November 21, 2022
It wasn’t for-profit companies. The nonprofit sector, along with community-based mutual aid networks, stepped up to meet immediate needs. If we want nonprofits to support us in the next crisis, they must have sufficient resources. And to know what nonprofits need to do their jobs effectively, we must ask them directly.
November 21, 2022
Who will tell the stories that shape our future? These days, in the United States, this is a matter of fierce disagreement. On one side, a multiracial majority of people believe the US is destined to become a flourishing democracy. On the other, a white nationalist movement steadily advances its vision for a white Christian ethno-state.
In the social change field, some phrases are repeated so often that we no longer ask what they require of us. But words matter. I have pages and pages of notes with reflections on the work of folks like Dr. Tiffany Manuel, Phil Agnew, and Rashad Robinson, who write about the critical role that narrative plays in building power and pursuing liberation. But living and working in ways aligned with one’s values and beliefs is more difficult than taking notes.
https://nonprofitquarterly.org/should-we-cancel-capacity-building/
Today (11/17/22) I served as the moderator on a panel discussion at the first ever Connecticut Minority Economic Summit. I was honored to be a part of such an important event that was organized by the Black Business Association and the Minority Business Initiative (MBI). After eight years of serving as the CEO of the Connecticut Minority Supplier Development Council and seven years as CEO of the Greater New England Minority Supplier Development Council, it was great to see BBA and MBI step into the breech and serve the needs of Connecticut’s minority business community. Much has changed since I left the GNEMSDC in Connecticut. Perhaps the biggest change was the support that Governor Ned Lamont provided to and for BIPOC businesses (I am also trying to rid my mind of the term minority as being factually inaccurate in so many settings, that it has effectively lost its meaning.) The Governor and with the principled leadership of CT Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner David Lehman and State Senators like Doug McCrory and Black business leaders like Howard K. Hill were able to push significant amount of money into the hands of BIPOC business owners during the pandemic. And now we are witnessing the State of Connecticut finally investing millions in BIPOC businesses in the form of loans, grants, and technical assistance. Today’s Economic Summit brought together banks, non-bank lenders, mayors, other elected officials, and the BIPOC business community in an event that will help continue the momentum that was initiated by the leaders listed above and too many others to name.
I also did something for the first time at the Economic Summit that I hope will become a tradition. I did a land and people acknowledgement.
I have been spending lots of real and virtual time with colleagues and clients in Canada. I was in Toronto last month for the Canadian Aboriginal and Minority Supplier Council (CAMSC) annual awards gala. It was a special event and I congratulate Cassandra Dorrington and her very capable team.
In all the public meetings I have had in Canada over the past few years, the Canadians do something that is wise, powerful and special. Before starting a public meeting, the Canadians conduct a Land Acknowledgement. Each time I have heard and noticed differences in the Land Acknowledgements. These are very specific in the acknowledgement of what Aboriginal people protected and were stewards of the land, water and sky. The name of the specific tribe is acknowledged.
Canada, like South Africa conducted Truth and Reconciliation laws and policies. In Canada, the European settlers pushed and herded the Aboriginal peoples just as the South Africans pushed and herded the Africans - and just as the Americans pushed and herded Native Americans. And all the while, stole the land. It is from the land in Canada, South Africa and America that great wealth is created or destroyed. For Afrikaners, White Canadians, and Americans, control of the land created wealth that has lasted for generations. For Aboriginals, Africans, and Native Americans, the loss of that control created poverty.
At the meeting this morning, because the focus of the Connecticut Minority Economic Summit was to help BIPOC firms access capital so that they can create wealth, it is appropriate that we also conduct Land and People Acknowledgements at public meetings in this country.
There is a reason why we do not conduct acknowledgements in this country and it has everything to do with the difficulty we as a nation have talking about history, race, and blame. There is no blame for anyone alive today for events and actions that happened before they existed. No one wants to feel guilt, particularly over things they did not do. But that does not mean there should not be an acknowledgement of the harm done and the consequences of that harm to people living today. The reach of the past is long. One must think clearly on this issue or you will be persuaded by the anti-CRT and anti-Woke crowd that reminding us of the past is equivalent to assessing the guilt of the past onto the people of the present. We must confront history if we are to ever to close the fissures that divide us.
My acknowledgement today was as follows:
We the people, here in Middletown, Connecticut on November 11, 2022, for this meeting of the Connecticut Minority Business Economic Summit, acknowledge the land we are on today was once the homeland of the Wangunk and Mattabasset peoples. We also acknowledge the Africans who were taken from their homelands and forced to work here and throughout this country created wealth for others. May we not forget the uncompensated sacrifices of the Wangunk, the Mattabasset and the Africans.
You might think that acknowledgements are downers, where positive energy in the room is critical to success. But the message is true. Government representatives, business leaders, and the diverse entrepreneurs who attended today’s summit might be wiser, more empathetic, and better at what they do if we - with clear eyes and humanity for all - face history and recognize. I wonder if you think we should be doing land and people acknowledgements in this country. Is America ready for truth and reconciliation? What would it look like and how would it effect our work in supplier diversity. Let me know.
HOUSTON—JPMorgan Chase & Co. is launching a national program to try to get more loans into the hands of minority small-businesses owners and close a persistent racial gap in financing...
From the Boston Tea Party to the Montgomery bus boycott to the boycott of apartheid South Africa, politically motivated consumer boycotts have long been part and parcel of American politics. But are they protected by the First Amendment? For 40 years, the answer has been an unequivocal “yes.” But in a recent case from Arkansas, a federal court of appeals ruled otherwise. If the right to boycott is to be preserved, the Supreme Court must step in...
https://www.aclu.org/news/free-speech/its-time-to-reaffirm-our-first-amendment-right-to-boycott
With funding from US EPA through the Long Island Sound Study (LISS), Connecticut and New York Sea announce an opportunity open to municipalities and community organizations to facilitate the hiring of grant preparation and writing support to assist with the development of a grant application for sustainable and resilience focused projects that will impact a community(ies) within or partially within the Long Island Sound Coastal boundary (within Westchester, Nassau, Suffolk counties, Western Connecticut, and Eastern Connecticut). Funding is to be awarded in a range of $5,000- $9,950 per application directly to the applicant’s selected grant writing support contractor on a cost reimbursable basis. Match is not required.
For the Grant Program Announcement and to learn more: See the CTSG website
For more information contact: LISresilience@gmail.com
November 10, 2022
Housing insecurity and its relationship to wealth inequality in the United States is not only an economic justice issue—it’s also an issue of racial, gender, and health justice. Black women sit at the intersection of these matters and, as a result, experience a tsunami of structural inequities that threaten their health. According to the CDC, being unhoused is “closely connected to declines in physical and mental health.”
In a moment where housing affordability and justice have become staple concerns in public discourse, understanding the overwhelming toll of housing insecurity on Black women’s health is vital. To fully address this issue, our solutions must center the health of Black women—and by extension, that of their families...
Even as the Covid-19 pandemic shifts to more of an endemic, it continues to eat away at the connective fibers that bind our society together. As with so many things, Covid accelerated an existing trend: America was in the throes of a crisis of loneliness well before the pandemic struck. Today nearly 40 million Americans live alone, representing almost 30% of all US households — up from 9% in 1950. The rise of remote work, the shift away from cities to more far-flung exurbs, and many other trends have combined to worsen America’s loneliness epidemic. The effects are visible in everything from the rise in substance abuse and mental health challenges to the surge in crime and disorder in cities across the country...
In collaboration with CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), the Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation (CIRCA) is requesting grant proposals for projects that increase the capacity of vulnerable communities to mitigate, plan for, and respond to climate change impacts. This funding supports the recommendations of the Governor’s Council on Climate Change (GC3).
This grant program is open to community-based organizations, tribal governments, and tribal organizations. Funds can be used for planning, capacity-building, or education projects that advance community-scale climate adaptation and/or climate mitigation efforts. Applications are due November 18th, 2022.
More information and resources to help with preparing an application can be found here.
Please contact mary.buchanan@uconn.edu with any questions. Thanks very much!
At Cop meetings in Egypt and Canada, humanity faces two doors. Door one leads to untold misery. We have no choice but to take door two.
For the last 50 years, an ill-fated paradigm has shaped western thought and action: the “tragedy of the commons”. This is a situation in which everyone operates according to their own self-interest and ultimately depletes our shared resources. Ever since the term was first coined in 1968, we have been acting it out to its fullest with devastating consequences for our land, water and atmosphere...
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/02/nature-climate-crisis-new-mindset
What do you see when you spend time in nature…the trees? the clouds? sunlight on water? the path ahead? Abstract painter Judy Atlas sees the patterns, movements, and shapes. Come see the world as she sees it, ABSTRACTIONS…Naturally, on view at City Gallery from November 4 - November 27. There will be an Opening Reception on Saturday, November 5 from 1 p.m. - 4 p.m., and Atlas will be at the gallery on Saturday, November 12 and Sunday, November 27 to meet and talk with visitors.
In a world so focused on absolutes, Atlas opens herself to possibilities and opportunities…what if? “I take many photos of nature, and I use them to find a way to abstract from what I see, and make the image my own,” she explains. “The process includes asking myself ‘what if’ questions like: What if I take a small piece of the pattern and blow it up? What if I add different shapes to the pattern? What if I change the color, make the painting bigger, or smaller? ”
Those questions allow for a different way of seeing things — a new perspective, or a series of them, one inspired by the next. The result, and this exhibit, is a fluid and natural interpretation of the world around us.
Atlas is an abstract artist. Her paintings, monotypes and collages are expressions of nature and everyday life. Her work relates to places and landscapes, real and imagined, external and internal. She taught watercolor painting and collage at Creative Arts Workshop, New Haven for more than 20 years. Her work has been featured in numerous solo, group, invitational and juried shows in New England. She has been a member of City Gallery since 2008.
ABSTRACTIONS…Naturally is free and open to the public and runs November 4 - November 27, with an Opening Reception on Saturday, November 5 from 1 p.m. - 4 p.m. City Gallery is located at 994 State Street, New Haven, CT 06511. Gallery hours are Friday - Sunday, 1 p.m. - 4 p.m., or by appointment. City Gallery follows New Haven City’s mask mandate policy. For further information please contact City Gallery, info@city-gallery.org, www.city-gallery.org.
Picture this: Your team is racing against time and working weekends to submit a new client proposal. You finally manage to put all the documents together, and just in the nick of time, you press “send.” You take a deep breath and thank the team for their hard work. The proposal looks great and you’re confident that you’ll probably win it...
https://hbr.org/2022/02/blame-culture-is-toxic-heres-how-to-stop-it
Raise your hand if you’ve recently engaged in an insult-slinging argument that started as an attempt at a civil discussion about some hot-button issue. Many of us have, and with high-stakes elections looming, the already fiery discourse will likely only intensify.
Though it might feel satisfying in the moment, calling someone a bleeping—insert your favorite derogatory term here—is never going to help them understand your point of view. Rather, experts in persuasive communication say, it’s crucial to focus on curiosity and compassion, and to make it clear that you don’t think the person you’re talking to is the enemy—or look down on them...
Grant to The Community Foundation supports growth for underserved businesses
New Haven, CT (Oct. 26, 2022) The Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) awarded $7.2 Million to The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven on Monday in support of work to make the small business landscape more equitable. The grant is part of a $46.6 Million statewide initiative to help underserved entrepreneurs and small businesses owners.
“Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and these grants will specifically be used to help provide support for those small business owners who may have previously experienced barriers to accessing financial support and other services needed to start and grow a business,” Governor Lamont said in prepared release.
The Community Foundation will manage the award through its subsidiary, The Community Foundation Mission Investments Company (TCF-MIC), which is working with local entrepreneurial support organizations (ESOs) and small business owners to create business-support network called the New Haven Entrepreneurial Ecosystem (NHE3). The NHE3 will provide a continuum of grants, business consulting and technical services in Greater New Haven, with a focus on serving Black, Latinx, women and immigrant business owners.
“This award allows us to build on our work, and the work of our collaborative partners, to expand opportunity through inclusive growth in Greater New Haven,” said The Foundation President and CEO Will Ginsberg. “We are very excited that the State of Connecticut and City of New Haven are in alignment with our goal of ensuring that the benefits of economic growth and expansion reach everyone in our region.” Continue reading here.
Marlene Engelhorn, 30, heir to a fortune, isn’t interested in philanthropy, believing it only perpetuates existing power dynamics. She’s calling for structural change to how the ultrarich are taxed...
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/21/world/europe/marlene-engelhorn-wealth-tax.html ;
The City of New Haven is investing ARPA funds to enhance the career readiness for high-school age and young adult workforce, all leading to sustainable and well-paying careers. As one component of the Career Pathways strategy, this RFP seeks to provide funding to entities and organizations to develop or expand the infrastructure, programming, and wraparound supports needed to connect New Haven youth to meaningful career exploration, career-pathway-aligned curricula, hands-on skill building, and specialty practice certifications.
The purpose of these funds is to strengthen New Haven students’ career readiness in key skill-based sectors to ultimately help reduce the city’s racial wealth gap and facilitate school-to-workforce alignment. Consistent with the City’s public engagement and feedback on ARPA investments, programs with an entrepreneurial and small business focus are keys to sustainable economic power and a key part of the overall strategy.
Applications are due by Tuesday, November 15th. Learn more and apply here.
Greater New Haven Regional Labor Market Analysis Request for Proposal (RFP)
Proposal Deadline: Friday, October 28, 2022
The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven (CFGNH) in partnership with Valley Community Foundation (VCF), and a cross-sector advisory group, seek to engage a research consultant with deep expertise in workforce development that centers racial and gender equity to conduct an in-depth regional labor market analysis featuring quantitative and qualitative data about local/regional economic growth sectors to help inform the work of CFGNH and VCF, employers, workforce providers, decisions makers, community leaders, funders, job seekers, and others to support the building of a robust talent pipeline to address labor market needs in our geographic region, with a particular focus on traditionally underserved populations.
Now that we are in the third year of the pandemic, this is an important time to gain a deeper understanding of the regional labor market and trends. This data analysis would be shared broadly via virtual and in-person events, data briefs, and other easy to access and share formats. This analysis will be helpful to track existing workforce development and career pathways efforts, the impact of CFGNH’s Stepping Forward, to help build a more inclusive and equitable economy in Greater New Haven.
Proposal submissions are due by Friday, October 28 at 5:00PM (EST). Learn more and please share with interested researchers.
#labormarket #careerpathways #racialequity #genderequity #inclusivegrowth
