By Justin Laing | April 5, 2025 | Antiracism
On January 20th, 2025, Donald Trump’s first day of his second term as U.S. President, he signed Executive Order 14169, “Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid.” This policy ordered the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the almost $44B agency responsible for 60% of the U.S.’s provision of… Read More >
By Justin Laing | December 9, 2022 | Antiracism, Program Summary, Racial Capitalism, Research
Really excited to see Gathering Ground (GG) publishing this “compendium of learning and action” about Elevating Equity (EE)! I was privileged to serve as their partner on EE from July 2021 to July 2022 and a big shout out to the GG team of Elizabeth Murphy, Kacy O’Brien, Jeanette Mitchell,… Read More >
By Justin Laing | November 8, 2022 | Antiracism, Critical Philanthropy, Evaluation, Program Summary
In August of 2020, Hillombo, LLC was invited to lead a Utilization-Focused Evaluation (UFE) of a funding strategy for youth arts programs and to do so using the Equitable Evaluation Initiative Framework (EEIF) created by the Equitable Evaluation Initiative. At the provocation of a participant to use “revolutionary pedagogy” and… Read More >
By Justin Laing | September 21, 2021 | Antiracism, Diversity Inclusion Equity, Research
Not too long ago, I led an evaluation of an arts diversity initiative in which a funder was evaluating the impact of a multi-year initiative intended to help arts organizations increase their level of diversity, equity, and inclusion. All but one of the organizations was predominantly White American led. I… Read More >
By Justin Laing | March 7, 2021 | Antiracism, Book/Media Review
Dr. Ibram Kendi’s “How to Be an Antiracist” is intended to be a relatively simple and straightforward book, which is both its strength and weakness. The book begins with a number of definitions: “antiracism”: ideas, policies, and practices that counteract racist ideas, policies, and practices; and racism: ideas, policies, and… Read More >