St. Paul's Center for Economic Inclusion using more than $1M in grants to expand

The St. Paul-based Center for Economic Inclusion (CEI) is expanding nationwide thanks to a new $1 million grant from Google and a $600,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, officials announced Monday.

The Minnesota nonprofit is expanding its equity, job creation, data and corporate-diversity partnership work with Target, 3M, U.S. Bank, Best Buy, Allianz and Fairview Health to nine new markets in Alabama, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Ohio and Virginia.

The move should reach another 160 employers and help 10,000 managers deepen racial diversity in their workplaces to share wages, training, promotions, homeownership and other economic opportunities more equitably.

Since starting the nonprofit in Minnesota in 2017, CEI Chief Executive Tawanna Black and her team have worked with dozens of Minnesota firms to evaluate, install and measure racial equity practices in the workplace. CEI publishes results annually.

CEI also trains and provides scholarships to Minnesota business owners who are women or people of color as a way to enhance profitability, sustainable growth and job creation.

The $1 million grant from Google.org will support CEI's expansion into northeast Ohio, which plans to help "advance efforts to build power in communities of color through data transparency and mobilization," Google officials said in a statement.

Officials at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation said its $600,000 grant will support the center's efforts to expand its annual "Racial Equity Dividends' Index" analysis into eight midsize regions across the country.

"This [is] important work" that will lead toward a culture of health "in regions of all shapes and sizes and particularly in small and midsize cities," said James Hardy, senior program officer of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. "Partnerships with organizations like the CEI ... are key vehicles to dismantling structural racism and other barriers to health and well-being."