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FRE Session One: Racism and the Economy: Understanding Racial Capitalism

In the introductory session of the 2025 Foundations of Racial Equity (FRE) series, we explore racial capitalism, which describes the current economic system of extracting social and economic value from a person of a different racial identity. Racial capitalism is based on the theft, exclusion and exploitation of the land, labor, and capital of people of color. Philanthropy—as a social, political,  and economic strategy of society’s wealthiest people, mostly white men, and institutions that “do good” while moving wealth without tax exposure—upholds racial capitalism.

Join us to:

  • Explore the foundations of racial capitalism, its historical roots and current implications for people of color and antidotes to racial capitalism;
  • Grapple with the role of philanthropy in upholding racial capitalism;
  • Discuss approaches and practices in disrupting racial capitalism with philanthropic peers

Session One Integration Hours: Tuesday, October 7 – 2:00 pm ET (1-hour session)

Each session is a 3-hour faculty-led session held on Thursdays from 1:00 – 4:00 pm ET for a total of five sessions. Following each session, there will be an integration hour. Integration Hours are 1-hour lightly facilitated peer-learning spaces between each faculty-led session, where participants can reflect on and apply key themes from earlier sessions to discuss how FRE topics relate to current internal and sector-wide cultural shifts, especially in the face of rapid organizational changes.

Registration: Participants must register here for the full 2025 Foundation of Racial Equity series to attend this session.

Speakers

Solana Rice

Solana Rice was raised by a Black, midwestern family that made tremendous emotional and physical sacrifices to get by. Dedicated autoworkers, food & retail workers, entrepreneurs; her family gifted Solana with a tremendous work ethic and a passion for making the world a better place for people of color. Solana is a dedicated advocate aiming to shape the most vibrant, inclusive, and sustainable economy this country has yet to see.

Prior to starting Liberation in a Generation, Solana was Director of State & Local Policy at Prosperity Now where, under her leadership, she built strong advocacy partnerships with organizations in the field and advanced dozens of policies in nearly half the states in the nation. Prior to joining Prosperity Now, Solana served as a director for financial security initiatives at PolicyLink. Solana has a Master’s in City Planning from MIT, where she researched the integration of individual development accounts into community development services. She holds a B.A. in architecture from Washington University in St. Louis. Solana is also a Soros Equality Fellow.

Jeremie Greer

Jeremie Greer has dedicated his life and career to the advancement of racial and economic justice. Growing up in the historically Black Rondo Neighborhood, in St. Paul, Minnesota, he has always been attuned to the intersection between race and economics. He began his career in the Columbia Heights and Shaw neighborhoods in Washington, DC, organizing youth and tenants to fight back against the economic forces rapidly gentrifying that community. Working at the national level in the federal government’s premier policy agency, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), and at two national non-profits, the Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC) and Prosperity Now (formerly CFED), he has become a national policy expert on the causes and the policy solutions to close racial wealth gap. Jeremie has a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work from the University of St. Thomas, a Master’s in Public Policy from George Mason University, and is currently working on an Executive Education Certificate in Nonprofit Leadership from Harvard University’s Kennedy School. Jeremie is also a Soros Equality and Rockwood Fellow.

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