The next frontier for preventing racism and bias starts with the littlest Minnesotans.
That's the premise on which Bill Svrluga is basing his new St. Paul nonprofit: an early childhood education program to block prejudice before it takes root, in Minnesota and across the United States.
"Minnesota could be a leader in this kind of new frontier," said Svrluga, who is white and has run a nonprofit consulting company for years. "The return on the investment of working on preventing [racism] vs. turning it around is pretty clear. Changing minds and hearts is hard to do."
His organization, Before Racism, is being led by an all-volunteer team of specialists who have set a goal of raising $100,000 by Saturday to develop the curriculum, geared toward curbing racial bias in preschoolers.
Children aren't born racist, Svrluga said. But they start to notice differences and develop judgments at a young age.
"Experts in the field are very clear with us that no one is providing a focused, comprehensive and integrated program to prevent racism in very young children ages 1 through 5," said Svrluga, who helped start the Jeremiah Program, among other local nonprofits. "If you don't intervene early on, you miss an opportunity."
The public misconception that children are colorblind has been disproved by researchers who have found that racial and gender preferences may already be set by the time kids are 3 to 5 years old.
"There is a growing realization around this topic of young children and race and equity," said Dianne Haulcy, senior vice president of family engagement at Think Small, a St. Paul early childhood nonprofit.