Black and Indigenous praxis integrates knowing with doing, valuing both scholarship and lived experience. Critical to this framework is a deep respect for ancestral and intergenerational wisdom. In alignment with these deeply held beliefs, CBIP has outlined several priorities:

• Elevate CIIS’ educational prominence: Become a leading institution in the advancement and production of Black and Indigenous scholarship and pedagogy.
• Improve the student experience: Counter academic inequity with culturally centered pedagogy, course content, and mentorship, promoting a sense of intellectual validity and agency.
• Co-create a flourishing community: Promote belonging, optimal wellness, transformative reconciliation, and flourishing relationships based on shared humanity.
• Advance a spirituality of action: Confront oppression by working with community partners to enhance emerging scholars’ learning with lived experience and social engagement. 
   

In support of its strategic priorities, CBIP: 

• Sponsors research fellowships at all levels, undergraduate through post-doc
• Hosts Culture Keepers, visiting scholars who serve as Jegnas to research fellows
• Partners with academic departments to identify and share culturally centered curricula
• Offers educational events and programming to the CIIS community and beyond
• Supports student engagement in cultural affinity groups, community-based internships, and professional organizations
• Collaborates with CIIS’ Laurance S. Rockefeller Library to develop resource guides focused on Black and Indigenous knowledge
• Convenes a regional consortium of Bay Area colleges and universities with an annual gathering to elevate best pedagogical practices
• Publishes a print and online journal of cutting-edge re-search by diverse scholars