Approve and authorize El Paso County to apply for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Racial Equity 2030 grant, in the amount of $20,000,000, over a ten-year period, for the creation of the Racial Equity Learning Innovation Center (RELIC) — a centralized archival space, which will be a resource for students, historians, educators, and the community. No County match is required. (Contract No. 2021-0111)

In honor of the W.K Kellogg Foundation’s 90th anniversary, Racial Equity 2030 will award $90 million to organizations that invite, build and scale ideas for transformative change in the social, economic and political systems and institutions that uphold inequities. For decades, the foundation has been committed to advancing racial equity and racial healing, community engagement and leadership - it’s DNA -  in their work on behalf of children, families and communities.

Racial equity funding has been part of the foundation’s grantmaking for nearly eight decades. In 2007, the foundation’s Board of Trustees committed to being an anti-racist organization that promotes racial equity and racial healing.

Source: W.K Kellogg Foundation

Community and institutional stakeholders propose creation of a centralized archival space, the Racial Equity Learning Innovation Center (RELIC), as a resource for students, historians, educators, and, the community. RELIC will feature pertinent material from numerous El Paso collections that documents ancestorial stories from our earliest history, including the first indigenous residents. RELIC will affect change through community engagement, education, and technology, catalyzing 21st century careers based on archives and digital science. A team of Research Assistants will cull material from existing collections. Diverse voices will shape robust outreach efforts inviting the community to share historical documents/artifacts through Treasure Hunts where Mobile Scanning Units—specially-equipped vans with webcams—will digitize “treasures” and capture stories. Learning experiences, heritage festivals and conferences will disseminate a fuller narrative. Eschewing a facility, RELIC will instead leverage technology to embed racial equity learning into the environment with geotagging, 3-D printed replicas, mobile galleries and other innovations. 

(Grant submission is electronic at https://www.racialequity2030.org/.)

Requested amount: $20,000,000 (to be utilized over a ten-year period)

No County match is required

**Potential supplemental planning funds may be provided by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation if selected for grant award: $1,000,000 for a one-year planning phase (completely separate from $20,000,000)**