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United Way Fresno and Madera Counties President and CEO Lindsay Fox looks at documents with another person at an outdoor rally.

Race Equity

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A statement from our President and CEO, Lindsay Fox.

Amid the confusion, heartache, and unrest our country is experiencing right now, we do know one thing: This is more than a wakeup call. This country is sick. This country is in a state of emergency. We have accepted as normal systemic racism, extreme poverty, and institutionalized cycles of oppression and discrimination for far too long. 

The weight of the recent murders of American citizens on our own soil – George Floyd, Auhmund Arbery, Breonna Taylor, David McAtee, and far too many others – weighs even heavier as our nation has buried another 200,000 Americans lost to the COVID-19 pandemic, while millions of other citizens have found themselves without work or income or hope for the future – some for the very first time in their adult lives.

In all of this, there is still a push for a return to ‘normal’. But some of us are working overtime to develop a roadmap for a new normal. One where race is not the lead indicator of mortality, poverty, health, or privilege.

Coronavirus discriminated against People of Color because our system is inherently discriminatory. The virus is killing Brown and Black people at alarming percentages while unleashing economic hardship on People of Color at rates that most reading this will never be able to comprehend. In Fresno County alone, we have seen a ten-fold increase in emergency calls to our United Way 211 Helpline. We’ve served more residents in desperate need since the beginning of Shelter-in-Place than we usually do in an entire fiscal year.

What is clear to us, and a growing number of community leaders is this: The system and power that has oppressed for centuries cannot survive another decade. It is on all of us (Yes, even You!) to do something.

Complacency and silence must stop here and now.

Some people are uncomfortable with the idea that United Way FIGHTS.  They think our organization should be milquetoast, a sunny champion of the people– one that hands out backpacks to poor children, gives grateful families turkey meal kits at Thanksgiving, and saves low-to-middle-class folks money on their taxes. But for every single mother or immigrant father or estranged LGBTQIA teenager we help, we know our work can never simply begin and end with the trouble they are facing on any one given day or month. We are also always up against the intentional, institutionalized systems specifically designed to keep such people in near-unbreakable cycles of poverty and despair.

Our favorite words are LIVE UNITED. Make no mistake: that motto is not only about joining together to help people. It is about using every partner, resource, volunteer, staff member, and community member at our disposal to Fight United, too. We have been fighting for the wellbeing, financial stability, and education of our residents here in Fresno and Madera Counties for almost 100 years and we vow to fight even harder now.  

I am the first African American female to hold this position in the history of the organization. I know I am here, at this time, in this place, for a reason: to fight. To fight for the black babies that are dying at disproportionate rates every day. To fight for the prosperity for People of Color. To fight for health equity. To fight for a better future for all people. To fight for Fresno and Madera. And it just so happens that I have a small, but passionate team of 12 other people who are ready and eager to fight with me.

What Will United Way Do? 

This is not a short-term commitment. This is not lip service. We have to continue even when the hurt once again dulls. Not because we fear another flare up, but because the hurt really never goes away. We do not know 100% what things will look like moving forward but we do know it might make some people uncomfortable. That’s ok with us.

Here are some immediate steps we plan on making within our own organization:

  • We will look internally, start dialogues with our staff, board, and funders.
  • We will change our policies, practices, and programs to better reflect the values we hold of equity and justice.
  • We will continue to examine our role in advancing the end of racism, especially the systemic racism that continues to perpetuate inequities and discrimination.
  • We will continue to promote programming that promotes equity, advances opportunity and heals the trauma of racism.
  • We will unapologetically work to create pathways to wealth for communities of color.
  • We will identify and support our anti-racist allies, especially those who are in positions of power. 

What about You?

We would love to hear your ideas for change as we move into the recovery stages of this pandemic and, hopefully, away from the festering stain of White Supremacy in our nation.  If you are a local community partner and have ideas on how we can partner up and do better together, please reach out. We are absolutely interested in collaborations.

This work may feel scary. I think it’s important we all get comfortable with being a little uncomfortable. Start with your heart and your mind. Start here at home and amongst your circle of friends. Start with Fresno and Madera. We’ll be here, too. Fighting with you and for you.

In partnership, and in emphatic support of the Black Lives Matter movement and equality for all,

Lindsay Fox
President and CEO
United Way Fresno and Madera Counties