Racial Justice Organizing
Our racial justice organizing began in a grassroots response to a series of racist incidents that unfolded in Chicago’s gayborhood and culminated in removing a racist security firm from the largest LGBTQ+ center in the Midwest. Drawing on the Civil Rights Movement, our model of collaboration invites non-Black accomplices to dismantle the discrimination Black LGBTQ+ people face under our direction. We are engaging many stakeholders – from philanthropists and nonprofits workers at predominantly white institutions – to take collective action. Through consensus organizing, we work toward collaborative accountability, improving employment opportunities, and addressing root causes of systemic inequity.
Black Queer Equity Index
Our flagship program in 2023 is the Black Queer Equity Index (BQEI), a Black LGBTQ+ community-led, participatory action research project to evaluate nonprofit cultures for Black LGBTQ+ staff and board members. The BQEI will improve organizational inequity through publishing an annual report card and offering actionable interventions. BQEI works towards collaborative accountability, improves employment opportunities, and addresses the root causes of systemic inequity.
CARE
Lighthouse Foundation’s CARE (Coalition of Accomplices for Racial Equity) is a coalition of accomplices and Black LGBTQ+ people who support Black Queer liberation through connection, collaboration, and celebration.
Revival Churches
Though Christian faith communities across the country struggle to keep their doors open, we contend that churches which center and embody Christ's radical love for those on the margins will thrive. We are deepening our work with CARE churches by launching Revival, a multi-denominational cohort that will convene churches for peer learning, collaborative organizing, and growth. Revival Churches will collaborate to deepen their congregational practices of anti-racism, co-create Black and LGBTQ+ affirming pastoral resources to share publicly, and organize a conference open to all Christian churches.