Making sure the Inland Empire is equipped with enough vital information and opportunities to successfully fight against all forms of racism is at the core of the Center Against Racism and Trauma (CART).
A recent grant from Inland Empire Community Foundation through its Community Impact Fund will allow the nonprofit organization to strengthen its work on that front and continue empowering individuals, communities, and local governments to help free systems from racist and discriminatory roots.
Janice Rooths, CART’s executive director, credits the non-profit organization for using a combination of systems change, community action, and youth engagement to generate real social change.
Partnerships are key here.
“We are always collaborating with other organizations,” Rooth said, noting that the nonprofit provides racial equity tools and resources which can assist policy makers in reaching “enlightened decisions.”
“We also appreciate people who want to volunteer,” she added. “Depending on their interests or concerns, we will try to find ways to work with them and perhaps point them to other community organizations that might specifically be doing something that falls under their concern.
Individuals interested in volunteering can submit an email on CART’S website.
Meanwhile, the broader view finds CART’s collaboration with various organizations to be instrumental in its progress.
“We’re currently working with several organizations in the City of Riverside, including Antiracist Riverside, Starting Over, and Fair Housing to organize and try to retain the $20.1 million in Homekey+ funding from the state that four city council members decided to decline,” Rooths said.
On Jan. 13, the Riverside City Council voted 4-3 to nix a state grant designed to convert a Quality Inn into 114 units of supportive housing for the homeless and low-income seniors.
“It’s a shame because it’s gone through an entire process,” Rooths said. “The state says, ‘We are going to give this money to the city of Riverside,’ one of five locations in the state that got the funding, then city council members say they didn’t want any of it.
“It’s a terrible thing,” she added, “but it feels like a trend. Because my work is across the region, I’ve seen it happening in different places like the Unified School District declining $7.7 million from the Board of State and Community Corrections for disinvolved youth who are in the Palm Springs Unified School District.”
Five community-based organizations collaborated with the district to write the proposal and send it to the state.
“Then it comes back, and someone internally decides they’re going to decline $7.7 million,” Rooths said. “It feels like there’s some kind of ideology operating out there.”
CART’s various programs and educational arms may offset any perceived setbacks.
Various events, such as the Inland Empire Annual Antiracist Summit, also create opportunities for CART to expand its reach. In 2025, the organization featured social justice icon, scholar, and author Dr. Angela Davis, who addressed her book, “Are Prisons Obsolete?” and the importance of Restorative Justice.
On that note, the nonprofit encourages individuals to consider its antiracist library, which features the works of other impactful writers—Ibram X. Kendi (“How to Be an Antiracist”), Richard Rothstein (“The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America”), and Howard Zinn (“A People’s History of the United States”), to note but three.
Looking ahead, Rooths is hopeful for today’s youth, who can morph into true change agents.
“Many of them are graduating this year, and they understand,” she said. “They care about having youth public spaces where they can congregate, and they care about community concerns are.
She cites one group, the Perris Youth Coalition.
“They’re a totally independent group,” Rooths said. “Our job is to support them in their work. We provide training and have meetings to help them to reach out to public officials. On March 3, they’ll be talking to Perris City Council member David Starr Rabb about their concerns and desires around youth public spaces and public transportation.
“I find young people to be extremely caring and concerned about everything that’s going on,” she added. “They want to do something about it. They just need the opportunity and support to make it happen.”
This story originally appeared in the Press Enterprise, March, 2026.
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