Building a better way, looking at how we experiment, use data, and work together in our work.
** August 2021
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** Expansive Experimentation
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Building a Better Way, Looking at How We Experiment, Use Data,
and Work Together in Our Work.
Joann Lee Wagner, Vice President of People Operations:
When you face an intractable, deeply entrenched issue like the racial wealth gap, it requires a certain amount of vision, audacity, and faith to believe that we are the ones that have the solutions that we and our communities have been waiting for.
Common Future is a network of community leaders and funders in community economic development that boldly innovate and experiment to build inclusive economies. As we set out to build a team to meet this moment and accelerate the work happening in communities, we purposefully recruited those that reflected our network and exhibited the qualities of leadership we knew to be necessary: builders, optimists, growth mindset, comfort with ambiguity, and those that don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. But it wasn’t just enough to bring the people together. We had to collectively unlearn the behaviors of white supremacy culture and nonprofit scarcity mindset that were a part of all of us.
The ideals of perfectionism that consistently hold us to unattainable standards and prevent us from launching good-enough prototypes or constantly trying to do more with less in ways that were toxic and caused burn out. We also allowed for failure in our work and created safety nets that are too often inaccessible to BIPOC and women entrepreneurs. With the spirit of innovation guiding us and through deep relationships and collaboration with our network, we have been able to incubate and experiment with ideas like character-based lending ([link removed]) and so much more.
As an organization, we continue to learn and give ourselves the chance to develop the solutions we have been waiting for. In this issue, we are exploring what this looks like in the following ways:
* Knowledge For Knowledge's Sake ([link removed])
* The Privilege to Experiment and Fail ([link removed])
* Our Commitment to Experimentation ([link removed])
* The Future Cannot Be Planned ([link removed])
We hope you’ll take this time to reflect with us and share what we’re doing to create a more inclusive economy. Like the stories you read? Share them with your network on social and be sure to tag @commonfutureco ([link removed]) .
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** More from Common Future
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In this podcast, ([link removed]) Rodney speaks about his plans for building up this BIPOC-led organization to close the racial wealth gap in America, how his own experiences with racism inform this work, and how Common Future is building a powerful network to create lasting change.
Confused about what it looks like to reimagine capitalism? Subscribe ([link removed]) for bi-weekly posts from The Great Near ([link removed]) about the people building alternatives and how this reimagined future will look and feel.
“Capital is simply not flowing to Black and Brown entrepreneurs ...the public and private sectors are not united around basic priorities of how to finance small businesses, or a fundamental understanding of how barriers to access compound.” —Lauren Paul, Common Future ([link removed])
"I think it’s really difficult for folks to really understand that this is not simply historic. It’s contemporary. Racial inequity is baked into everything that’s happening today." —Rodney Foxworth to Denver Frederick on the latest episode of the Business of Giving ([link removed]) .
We’re Hiring!
Manager of Capital Strategies ([link removed]) , Creative Services Specialist ([link removed]) ,
and VP of Network Strategy ([link removed])
** Caught our attention
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Native-led Organizations Join Forces To Accelerate Entrepreneurship In Indian Country ([link removed])
Common Arguments Used Against Community-centric Fundraising, And Why They Don’t Hold Water ([link removed])
Advocates’ Report Highlights Barriers To Community Investment ([link removed])
Housing Discrimination: Last Week Tonight With John Oliver ([link removed])
Support Our Mission and Work ([link removed])
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Contact
Common Future
2323 Broadway
Oakland, CA 94612
USA
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