde, Texas. 

In 2023, Dignity.us will develop a set of recommendations for a country-wide response that builds up the scale of community-based innovations. 

The role of community foundations

One of the first community foundations that joined Dignity.us was the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, which has been investing in several efforts to address hate-fueled violence over the years. This earlier work includes investing in organizations that shed light on the results of such attacks, strengthening tolerance programs, and supporting the arts, which, according to Taylor, has for many years been a way to communicate complex ideas about differences and the need for cross-cultural unity. 

“Having an impact that improves the lives of children and families living in this region is really important to us. And we want to unite our community to create an equitable, economically secure and vibrant future for all. That’s our mission,” Taylor said. “Hate-fueled violence and violence of any kind is completely opposed to that vision.”

Thanks in part to SVCF’s efforts, more than 50 community foundations agreed to join Dignity.us’ work in a matter of days. “It was incredible to see so many community foundation leaders respond with their interest. They wanted to lend engagement and commitment and share what they were doing and figure out how they can help with local listening sessions in their communities,” Taylor said. 

SVCF helped connect Dignity.us with CFLeads, a philanthropy-serving organization that works with community foundations to advance effective practices and share knowledge. “We bring groups of community foundations together to work on an issue over the course of a year. The issues lately are racial equity, economic mobility and gun violence prevention,” said Caroline Merenda, CFLeads’ chief of staff.

CFLeads shared information about Dignity.us with the community foundation field, which led to many supporting Dignity.us.

With more than 800 community foundations across the nation, community foundations are well-poised to work alongside Dignity.us to find effective solutions. Since these foundations know the communities they serve well and have connections with different sectors, they are able to convene the listening sessions Dignity.us seeks. 

“It’s hard to predict when a community might be affected by something like hate-fueled violence, and so, unfortunately for our community network, they kind of have to be prepared for the unexpected. I think hosting those kinds of conversations and offering those trainings at least sort of helps them know what to do if it does sort of happen in their community,” said Melody McLean, who serves as director of communications for the organization. 

With the continued increase in hate-fueled violence, many communities already have the experience and the know-how to address the aftermath of these incidents, and may have ideas and solutions to violence. 

“I have hope,” Taylor said. “I actually believe that most Americans want and do believe that we can act and do better, and that we can indeed come together and stem the tide of hate-fueled violence, stem the tide of hate.”