When we named racial equity as a priority in our strategic plan, we also named it a value to start our own internal learning journey as an organization and as individuals. Starting in 2019, each month, we feature a "What We're Reading" section in our Member News that highlights what people in the Funders Together network are reading to expand their understanding of racial equity. This page is an archive of past articles, blog posts, and books that were featured in past editions of the FTEH Member News. We hope this will spur inspiration for your personal or organizational racial equity work and that you'll learn alongside us.

What We're Reading in: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019

March 2025
What We're Reading: How We endUP: A Future Without Family Policing by the upEND Movement
Who's Reading It: Rachelle A. Matthews (RAM), Director of Membership and Programs at Funders Together to End Homelessness

In alignment with recent conversations across our network on abolition, care, and accountability, and following our recent webinar, I’ve revisited this critical piece from the upEND Movement. How We endUP boldly reimagines a future where the harms of the current child welfare system—what the authors aptly name the family policing system—are replaced with systems rooted in healing, support, and community-defined well-being.

This document centers the historical and ongoing targeting of Black, Native, and Latinx families, and offers a vision for abolition that is deeply intersectional and community-driven. It has challenged me to reflect more critically on how philanthropy can be part of dismantling carceral logic—not just in criminal legal systems, but in systems often seen as benign or protective. It’s especially resonant in the context of housing and family stability work, where state-sanctioned separation and surveillance are too often the default.

This is not light reading—but it is essential. It offers a roadmap not just for what to end, but what to build. If you’re engaging with questions around liberation, abolition, and care, this is a must-read.

February 2025
What We're Reading: Democracy is a Verb! by Dr. Tiffany Manuel
Who's Reading It: Carey Cabrera, Membership and Knowledge Coordinator at Funders Together to End Homelessness

In her recent Substack post, Dr. Tiffany Manuel calls us to love justly in the pursuit of true democracy. She prompts us to think: What does love of community look like in this political moment? How do we ingrain love into our fight for real democracy, something our nation has never achieved? If we understand that love is a verb- an action- we must make the case for a democracy that centers radical love in policies that produce justice and repair, and not give up that fight.

January 2025
What We're Reading: Nonprofit and philanthropy and our white moderate tendency to obey tyranny in advance by Vu Le
Who's Reading It: Lauren Bennett, Chief of External Affairs at Funders Together to End Homelessness

The inauguration has come and gone, and it is clearer than ever we are in a new political environment that aims to overwhelm and burn us out so we can't do the necessary work for justice for those at the sharpest intersections of marginalization and oppression. It is also clear that as people who care about collective liberation, we cannot obey in advance as the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors often do, as Vu Le points out in this article.

This timely article provided some truth-telling about what we cannot do in this moment, along with antidotes to that through critical and community-centered actions, like doubling down on our commitments to racial justice and DEI work, educating our boards and trustees about the importance of staying committed to this work, and preparing our grantmaking to abundantly resource proactive strategies. As we move forward, I encourage us all to keep this article bookmarked as a reference to evaluate whether our actions are leaning into housing justice values or if we are falling into "our white moderate tendency to obey tyranny in advance."