Real Engagement
We Listen
REAL will engage with communities throughout each state by visiting churches, civic associations, businesses, and schools to hear citizens' opinions about local, statewide, and national policies.
We Learn
While REAL's team boasts a wealth of knowledge and experience about national and local issues, we intend to tap local leaders and scholars to inform us about the historical and present-day factors that impact and impede equality in their communities.
We Partner
We are more powerful together. Many organizations exist that have similar or complementary goals. REAL is building partnerships with nonprofits, businesses, and research institutions to empower minority communities. Whether through volunteer service and mentorship, employment networks, or research into best practices for community concerns, REAL is networking in the DMV to find partners who value America's diversity and support all of its citizens.
We Build
By engaging with our neighbors, we develop the mutual trust that allows us to build bridges and find common ground. Together, we can advocate for policies that reflect our common values and support REAL Republican leaders and candidates who reflect the diversity that makes America and the GOP Great, and which will empower all Americans.
Real Empowerment
Economic Empowerment
REAL advocates for policies that support minority small businesses, such as creating opportunity zones, issuing minority business loans and grants, opposing minimum wage requirements, and limiting regulatory entry barriers.
Educational Empowerment
REAL supports school choice, limiting the power of teachers’ unions, focusing education dollars on early education in low-income communities, and public-private and faith-based partnerships to support middle and high-school STEM and STEAM programs. REAL also is engaging with universities to find ways to support academic freedom for conservative scholars of color.
Criminal Justice Empowerment
REAL demands safety and equal justice. We support leaders who address complex challenges, like policing, sentencing, and generational incarceration with compassion and common sense. Since our laws must protect our communities, REAL supports additional funding for police training on de-escalation and unconscious bias and additional funding for emergency mental health resources. We also advocate for community policing and the enactment of clear legal standards for law enforcement liability and accountability. REAL also encourages public-private and faith-based mentoring to help former inmates re-integrate into society.
Political Empowerment
Honoring the Republican civil-rights legacy in 2021 requires the state Parties to recruit, support, and fund leaders of color who share their values, but live in communities that do not typically vote for the GOP. Although the short-term benefits of such engagement may appear elusive, the long-term potential benefit could change the political landscape for generations and allow the GOP to recapture its preeminence as the Party of anti-racism.