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Can A Foundation Collaborative Promote Economic And Racial Justice?
Foundation: Connecticut Community Foundation, Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, Chicago Community Trust, Community Foundation for Greater New Haven
Three Connecticut community foundations have assets totaling more than $2 billion. Cesar Aleman, the director of the newly formed Connecticut Urban Opportunity Collaborative, was announced as their joint hire in June. CUOC seeks to coordinate senior staff in order to develop strategies for dismantling structural racism and advancing social and economic mobility. In 2019, the Community Foundation of New Haven, Connecticut, established the "Stepping Forward" fund. Over the next three years, the fund will allocate $26 million in foundation grants to COVID relief and recovery, as well as to advancing racial justice.
CFON also launched its NEON (Nexus for Equity + Opportunity Nationwide) cohort program at the same time. One area of emphasis is advocacy, while another is narrative change, as well as power and leadership. Ginsburg mentions this in New Haven as part of an unprecedented PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) agreement with Yale University. A large portion of this work entails promoting business ownership in BIPOC communities. An internal audit in Fairfield County discovered that even when funding services for Black and Brown people was provided, there was a small population of Black and Brown people in those groups.
Connecticut Community Foundations are addressing issues of social and economic mobility, equity, and the dismantling of racist systems. According to the director of the New Haven Community Organization (CUCOC), the organization's goal for 2022 is to double the amount of money distributed through participatory grantmaking processes. Despite the fact that seven of the foundation's board members are people of color, the majority of donations come from white people. Aleman's foundation has also raised $2.5 million for the Black Futures Fund, which will be distributed by a group of Black community leaders. Dismantling structural racism will take decades, according to Aleman. It will take decades to establish racist practices in all sectors.
Selected Grant News Headlines
A customized collection of grant news from foundations and the federal government from around the Web.
"When I came to Harare from Zaka, I had nobody and knew nobody, but I had to define my career path and carve my own niche, hence the confidence that all these important people here now have in...more
The Greater Hermiston Community Foundation is accepting applications for its 2024 grant cycle. Local organizations serving Hermiston, Umatilla, Stanfield, Echo, and Irrigon are eligible to...more
Foundation: Kellogg Foundation
For more than 30 years,Henrie Treadwell has been fighting for racial equity at the University of South Carolina, where she became the school's first black graduate since Reconstruction, the...more
If you're an artist trying to break into the music business, there's a good chance you've never heard of entertainment law. But if you're a law student at Mercer University in Georgia, you may...more
Amy Reese, a veteran and CEO of ARC Business Solutions, says she's "thrilled to see the impact" her organization's "Business Boots on the Ground" program will have on military veterans in...more
The University of Colorado at Boulder is in the news this week for an unusual reason: It's hosting a two-day "staff summit" next week that's open to all staff members, reports the Daily...more
Baltimore's Mitchell family is putting its money where its mouth is, awarding a $50,000 grant to Excellence & Ambition, a nonprofit that helps young people ages 14 to 21 launch and grow their own...more
Foundation: Silicon Valley Community Foundation, California Endowment
In 2024, Los Angeles will host the Mission Investors Exchange 2024 National Conference, an annual conference that brings together more than 750 philanthropy and impact investing leaders from across...more
Foundation: California Community Foundation, California Endowment
Ava DuVernay financed her latest film with money from the Giving Pledgean initiative of the California Endowment, the largest US foundation to commit its entire $4 billion portfolio to social and...more
Foundation: Marguerite Casey Foundation, Marguerite Casey Foundation, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Skoll Foundation, Target Foundation, Ford Foundation, Philadelphia Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation
"The US creative economy was most recently valued at over $1 trillion by the National Endowment for the Arts," per a press release, "even before considering film, fashion, video games, beauty, food,...more
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Wells Fargo Foundation
New Hampshire Charitable Foundation
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Greater Washington Community Foundation
Rhode Island Foundation
Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta
California Community Foundation
Arizona Community Foundation
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Influencing Social Good Through Retail
When Hannah Davis traveled to China to teach English, she noticed how Chinese workers and farmers were often sporting olive green army-style shoes. Those shoes served as her inspiration to create her own social enterprise, Bangs Shoes.
