Education, Advocacy and Solidarity to organize for Change
Community Change was born out of the Civil Rights Movement and in response to the Kerner Commission which named racism as "a white problem." CCI has done what few organizations are willing to do: shine a spotlight on the roots of racism in white culture with the intention of dealing with racism at its source, as well as with its impact on communities of color.
In this troubled climate of 1968, Horace Seldon founded Community Change, driven by the realization that for years people had been talking about the “Black Problem” in the U.S., while the Kerner Commission made it clear that what our nation has is a “White Problem.”
CCI's work in 1968 through to today is to meet the challenge of “the White Problem.”
CCI accomplishes its mission through education, advocacy and working in solidarity with others to organize for change.
We at CCI understand racism to be more than individual prejudice and discrimination based on race.
We believe that racism occurs when one group has the systemic power to institutionalize its prejudice in the forms of laws, policies, and ideologies that exclude and oppress other groups.
Historically, and presently in the United States, white men of wealth and property have had this power to create and control the institutions that govern the lives of all who live here.
This has produced a system of advantage for white people who benefit from unearned privilege at the expense of people of color.
We believe that this systemic or institutional racism is largely invisible to the white community.
To counteract some of the devastating effects of systemic racism, many organizations provide essential human services to those in need. While we wholeheartedly support this work, our approach is different. We address the systems that create those needs in the first place.
