For-profit

Center for Equity and Inclusion

Website:

ceipdx.com/%20

Location:

Portland, OR

Type:

For-Profit Management Consulting Organization

Founded:

2015

Founders:

Hanif Fazal, Frewine Kiros

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The Center for Equity and Inclusion is a left-of-center for-profit management consulting organization created in 2015 and based in Portland, Oregon. It is involved in promoting critical race theory-aligned racial ideology. 1 2

The organization has worked with organizations including the local Portland affiliate of Social Venture Partners, Neighborworks America, Feeding America, and 350.org. It also received a contract from the Beaverton School District in which it agreed to pay the organization $390,000 to develop an “anti-racist plan” for the school district. 3 4

Background

Turning Point Initiative, doing business as the Center for Equity and Inclusion (CEI), is a for-profit consulting organization that focuses on selling and promoting left-of-center workshops and resources to non-profit and for-profit organizations, foundations, and the education sector. Since its founding in 2015, the Center for Equity and Inclusion has worked with more than 100 organizations. CEI programs include its “Reframing Racism” workshop that focuses on teaching people to “recognize and interrupt patterns of privilege and oppression.” 5 6

CEI created an “equity certificate” program, a year-long learning model for educators that teach children in kindergarten through high school. On its website, CEI notes that to receive a certificate educators must complete modules such as “understanding cultural frameworks and de-centering dominant culture (whiteness).” 7

The Center for Equity and Inclusion changed its headquarters in 2021 after it bought a 107-year-old building in Portland, Oregon. The organization spent $1 million buying the building and paid a total of $1.5 million to remodel of the building. 8

Clients

As the Center for Equity and Inclusion is a for-profit company, there is little information on its funding and expenses. It is noted in an independent contractor certification that CEI was hired by the Beaverton School District in 2021 to develop an “anti-racist plan” for the school district. The proposal by the district was titled “Developing and Providing a Program to Cultivate an Equitable, Inclusive and Antiracist District Operational Culture.” 9

In total, the district agreed to pay a fee of $390,000 for the multi-year contract, which included CEI creating “common language, framework, agreements, and protocols” and the development of a district-wide “equity plan” that would be built on an “anti-racist” plan proposed by the district. 10

The contract also notes that the largest project CEI co-founder Hanif Fazal has supervised was worth $1.5 million. 11

Partnerships

The Center for Equity and Inclusion notes that it has worked with more than 100 organizations since its inception in 2015. 12 As of late 20201, CEI listed on its website that it was partnered with organizations and companies including Portland General Electric, Oregon Public Broadcasting, the Portland Art Museum, and Neighborworks America. 13

Other organizations with which CEI has worked include Feeding America, a non-profit organization focused on hunger relief and the third largest charity in the United States, and 350.org, a large left-of-center environmentalist activist organization. It takes an uncompromising stand against oil, gas, and coal and frames the fight for renewable energy as one that pits the poor against the rich, the oppressed against the powerful, and the disadvantaged against the privileged. 14 15

The Center for Equity and Inclusion is also listed as a partner of Social Venture Partners Portland (SVPP), the local affiliate of Social Venture Partners, a left-of-center organization that connects donors and non-profits to bring social change to the United States. According to the SVPP website, the organization launched a “unique partnership” with CEI in 2019 and provided CEI with “human capital” to assist CEI with its “social mission.” 16

CEI has also worked with government officials including staff of the Portland Children’s Levy and the Portland Public Schools Board of Education. 17 18

References

  1. “CEI,” Center for Equity and Inclusion, accessed November 15, 2021, https://ceipdx.com/.
  2. “Reframing Racism: Language and Tools for Advancing Equity,” Center for Equity and Inclusion, accessed November 15, 2021, https://ceipdx.com/reframing-racism/.
  3. “Clients,” Center for Equity and Inclusion, accessed November 15, 2021, https://ceipdx.com/clients/.
  4. “Defendinged.org,” defendinged.org, accessed November 15, 2021, https://defendinged.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Turning-Point-Initiatives-dba-Center-for-Equity-and-Inclusion_Beaverton-School-District-OR_2021_03-03_RFP-Proposal.pdf.
  5. “CEI,” Center for Equity and Inclusion, accessed November 15, 2021, https://ceipdx.com/.
  6. “Reframing Racism: Language and Tools for Advancing Equity,” Center for Equity and Inclusion, accessed November 15, 2021, https://ceipdx.com/reframing-racism/.
  7. “Equity Certificate,” Center for Equity and Inclusion, accessed November 15, 2021, https://ceipdx.com/equity-certificate/.
  8. Chuck Slothower, “A New Home for Building Equity, Inclusion,” DJCOregon, February 5, 2021, http://cidainc.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/DJC-Center-for-CEI-Press.pdf .
  9. “Defendinged.org,” defendinged.org, accessed November 15, 2021, https://defendinged.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Turning-Point-Initiatives-dba-Center-for-Equity-and-Inclusion_Beaverton-School-District-OR_2021_03-03_RFP-Proposal.pdf.
  10. “Defendinged.org,” defendinged.org, accessed November 15, 2021, https://defendinged.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Turning-Point-Initiatives-dba-Center-for-Equity-and-Inclusion_Beaverton-School-District-OR_2021_03-03_RFP-Proposal.pdf.
  11. [1] “Defendinged.org,” defendinged.org, accessed November 15, 2021, https://defendinged.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Turning-Point-Initiatives-dba-Center-for-Equity-and-Inclusion_Beaverton-School-District-OR_2021_03-03_RFP-Proposal.pdf.
  12. “CEI,” Center for Equity and Inclusion, accessed November 15, 2021, https://ceipdx.com/.
  13. “Clients,” Center for Equity and Inclusion, accessed November 15, 2021, https://ceipdx.com/clients/.
  14. “Clients,” Center for Equity and Inclusion, accessed November 15, 2021, https://ceipdx.com/clients/.
  15. 350org, “350.Org – Climate Change Is about Power,” YouTube (YouTube, December 15, 2015), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m95K7LClIC4&ab_channel=350.org.
  16. “Center for Equity and Inclusion (CEI),” Social Venture Partners, accessed November 15, 2021, https://www.socialventurepartners.org/portland/profiles/center-for-equity-and-inclusion-cei/.
  17. “Portland Children’s Levy FY 2021 2 – Portlandoregon.gov,” accessed November 15, 2021, https://www.portlandoregon.gov/cbo/article/780673.
  18. “Portland Public Schools Board of Education Annual Evaluation (July 2020-June 2021),” pps.net, June 15, 2021, https://www.pps.net/cms/lib/OR01913224/Centricity/Domain/4/Supt_Eval_2020-21_FINAL_June-11-2021.pdf.
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Center for Equity and Inclusion

5757 SW Macadam Ave
Portland, OR 97239