Geographic Equity
Geography is one of our foundation’s guiding equity frameworks. Where you choose or are able to live has a direct impact on your ability to access health, safety and opportunity.
Proximity to metropolitan areas often determines communities’ access to infrastructure, resources and influence. But understanding how geography influences health, education and economic outcomes requires a deeper understanding than simply dividing urban and rural communities, or using them wrongly as shorthand for racial or political differences.
We recognize that BIPOC communities represent a growing number of rural residents, with six of the eight most racially diverse counties in our region being rural. The percentage of people with disabilities also tends to be higher in rural communities. Rural settings can compound barriers for both non-disabled and disabled Black, Indigenous and other people of color, meaning fewer resources, less reflective governance and harder access to the things that drive health. Both BIPOC and people with disabilities are often left out of decision-making regardless of whether they live in urban or rural settings.
Geography has also been the primary way we’ve determined political representation and governmental jurisdiction (cities, school districts, counties, etc), which has a significant impact on communities’ ability to access resources and influence. But communities often define themselves in ways other than political boundaries and geographical location. Tribal communities, for one, exist as sovereign nations both recognized and unrecognized by the U.S. federal government with political boundaries that are often distinct from U.S. geography. Also, rural communities that are physically close to each other may not view themselves as the same community, while some communities far apart from each other may actually have more in common. And due to state lines and other borders, different areas in our region require different strategies for political engagement. For example, our partners in Eastern Oregon have a harder time getting to Salem and often must engage with Idaho’s politics, as well as Oregon’s.
Our commitment to geographic equity means we invest our grant dollars disproportionately, based on population, in favor of culturally-specific and cross-racial organizations that are geographically based in and serve primarily tribal and/or rural communities.