What does it mean to work intentionally on integration? Where is work on integration being done and who is doing it? What does success look like? These are the questions we intend to explore in every issue of Integral. Integral is a research and reference publication focusing on race and integration as it intersects with the many disciplines which claim ownership of a piece of this work. At the same time Integral intends to link research to action. This journal is to be less about what needs to be done, and more about what people are doing. Our purpose is to understand what work has been done and to capitalize on the fundamental nature of innovation and intention as it relates to racial integration.
Conceived as neither leftist nor conservative, but rather pro-integrationist, this journal explores how we can move forward in the work of integration no matter what our discipline, approach, reason. We hope the articles published in Integral will be building blocks for understanding the issues that face society today.
To be clear, we are stating upfront that this journal is not without its own voice. Fund for an OPEN Society, the sponsoring organization, has a clear agenda, which will have an impact on the articles and features you will find in this publication. While we invite discussion, it is important that we acknowledge bluntly our positions, so as not to mislead or disappoint. This journal was created by people who continuously examine, practice, guide others towards, advocate for, and strongly value, racial integration. We hope that others might too, because we believe it is an important goal. If racial segregation is an important reason why America remains imperfect, then racial integration is worthy of our effort. And it will not just happen by accident. It takes a great deal of learning, stops and starts, and intentional work by individuals and communities. We hope that each reader will find something in this journal that speaks to them. But moreover, we hope that this journal contributes something to real people who want integration to be a reality.
Fund for an OPEN Society is a national for-impact (otherwise known as non-profit) organization dedicated to promoting thriving racially and ethnically integrated communities. We provide expertise and technical assistance to people interested in building and sustaining integrated communities, and seek to change the systems—attitudes, practices and policies – which drive segregation. Founded in 1975 by civil rights leaders Morris Milgram and James Farmer, OPEN initially provided below-market-rate-mortgages to people who chose to live in neighborhoods where their race was underrepresented. More recently, OPEN has provided consultative services to communities seeking to become stably integrated, following our conviction that such communities benefit everyone through equal access to good schools, housing, and economic opportunity. We are now implementing an innovative portfolio of programs aimed at changing legal, social, economic, and educational structures that perpetuate racial segregation, inequity, and injustice. Change happens at all levels.
Though our recent period of expansion, OPEN has had the good fortune to benefit from financial support from a number of generous private donors and foundations. We would especially like to recognize the generous support of the following funders:
The Annie E. Casey Foundation
The Ford Foundation
The Minneapolis Foundation
Otto Bremer Foundation
The Saint Paul Foundation, Katherine B. Andersen Fund
Sociological Initiatives Foundation
