OUR BOARD
“When I'm sometimes asked when will there be enough [women on the Supreme Court] and I say, 'When there are nine,' people are shocked. But there'd been nine men, and nobody's ever raised a question about that.” -
Ruth Bader Ginsberg
THE FOUNDATION BACKSTORY
Leslie Karst and Robin McDuff begin this foundation with money Leslie inherited from the sale of the family home after the death of Ken and his wife Smiley. Two other members of the family have added substantial contributions. It is now a small family foundation, but our plan is to move it out of family control over time.
We believe that the massive racial wealth equity gap that exists in the USA is largely related to the history of intentional and state-sanctioned segregation, which has led to deep structural inequity problems that are being amplified over time.
Our family greatly benefited from this reality. We believe that all those, like us, who have benefited from these structures—in particular, from the educational and housing disparity between predominately white communities and communities of color—have a moral duty to act to rectify this reality.
Our first grant was to endow a scholarship in Ken's name in perpetuity at the UCLA Law School for an incoming student to pursue racial equity in their career through academia or a public interest organization.
We will concentrate our charitable grant-making in areas in which we feel there is a chance to create a ripple effect on multiple levels in communities historically underprivileged and under-resourced, and therefore, with less opportunity in our country. Any grant-making or investment will also be in the direction of healing the planet.
Photo - Robin, Ken, Smiley, Leslie (and Ziggy).
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