Weekly Reads
“When I bring up white supremacy in meetings or presentations, sometimes I get the feedback of ‘that’s a really heavy term. Is it really applicable to this situation? Can’t we just call it ‘inequity’ or ‘injustice’ or something that won’t turn people off?’ We are a sector terrified of naming things, even as we seek to fight them. But how can we be effective when we refuse to name what we’re fighting?” [more]
Vu Le, Nonprofit AF
“What does it mean when your life’s choices are not determined by your opportunity, are not determined by your academic prowess, but by these arbitrary rules and laws and systems that have been in place since the New Deal, if not before? ... Economic self-sufficiency, full participation, equality of opportunity, and independent living—you can’t achieve those as long as our people live in a state of codified poverty.” [more]
Rebecca Cokley, Ford Foundation, in Inside Philanthropy
“One of the best ways to build wealth is through entrepreneurship. But lecturing people about starting businesses without supporting them with capital and infrastructure is shortsighted. There are differences among starting, starting well, and scaling a business. To be impactful, people of color-led enterprises need both capital and infrastructure support.” [more]
James C.D. Wahls, Revolve Fund, for Philanthropy News Digest
“Committing to transform our communities means that everyone rolls up their sleeves and puts the good of the whole—a shared vision of inclusive prosperity and well-being—above individual organizational mandates and missions. This requires decision-makers in philanthropy to catch up to their staff and partners, embrace new narratives of possibility and inclusive decision-making, invoke new mental models, shift organizational and sector culture, change default ways of viewing and holding power, and take bolder and more community-responsive actions.” [more]
Kate Wilkinson, Open Impact, and Dwayne Marsh, Northern California Grantmakers, for the Center for Effective Philanthropy
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