Building a Racial Equity Survey: From Conceptualization to Implementation

• In Event: Conducting Race-Focused Survey Research in the P–20 System During the Anti-Woke Political Revolt

Abstract

The We LEED project began as the Co-PI’s saw an opportunity to respond to an invitation to a larger equity-based initiative that was proposed by the Wallace Foundation. In this paper, we discuss how although we were not initially successful in obtaining funding for the original project we applied for, we persisted by demonstrating to the Wallace Foundation that part of our proposal was both intrinsically connected to, and invaluable toward their goals and initiatives expressed in their initial call. Because it is unusual to convince a foundation of their need for work after a grant has been denied, we discuss the logic model for our work; include our strategic conversations with the foundation, and how the argument for our work was formulated. We further discuss the (re)writing of our grant for our expressed purposes, determining the scope and sequence of the work, the process of forming our research team and advisory board, the dynamics involved when working across 3 institutions, and the formulation of our team’s culture. We also discuss our relationship with our funders and with the program director assigned to our project. We discuss these issues because the grant would not be possible without navigating the sociopolitical waters mentioned above. This paper provides the background necessary to fully understand the challenges of taking our project from an idea into the current reality, from the perspectives of the authors and CO-PI’s of the funded grant.

Authors

• Dana Thompson Dorsey, Vanderbilt University

• Lisa Bass, North Carolina State University

• Rich Milner, Vanderbilt University