Building A Pro-Black World

What Does Black Feminist Evaluation Look Like?

Cyndi Suarez

Evaluation approaches and practices are contested sites of power. This is not surprising because they are the processes by which we assign value to things.

In the nonprofit sector, evaluation is shaped by the needs of philanthropy, as philanthropists drive the field with their ability to pay and demands for proof of the soundness of their investments. Evaluation is also a site for knowledge creation and strategic direction setting, as the reports that result are used to articulate an issue and make the case for efforts and funding.

When I wrote “The Leechers,”¹ an article about knowledge and resource extraction in the sector, many evaluators of color wrote to share stories about the extent of knowledge extraction in the evaluation field. They told of evaluators of color leaving the field, frustrated with increased gatekeeping in relationship to the widespread movement for racial justice and the field's demands for equity‐focused evaluation, which often leads to white evaluator “allies” extracting, competing, and protecting their privileged positions in the field and market.

So, it is exciting to see evaluators of color innovate the field in new, more potent directions, away from the philanthropic gaze.

In a session titled, “A Black Feminist Framework for Research Evaluation as a Tool for Black‐led Social Change,” Dr. Sydney McKinney, executive director of the National Black Women's Justice Institute (NBWJI)—which focuses ...