In December 2007, more than 80 African Americans met at Allen Renaissance Center in Tacoma to prepare for African American Legislative Day. During the group discussion, we decided to organize ourselves for year-round work to advance public policy to improve the black community.
Out of that first meeting, the Black Policy Foundation (BPF) was formed.
The BPF exists to help our community-based organizations align on key issues. We will not deliver services. We will work to unify, align, and support the many voices for change in our community. We will do this by reaching out to groups and individuals statewide and engaging them in state-level public policy:
- the achievement/opportunity gap in public schools
- education reform and funding
- juvenile justice reform
The missing ingredient for black unity is a lack of staff support to bring people and groups together and empower them with information. Our 10-member BPF board is committed to doing this staff work ourselves, while we raise money to hire a fulltime advocacy staff to serve the black community.