The R.A.C.E. Podcast

Racial Equity: Love In Action with Dwayne Patterson

• Season 2 • Episode 3

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Welcome to Episode 3 of the 2nd season of The R.A.C.E. Podcast. Today I am joined by friend, colleague, and “Elder in training” Dwayne Patterson, Chief Equity Officer at the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation. Dwayne has sat at the feet of civil rights legends and humbly takes on the responsibility to deepen Racial Equity and Justice. I know you will be inspired by how he navigates and balances accountability, leadership, and giving back.


Meet Dwayne Patterson:

As Chief Equity Officer, Dwayne Patterson supports the Foundation's grantee partners as they set and advance their equity goals, helps staff and board document and share their equity journey, and refines the way MRBF captures partners’ outcomes and demographics for a full understanding of their work. 

Dwayne comes to MRBF after more than a decade at the Atlanta-based Partnership for Southern Equity, an organization that promotes racially equitable health, energy, development, and economic opportunities. As Vice President of Strategy and Engagement, he advised on racial equity, social justice, and organizing, and fostered community-based solutions all over the American South. Dwayne coordinated organizational and programmatic strategy, led program and management staff, strategy development, alliance building, and relationship management. He helped organizations grow and improve performance. Dwayne also served as PSE's first Director of Civic Engagement and Regional Organizing. 

Through his consulting firm, The Sixth Group, Dwayne has provided training and strategic impact guidance to many nonprofit organizations and foundations. Dwayne serves on the steering committee for the Georgia Grantmakers Alliance, an initiative of Philanthropy Southeast. He has also served on the boards of ProGeorgia, the Fund for Southern Communities, and the Latin American and Caribbean Community Center. Dwayne holds a Bachelor of Science from North Carolina A&T State University. He lives in Atlanta with his wife and twin daughters.


Listen in as Dwayne shares:

  • His identities and how they have shaped his work
  • The role of love in Racial Equity work
  • His accomplishments and the legacy his work has created
  • What he wants those in the field to remember and lead by


Learn more and connect with Dwayne Patterson:

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Keecha Harris

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