Dear Lace on Race Community,

As the Board of Directors for the Lace on Race Center for Racial Equity, we have horribly sad news to share with you. With deepest sorrow, we must tell you that our beloved founder and Executive Director, Lace Watkins, passed away very suddenly and unexpectedly on Thursday, February 9, 2023.

Lace was and still is a courageous, strong, and dedicated leader whose legacy of love will be carried forward in the hearts of many. We are deeply mourning and still trying to process this devastating news. We are not yet certain of what our next steps will look like, but we will keep walking as Lace has taught us to, even through this loss.

Our commitment to Lace’s legacy, the organization and the community she created, remain unchanged. We will continue to support Community Partners and fund our Mental and Emotional Health fund for Black women through direct financial engagement from our community. We will continue to cultivate an anti-racist approach that centers the relational. We will continue to foster this community, where we can all lean in, dig deep, plant roots, grow in, grow up, and grow out. We will continue to walk with you toward our North Star: we remain committed to lessening and mitigating the harm endured by Black and Brown people, perpetuated by white people and white supremacy.

One immediate step we are taking is the creation of the Lace Watkins Memorial Fund to help Lace’s family defray the costs of her funeral arrangements. Any contributions we receive over and above those expenses will go toward endowing a scholarship in Lace’s name. If you wish to contribute, please use our Lace on Race PayPal. Feel free to specifically earmark your contribution for this fund. We will communicate the progress of this fund to you with absolute transparency. We ask you for your patience; we are still very much reeling from our loss.

We invite you to use this communal space to process, mourn, and hold and love one another as Lace would have wanted us to do. We will be moderating your comments, and we hope you will join us here lovingly as we grieve together. We will answer any of your questions to the best of our abilities.

Our hearts go out to her family and all those who have known and loved Lace Watkins. She is an unsung hero, a woman who opened the doors of her living room and her Hesed heart to us. May she bask in a perfume of orange essence in the knowledge that the orchard she created will continue to be fruitful as we continue to internalize all that she has given us and taught us. 

You have served us well, sweet Lace. Well done; you have been good and faithful. You have created a legacy to be proud of. May we be good stewards of your legacy as we continue walking, North Star front and center. May you rest in peace, abiding with Taco Bell Bobbye Jean, in the arms of eternal love.

We are, with relentless reliability,

Your Board of Directors for the

Lace on Race Center for Racial Equity

Christina Sonas, Chair

Christin Spoolstra, Secretary

Laura Berwick

Rhonda Freeman

Julie Helwege

Jessica Lee

Vicki van den Eikhof

Kelsi Watters

Dee Weinfurtner

With additional support in leadership from

Danielle Holcombe, Director Emeritus

Rebecca McClinton