Listen to this article 3 min
For Little Angels Foundation CEO Riz Khan, diversity, equity and inclusion is more than a buzzword.
It’s about valuing human connection and recognizing the strength in diversity. At the heart of the foundation’s mission is meeting the needs of vulnerable populations to support more equitable communities. To accomplish this goal, the volunteer-run organization fights food insecurity in Greater St. Louis by providing meals to people who need them.
When St. Louis welcomed Afghan refugees in 2021, the International Institute of St. Louis called the Little Angels Foundation to ask for help with providing hot meals — a testament to the foundation’s reach, reputation and impact. An interfaith team of cooks and volunteers has served over 155,000 meals to people in need in the St. Louis area.
Originally from India, Khan is on the board of directors for the United Nations Association of St. Louis. He believes food security brings about peace and reduces crime.
What personal accomplishment in the past two years has helped advance DEI at your organization? Little Angels Foundation’s mission is to fight against food insecurity in the greater St. Louis region. DEI is ingrained very organically in the fabric of our service model. When I founded Little Angels Foundation in 2013, I had a vision of leveraging the diversity in our communities to raise equity by sharing resources with resource-constrained populations and promote inclusion by serving everyone, no questions asked. We are not a religious organization; our faith is humanity. Being a volunteer-run organization, we welcome volunteers of all faiths, cultures, ages and socio-economic backgrounds to join hands and serve our vulnerable populations. We have promoted equity by customizing our response to the needs of the end client. We practice inclusion by never asking the client to provide proof of need. Since the pandemic we have partnered with diverse nonprofits in St. Louis to help serve their end clients, including but not limited to International Institute, Peter and Paul Community Shelter, Operation Food Search, Greek Orthodox Church Prison Ministry, the MICA Project and Temple Emanual.
What are the biggest challenges you face when advocating for DEI? DEI has become a buzzword in recent decades. The underlying values are values that are core to the human experience. My aim is to not overcomplicate by trying to check the boxes using the jargon. I believe in real human connection and trying to understand what the needs in the community are and then using the strength of diversity to fulfill the needs.
What do you hope to conquer next in regard to DEI work? My hope is to help more people discover that there is beauty in diversity and diverse communities are strong and resilient. While social conditioning over the ages has helped us classify humans based on various classifications such as class, religion, culture and age, that can lead to mindless stereotyping. If we just get to know each other, there would be more real connection and less fear. Once we accept diversity as a strength, it is so much easier to work on equity and inclusion.
More about Riz Khan
Title and company: CEO of the Little Angels Foundation
Age: 49
Education: Bachelor’s of Business Administration from New York University
Family: Wife (Farah) and 2 daughters named (Saima & Zoya)