Rinku Sen, writer, social justice strategist and executive director of Narrative Initiative, joined us on June 21, 2022 to share the factors that can lead to transformational change in our society.
This insightful, high-level briefing covered:
- creating compelling and contagious narratives that lead to a disruption of how we see the world so that we can see something better;
- the elements of change needing to be present for racial inequity and racial injustice to be met head on; and
- instituting a different paradigm of philanthropic funding and investments.
It also answered the questions —
How does equity power economic growth?
How can philanthropy insert influence, advocacy, and best practice into the national conversation?
What state and national policy and narrative solutions lead to impacting racial wealth inequities?
At the national level, which current policy discussions, if implemented, could have the greatest impact on communities of color and women?
About Rinku Sen
Rinku is a writer, social justice strategist and the Executive Director of Narrative Initiative. She is formerly the Executive Director of Race Forward and was Publisher of their award-winning news site Colorlines. Under Sen’s leadership, Race Forward generated some of the most impactful racial justice successes of recent years, including Drop the I-Word, a campaign for media outlets to stop referring to immigrants as “illegal,” resulting in the Associated Press, USA Today, LA Times, and many more outlets changing their practice. She was also the architect of the Shattered Families report, which identified the number of kids in foster care whose parents had been deported.
Her books Stir it Up and The Accidental American theorize a model of community organizing that integrates a political analysis of race, gender, class, poverty, sexuality, and other systems. As a consultant, Rinku has worked on narrative and political strategy with numerous organizations and foundations, including PolicyLink, the ACLU and the Nathan Cummings Foundation. She serves on numerous boards, including the Women’s March, where she is Co-President and the Foundation for National Progress, publisher of Mother Jones magazine.
