Ten months after launching a coalition pledging to train and hire 100,000 American youths who face systemic barriers to jobs and education, Starbucks, Alaska Airlines, Microsoft and other major companies will hold interviews at Seattle's CenturyLink Field on May 5.
The Florida Philanthropic Network invites Philanthropy Northwest members to a free webinar for grantmakers working towards effective social justice philanthropy.
Sharon Wade Ellis, Momentum Fellow | When I was a kid, I spent summers with my grandparents in their old and drafty home on Chicago's South Side. Old as it was, that home offered refuge, and that garden provided more than nourishment: together, house and garden tied the family closely to their community. They cherished its security and affordability. In the minds of my grandparents, the home and everything associated with it was theirs — but they didn't own it, and therefore knew they could lose it one day. They were lucky. That place — their place — left me with a certainty: everyone has a right to a stable and affordable home. I carry my passion forward to the work I do at Meyer Memorial Trust, finding relief for my nagging ache of wanting to help people access housing that meets their needs.
Dalian Yates, Momentum Fellow | Foundation funding explicitly designated to benefit black men and boys has increased in recent years, rising from $28.6 million in 2010 to nearly $64.6 million in 2012. We must continue this trend. We know what works. However, the majority of philanthropy's work falls outside the framework of a black male initiative or portfolio. As such, work that claims to serve black males but does not make a targeted effort to reach them often works well for every population except black males. I joined Philanthropy Northwest's Momentum Fellowship to do more for a growing movement actively seeking solutions. Here are my five recommendations for the philanthropic sector:
Northwest Area Foundation, a Minnesota-based Philanthropy Northwest member with a grantmaking footprint that includes Montana, Oregon, Washington and 75 Native nations, awarded $13.4 million through 120 grants in 2015. The awards made in late 2015, announced this month, totaled nearly $5 million to 43 organizations in its region, including six organizations in Oregon and Washington.
Ballmer Family Giving, the youth-focused philanthropy organization representing former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and his wife Connie, has joined a funding partnership that aims to award $1 billion in grants to high-performing charities that serve low-income youth. The new collaborative, Blue Meridian Partners, is led by the New York-based Edna McConnell Clark Foundation.
As the demographics of our communities shift and evolve, we see growing interest from philanthropy leaders in adopting multicultural approaches so that we can benefit from our differences, rather than assuming people will assimilate into an institutional set of norms, values and customs. Twenty executives from Seattle-area foundations joined us this week for a workshop on "Culturally Competent Leadership in the 21st Century," co-hosted by Pangea Giving, to discuss how we can collectively address systemic barriers to advance equity through philanthropy.