Background

Project Change was established in 1991 by the Levi Strauss Foundation (LSF), through a special gift from Levi Strauss & Company in the following four communities:

• Albuquerque, NM
• El Paso, TX
• Valdosta, GA
• Knoxville, TN (1993)

In 1997 Project Change became a project of the Tides Center.

Goals

Project Change initial goals included the following:

• Dismantle institutional policies and practices that promote racial discrimination
• Ease tensions between majority and minority groups and reduce inter-ethnic conflict
• Promote fair representation of diversity in the leadership of community institutions; and
• Stop overt or violent acts of racial and cultural prejudice

Evolution of a Process

Project Change’s early work focused on a five-step process that is replicable in communities around the country.

• Assess - Assess local conditions by conducting community-based research to identify racial disparities.
• Identify - Identify a group of community activists and power brokers committed to the removal of institutional policies that sustain racial barriers.
• Educate - Educate through community forums and trainings on institutional policies and practices that perpetuate racial disparities.
• Act - Act to develop and implement concrete strategies that promote equity and reduce racial disparities.
• Evaluate, Share & Disseminate - Evaluate, share, and disseminate lessons learned to inform and assist others engaged in or supporting race and community-building work.

Project Change Today

In 2002, Project Change (PC) entered into partnership with the Claremont Graduate University Institute for Democratic Renewal (IDR). Over the years, Project Change has expanded the scope of its mission to include strengthening anti-racist infrastructures and networks for civic engagement and democratic renewal.

Shirley Joyce Strong is Executive Director of Project Change and senior fellow at the Claremont Graduate University Institute for Democratic Renewal. She has been involved in education, philanthropy and social action for nearly 30 years, thirteen of which she has been spent with the Levi Strauss Foundation and the Tides Center.

John D. Maguire is a senior consultant to the Oakland-based Project Change. After 28 years as a university president, the final 17 at Claremont Graduate University, Maguire became president emeritus in 1998 and senior fellow in the Institute for Democratic Renewal in the University’s School of Politics and Economics.