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Southeast Community Resources: A Catalyst for Equity Southeast Community Resources (SECR) was born from Founder Lanea Foster’s lifelong mission to advance equity and justice. Raised in a military family Lanea’s passion for empowering minorities took root early on after living in 11 states from Illinois, Maryland, Rhode Island, Alabama, Texas, California, Virginia, Louisiana, and now North Carolina.
She graduated from Grambling State University, a prominent HBCU, and earned a master’s degree in African-American History from North Carolina Central University. Lanea began her career as an Americorps volunteer with El Pueblo, a Latino advocacy nonprofit. She created a youth program and led partnerships between El Pueblo and the NAACP to combat predatory lending, youth empowerment, and managed with hurricane relief. Seeing firsthand the power of uniting communities, Lanea was inspired to continue this work.
After managing Durham’s 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness. Lanea built coalitions among the city, county, nonprofits, state, and federal housing agencies to increase affordable housing access. However, she recognized that reactive measures were not enough. A proactive approach was needed to address root causes like discrimination in economics, housing, healthcare, and criminal justice.
In 2011, driven by systemic change, Lanea founded SECR. She quickly led projects like community engagement, program development, and disparity audits exposing biases in city and county programs. SECR also developed pioneering training on embedding racial equity into organizations. Lanea understood the importance of leveraging academic insights to inform SECR’s equity programs in rural and urban settings. She built partnerships with NCCU, Grambling State, and other HBCUs to enhance research and capacity building within minority communities. SECR also began convening the Building Alliances Conference, helping agencies identify unmet needs and improve services.
Over the next decade, SECR spearheaded transformative initiatives, including DOJ-funded programs to reduce racial inequities in juvenile justice systems. They continued expanding their services to meet evolving needs while staying rooted in their mission. Today, team SECR is a catalyst for equity, uniting diverse partners to eliminate disparities in housing, education, healthcare, economic justice, and beyond. Lanea remains fiercely committed to driving systems-level change. SECR empowers communities and organizations to create a more just society. Their critical work continues.
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