The last month has made a lot of us reflect on what we have and have not done to fight racism in America.

What I’ve realized is that while our work through Tableau Foundation has helped to address some of the effects of racism in America—from homelessness to inequities in food access—it’s not done enough to dismantle racism itself. Mitigating the symptoms of discrimination is an important effort: It’s more immediate, and for the people, we are able to reach, it can be life-changing.

But continuing to focus our work only on the symptoms of racism does nothing to critique or untangle the system itself. I want to change that. At Tableau Foundation, we have a vision for a world where data can be used not just to understand and address the symptoms of entrenched discrimination, but to get right to the heart of systemic inequity and ensure that it cannot perpetuate.

So here’s how we’ll start: We are launching a three-year $10 million Racial Justice Data Initiative to help nonprofit organizations use data to fight institutional and structural racism. The fund will channel $3 million in cash and $7 million in software and training to a number of different organizations. At a high level, this is what we aim to support:

  • Organizations that are fighting institutional racism by dismantling or transforming racist policies and practices. 
  • Organizations that are fighting structural racism by empowering communities to advocate for local, state, and national policy change. 
  • An equity data hub built in partnership with organizations that have expertise in the ethical and responsible use of race and ethnicity data. 
  • Building the data skills of Black-led nonprofit organizations. 

Essentially, we need to flip our focus. We need to ensure that our ongoing efforts to address the symptoms of racism run alongside—and inform—our work to address the root causes.

Read the full article about addressing racial justice issues at the root by Neal Myrick at LinkedIn.