Blogs

By  ERIN RUBIN | September 20, 2018

Artist lauren woods has paused her work, American Monument, at the California State University Long Beach’s University Art Museum after the museum director who collaborated with her was fired. As woods explains,

It’s paused. Not pulled…It’s paused because I am calling for true partnership. I want to offer the university the chance to engage in a restorative process and demonstrate their commitment to the work of antiracism, an impulse that is evident by the choice to hire Kimberli Meyer, who declared upfront that this was the mission and vision for her tenure.

The work is not an exhibition or something to look at; it’s an immersive, iterative experience that is meant to evolve in collaboration with the audience as a product of conversations and events that happen within and without it, connected to the subject matter of police brutality against communities of color. The centerpiece involves 25 record players emitting “audio ephemera” from incidents in which Black people have been killed by the police...

https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2018/09/20/standoff-at-the-museum-director-fired-days-before-exhibit-on-police-violence-launches/

By ELIZABETH GOOD CHRISTOPHERSON 

How can you help someone in crisis feel better? It requires deeply human intelligence and communications skills, and above all, listening. It is also one of a growing number of situations where new ways of listening—supported by artificial intelligence—can help...

https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2018/11/19/the-future-of-listening-how-ai-can-help-us-connect-to-human-need/

A special program brought you by NEXT. John Dankosky hosts a conversation on climate change, clean energy, and how communities are coping. The show was recorded live at Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, with climate game changers, including author and activist Bill McKibben...

http://www.wnpr.org/post/future-connecticuts-changing-climate

Fair and Just Prosecution (FJP) brings together newly elected local prosecutors as part of a network of leaders committed to promoting a justice system grounded in fairness, equity, compassion, and fiscal responsibility. These recently elected leaders – and the vision they share for safer and healthier communities – are supported by FJP’s network through ongoing information sharing, research and resource materials, opportunities for on the ground learning, in-person convenings, technical assistance, and access to national experts.

https://fairandjustprosecution.org/

by Paul Schmitz, CEO of Leading Inside Out and Senior Advisor to The Collective Impact Forum

Does change come from the bottom up or top down?

The simple answer is both — it often happens when there is collective leadership creating pressure on the outside of an institution, and allies inside the institution or with the power to influence the institution leveraging that pressure to create change. These two groups of leaders, however, are very different. As our social, political, economic, and media bubbles move further apart and become less porous, creating linkages among them has become more challenging. We must understand the dynamics that allow bottom-up and top-down to work together: the need for people to believe in their ability to lead and the need for leaders in positions of traditional power to share or give up power...

http://johnsoncenter.org/top-down-bottom-up/

Need funding for your environmental project?  The Greater New Haven Green Fund may be able to help!

Request for applications (RFA) is now open for the Greater New Haven Green Fund's 2019 grants cycle. Funding up to $10,000 is available. Visit the website and download the application.

Deadline for submitting your application is Jan. 11, 2019, 5 PM. Contact us with questions at info@gnhgreenfund.org.

http://www.gnhgreenfund.org/

In 1996, on a cold Sunday in March, thirty-six concerned residents and service providers gathered at the home of Randi Rubin and Sergio Rodriguez to identify how they could fill the void in services for children in foster care and their parents. The problem? Families who had had their children removed by the Department of Children and Families (DCF) had less than a 50/50 chance of reunifying; in part due to issues of substance abuse, domestic violence, unmet mental health needs and parents’ own histories with the child welfare system. As a result, children were residing in foster care for years on end. 

Sergio and Randi had come from strong, intact families, and were motivated to see children have what they believed was their birthright — a permanent, stable family to call their own. The group agreed it was time to stabilize the lives of children in the DCF system; whether through reunification, transfer of guardianship or adoption. Continue reading.

Achieving A Better Life Experience for Connecticut Residents

BACKGROUND

 The federal Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act became law in 2014.  It gives individuals with disabilities the opportunity to establish tax-deferred savings accounts to maintain their independence.

Connecticut Public Act 15-80 was passed in 2015 to implement the federal law.  Summary: PA 15-80 requires the state treasurer to (1) establish a federally qualified Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) program and (2) administer individual ABLE accounts.  The program must encourage and help eligible individuals and families save private funds to pay for qualifying expenses related to disability or blindness.  To run the program, the act establishes the Connecticut ABLE Trust to receive and hold funds intended for ABLE accounts. It generally exempts money in the trust and interest earnings on it from state and local taxation.  Under the act, funds invested in or distributed from an ABLE account must be disregarded when determining an individual's eligibility for assistance under federally funded assistance or benefit programs. The act also prohibits the state's public colleges and universities from considering funds invested in ABLE accounts when determining eligibility for need-based institutional aid.

https://www.ott.ct.gov/about_ABLEAct.html

Less-educated African American women who report experiencing high levels of racial discrimination may face greater risk of developing chronic diseases, says a new study by UC Berkeley researchers.

https://news.berkeley.edu/2018/10/05/racial-discrimination-linked-to-higher-risk-of-chronic-illness-in-african-american-women/

Funding to create opportunity and respond to community needs  

New Haven, CT (October 29, 2018) – The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven has announced its responsive grant awards for 2018, totaling $2,670,527 to nonprofit organizations working throughout Greater New Haven.

The grants will support 51 local programs and institutions, including health services to vulnerable residents, public libraries, homeless shelters, and efforts to expand economic opportunities for residents of all ages. The grants were selected from a pool of 97 applications seeking a total of nearly $8.2 million

“The nonprofits supported by The Foundation are leading the way in how our community is addressing many of its central challenges,” says William W. Ginsberg, President & CEO of The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven. “At the same time, widening inequality is the defining issue of our time and a tremendous challenge for our community. Our grantees are helping more local people access the skills and opportunities they need to secure a foothold in this changing economy. Our community needs to do everything possible to ensure that as the economy grows, its benefits are widely shared.” 

The annual responsive grant cycle is open to nonprofits serving Greater New Haven and is funded by unrestricted and preference funds established by donors at The Foundation. In addition to its competitive grantmaking, The Foundation also makes grants throughout the year from designated and other funds. In 2018, The Foundation will make a total of about $28 million in grants and distributions. Continue reading.