The Council on Foundations Fall Conference for Community Foundations is under way in Charlotte, and several community-foundation leaders are offering reports from the event on Kris Putnam-Walkerly’s blog, Philanthropy411.

Ms. Putnam-Walkerly, a consultant to foundations, has agreed to allow The Chronicle to post selected items from the event.

Below is a post from Nicole Taylor, chief executive officer of East Bay Community Foundation in Oakland, Calif.:

This morning, I was part of interesting conversations around race and equity, not just in our society but in our field.

What does it take to be able to discuss these issues internally in our organizations—at the board and staff levels? What is our role in advancing equity in our communities? What should it be?

I believe this is the toughest work we face as community leaders sitting in “trusted” community organizations. We need to rely on each other for understanding ways/efforts that are effective. We need to see each others as allies in this work. We need assurance that while this is tough work and can be rather painful when organizations engage in these hard conversations, it is possible to make progress.

We must keep making progress.

And, I have hope that in this time when the national discourse seems to be much more divided and polarized, we as community foundation leaders embrace the responsibility we have to bring our communities together and advance equity. I consider this as one of my key roles as the head of my own community foundation.