Meet the Founder

Tara Brown, founder

For over 10 years, Tara has held senior program management roles in nonprofits and government to help low- and moderate-income people build economic security. She spent seven years in New York City, working to address the financial needs of recent immigrants, job seekers, public housing residents, domestic violence survivors, homeowners facing foreclosure, and many others. While she has been fortunate to hold leadership positions to support individuals in building assets and stability, Tara founded Reckoning with Whiteness to spur systemic change.

The programs Tara has led make measurable improvements in the financial lives of thousands of individuals and families, but they fail to address the underlying systemic inequality that would enable larger-scale progress. Tara believes one pathway to transforming our current system is to create space for individuals who have benefited from racial privilege to examine that privilege honestly, while planning actions for a more equitable future.

Tara is in the process of researching, analyzing, and documenting how her ancestors obtained assets such as jobs, education, and land that people of other racial and ethnic backgrounds were less able to access. In studying the ways that the social and political history surrounding her family helped them thrive in the United States, she has a deeper understanding of who was provided opportunities, who was left out, and why. Many people who are economically secure today were given opportunities for economic advancement through government policies and social practices. She hopes that others will share a similar experience if they humbly examine their own circumstances and that both policies and action toward a more equitable future increase.