The Mills College Center for Transformative Action Receives New York Life Foundation Award

Oakland, CA—December 10, 2021

Mills College announced today that its Center for Transformative Action (CTA) has been awarded a $25,000 New York Life Foundation Love Takes Action Award. This grant will support the CTA’s mission to bring together students, business and nonprofit leaders, policy makers, and community advocates to share ideas for building sustainable organizations and effective nonprofits that create economic opportunity while promoting environmental justice and social equity.

The Love Takes Action Award Program provides $25,000 to 20 local nonprofit organizations, totaling $500,000 in grants awarded. Organizations are nominated by New York Life agents and employees. Fatema Udaipurwala, an agent with New York Life’s San Francisco General Office, nominated Professor Carrie Maultsby-Lute, director of the CTA, and the award was granted to the Mills College Center for Transformative Action for its extraordinary service during the COVID-19 crisis in addressing social and racial justice in the Oakland community.

“We are grateful for the New York Life Foundation’s investment in the CTA. Professor Carrie Maultsby-Lute deserves this recognition for her work in the community on Mills' behalf, which changes many lives for the better,” said Elizabeth Hillman, president of Mills College.

As part of the Lorry I. Lokey School of Business and Public Policy at Mills College, the CTA supports Mills students through faculty-student research and internships, and connects alumnae-led organizations to support services, education, and advocacy initiatives that encourage social justice and equity in business.

“Thank you to the New York Life Foundation for recognizing the value that the CTA offers the community,” said Maultsby-Lute. “This award will enable us to continue providing experiential learning opportunities for students and the larger community—all towards the goal of economic and social equity, gender empowerment, and racial justice.”

The CTA also engages collaborative thought leadership through workshops, events, and an annual conference. This year’s conference—Unfinished: Actualizing an Intersectional Antiracist Future—was the largest in the 13-year history of the event, drawing over 1,000 registrants. Participants had the opportunity to hear from more than 70 acclaimed presenters with expertise in business, public policy, philanthropy, education, health, arts, and more.

Grant money from the Love Takes Action Award will enable the CTA to continue its work of making social responsibility a cornerstone of business leadership by supporting future events and programing, marketing and digital outreach, and funding for graduate assistantships and job opportunities for Mills students and alums.

About Mills College
Located in Oakland, California, Mills is a nationally renowned independent liberal arts college for women and gender nonbinary students, with graduate programs for all genders. Consistently ranked one of the top-ten regional universities in the West by U.S. News & World Report, Mills has again earned the #1 Best Value College in the West for 2022. As one of the most diverse liberal arts colleges in the country, Mills has a strong record of academic success with first-generation students, students of color, Latinx students, LGBTQ+ students, and other underrepresented students. The Mills experience is distinguished by small, interactive classes, one-on-one attention from exceptional faculty, a culture of creative experimentation, and cutting-edge interdisciplinary learning opportunities which empower students to make a statement in their careers and communities.

In September 2021, Mills announced a merger with Northeastern University to occur in July 2022. Learn more.