The promise of equity — just and fair inclusion into a society in which all can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential — can be realized for our nation if we are willing to acknowledge and dismantle the historical and current systems that serve as a barrier between today’s America and an America worthy of our people. We cannot redesign our nation without undoing racism by de-centering whiteness which pervades the structures of American governance, politics, and civic life. Centering the needs and experiences of people of color provides the pathway to design and advance well-being policies for all. 

PolicyLink, in partnership with Well Being Trust, developed Advancing Well-Being by Transcending the Barriers of Whiteness to identify “centering whiteness” as a social and institutional framework that prevents meaningful movement toward racial equity, describe specific social and economic inequities that have been exacerbated by this framework, and make clear new narratives that will be necessary for systemic and policy change. 

This paper is the starting point for critical dialogues that deepen and build shared understanding across communities. In addition to the paper, we have developed a companion Community Dialogue Guide to support further conversations in your community.

We are ready to generate the conversations necessary to drive systemic narrative and policy change and we humbly invite you to join us on July 23 from 11am – 12pm PT / 2 - 3pm ET to hear directly from the authors of the paper as they discuss their personal stories, the reason for this paper, and the power of dialogue to catalyze action. Register for the webinar here.