As members of the Board of Directors of United Way of the Greater Dayton Area:

We grieve the recent killings of Black Americans – George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Terry McDade, David McAtee, and Rayshard Brooks, among many others.  We honor the lives of these people and share the sorrow of their families, friends, and communities. 

We deplore the policies, practices, and institutionalized fabric of racial injustice that have informed and tolerated violence against Black and Brown men, women, and youth in the United States for generations. These dimensions of racism in our society have endured, in varying forms, throughout our country’s history and have resulted in systematic inequities and disadvantages suffered by African Americans.

We acknowledge the disparate and tragic impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had upon Americans of color, reflected in disproportionate infection and death rates, and diminished access to quality health care. 

We call for the just transformation of our society, for resistance to racism, and for meaningful social change that respects the dignity, rights, needs and interests of Black and Brown Americans and undergirds freedom and justice for all.  We join those in the greater Dayton area and around the world who advocate peacefully for such social change. 

We celebrate the leadership of our President and CEO, Tom Maultsby, our United Way staff, and scores of organizational partners and individual volunteers, who work tirelessly to meet the human needs of underserved and marginalized communities in our region. 

We commit to an ongoing assessment of our strategic plan, our decision-making processes, and our operations through the lenses of diversity, equity, and inclusion to ensure that the human and financial resources we steward are devoted to initiatives that foster social justice and advance racial equity. 

We are united in our mission to uplift and serve all our neighbors throughout the greater Dayton region, promoting improvements in health, education, and financial stability for those who have been most marginalized and disadvantaged in our communities.

J. Thomas Maultsby, President and CEO