At Rivera Consulting Inc. we work at the intersection of people, planning, and politics. We build cross-sector infrastructure that centralizes the leadership of women of color. Our mission is driven by founder Wilnelia Rivera’s philosophy that when we work in partnership to address inequity, whether with our organizations, candidates, or within our urban planning projects, the approach must break the traditional frameworks of change. This month, Wilnelia had the opportunity to sit down with Non Profit Quarterly to explain how she arrived at this philosophy, and why this lens is critical.
To create sustainable movements of social change, infrastructure is critical. However, the kind of infrastructure that marginalized communities deserve is often out of reach. The reason? The status quo promotes self-designated leaders and funders that are white. This means the solutions created are “what they think are priority solutions versus what we think they are… That approach manipulates the heart and dedication of women of color. We think that getting a seat the table will move the dial, but they’ll remind you that it’s not your seat, or your table.”
The core philosophy of Rivera Consulting Inc. is that people of color need to be at the forefront of rebuilding the country. “It is those that have the biggest stake in healing the system and improving it so that it reflects those of us who are excluded. We are the only ones that are going to do the work. We’re the only ones that have that cause. No matter how much there are white people are allies or co-conspirators, they don’t have the same stake in addressing systemic inequities.” To center folks who have a personal stake in the change, Rivera Consulting Inc. co-creates organizational infrastructure that organizations and campaigns can utilize and grow over time. We support them in building their own organizational leadership and theory of change, so when we step away they can continue to succeed.
To help our clients evolve, we need to co-create tools to enhance their political organizing. But with that comes curriculum that centers hearts and minds for the purposes of cultural organizing. As Wilnelia stated in Non-Profit Quarterly “Organizations that combine political and cultural organizing do more transformative work.”
When the team at Rivera Consulting Inc. says we are at the intersection of people, planning, and politics, it means more than just the categorization sectors in which we work. It is an acknowledgement that to make long term systemic change, we need to approach inequity from all corners of our container. We “build relationships within that container consistently and over time so that as things shift, [we]...actually connect to make something shift and move.”As Wilnelia told Non Profit Quarterly “the idea is that if we’re going to flip engagement in a way that actually delivers the results that we want, we need to build capacity where we expect most of those people to be and that’s going to be in organizations.”
Check out “What Does It Look Like to Support Women of Color to Lead?” and the follow up article “Rethinking Infrastructure From Nonprofits and Philanthropy, to Civil Society.” Please follow author Cyndia Suarez on twitter at @cyndisuarez.