Archive for September, 2010

The Nonprofit Voter Engagement Network is hosting a special web training event:

“Voter Education and GOTV for Nonprofits”
Thursday, October 7th
11:00 AM to 12:00 PM PT

The final weeks before the election are a good time to focus on voter education and getting out the vote (GOTV). This webinar will review best practices around voter education and GOTV activities that you can do at your nonprofit or in your community. It will help you decide where and when to conduct these activities and where to find additional resources.

There will be opportunities for question and answers throughout the training.

To RSVP, please click HERE.

Image source: http://pclinuxos.com

This past Wednesday, the East Bay Community Foundation hosted a round table discussion titled – Achieving Oakland’s Talent Dividend.  The convening addressed the city of Oakland potentially joining forces with the National Talent Dividend, a new learning network of cross-sector leadership teams in 22-major U.S. cities focused on achieving post-secondary attainment gains and increasing economic growth.

The discussion was moderated by Nicole Taylor, the President & CEO of the East Bay Community Foundation, and included a panel of game changers in the education sector.  Carol Coletta, President & CEO of CEOs for Cities, Dr. Tony Smith, Superintendent of the Oakland Unified School District, and Dr. Elnora Webb, President of Laney College, guest spoke before an audience of CEOs, educators, and philanthropists on the importance and benefits of increasing educational opportunities in Oakland.

The concept of the talent dividend is simple. Every one percentage point increase in college attainment positively correlates with creating a thriving city.  One percentage point increase is associated with a $763 increase in per-capita income or about $1,900 to $2,290 per year for the average household ( 2.5-3 people).  Oakland’s current college attainment is 38.6 percent.  A one percentage point increase (16,462 additional new grads) would generate $1.9 billion annually of personal income to filter through the community.

The projected numbers definitely demonstrate why Achieving Oakland’s Talent Dividend can have such a large impact on the city of Oakland.  Building a community of residents that is better educated and better skilled can result in higher incomes and more innovation and productivity.  Yesterday’s conversation was just the beginning with hopefully many more to follow.  Stay tuned!

sources: http://www.ceosforcities.org/; http://www.investing-right.com

Hi folks – I’m back from sabbatical and thrilled to announce that we’ve selected the 2010 College Bound Brotherhood grant recipients!

We had an especially competitive pool of applicants (44 organizations for 13 grants) and, after a thorough review process, selected those that we felt most strongly matched our objectives.

These fourteen organizations will collectively receive $360,000 in Kapor Foundation grants specifically to support their work with young black men:

• 100 Black Men of the Bay Area, Inc.
• Athletic Scholars Advancement Program
• Bayview Hunters Point Y & College Track
• The Greene Scholars Program
• Choose College Educational Foundation, Inc.
• East Oakland Youth Development Center
• Juma Ventures
• M³ Foundation
• Meritus College Fund
• Berkeley Scholars to Cal
• Student Program for Academic and Athletic Transitioning
• Summer Search
• The Hannah Project
• Young Scholars Program

Congratulations to these organizations! We look forward to working with you!

The College Bound Brotherhood is bigger than grant status, though; we actively seek community collaboration in the Brotherhood activities that we’re planning through June 2011, including a conference, graduation celebration, and keeping collegeboundbros.org updated. Please join us in this movement through the Brotherhood listserv, collegebound AT lists DOT mkf DOT org. And stay tuned; something new from the Brotherhood will soon hit the airwaves!!

Read the grants announcement press release HERE.

Last week I had the amazing opportunity to attend CompassPoint’s Non Profit Day 2010.  The theme of the conference was centered on sharing stories for social change.  Each of us have our own unique story that describes how we got involved in the work we do and why we are committed to working for social change.  Film Director, social change advocate (BAYCAT), and Bay Area native Peter Bratt (yes … the brother of Hollywood actor Benjamin Bratt), was the event’s key note speaker and shared his story of how he became involved in social change.  Peter’s talk was spiritual and emotional. Two things that Peter said that really stuck with me were that success is measured by the healthiness of our relationships, and the highest calling is to serve community and family; and to begin with change within yourself and then work your way out to community and family. It is hard to let such statements be heard without taking the time to fully process them.

As agents of social change we are very privileged to bring differences that speak to the needs of various communities.  Growing up in the Bay Area and attending public school in Berkeley and then college at Stanford University, I had many difficult experiences associated with trying to excel academically while still trying to be or, in some cases, not be the person that people expected me to be.  I have always felt that there are many other brothers growing up who feel the way I once did.  I feel one of my greatest gifts is having an opportunity to be a part of the College Bound Brotherhood and share my story with these young black men so they can begin their own process of change so they can be in the position to help our next generation of youth.

Check out Peter and Benjamin Bratt’s newest movie, La Mission, and see a  powerful story about change.

photo source: pehub

The College Access Foundation of California provides grants to community-based programs to award college scholarships to the students they serve.  They have a grant deadline approaching on October 18, 2010 at 5 p.m., so I wanted to get the word out to interested readers.  Please note that the College Access Foundation of California does NOT provide scholarships to individuals.  Grants are given to organizations that either have 501(c)3 status, have a fiscal sponsor, or are California state, local, or county public agencies or government entities.

To be eligible for consideration, your organization must:

• Primarily serve low-income students and/or students who are in the first generation of their family to attend college.
• Currently manage a college scholarship program or demonstrate its capacity to develop and administer a scholarship program.
• Serve students who currently attend or have graduated from high school in California. (Please note: scholarship recipients may attend college anywhere in the U.S.)
• Serve students who plan to attend or currently attend accredited, degree-granting, 2-year or 4-year post-secondary institutions.
• Serve students who plan to attend or currently attend college full-time in pursuit of an Associates or Bachelors degree.
• Help all eligible students to complete the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) and ensure that all students meet college application and financial aid deadlines.
• Promote persistence and graduation by identifying on-campus student support programs and connecting its students to those programs.
• Demonstrate its capacity to effectively collect student data and use it to inform and improve its program practices.  The Foundation requires grantees to produce annual data reports on all students who receive scholarships, including the amounts, post-secondary institutions the students attend, and other demographic and financial aid data.

In addition, the foundation requires all grant applicants to agree in advance to a set of General Grant Terms and Conditions and a Best Practices Agreement.

The foundation does NOT award grants for the following:

• Scholarships for graduate students.
• Scholarships for students attending vocational or trade schools.
• Scholarships awarded to students before their senior year of high school.
• Scholarship endowments or scholarship programs at individual colleges and universities that support students attending just that institution.
• Policy research or advocacy.

For more information on how to apply for a grant from the College Access Foundation of California, please click HERE.

Image source: http://teachingwithcontests.com/

We’ve made history today, not just for us, but for generations to come to prove that change can happen when we stand for dignity, justice, & respect for all!
~Priscilla Gonzalez, Domestic Workers United

August 31, 2010

Governor Paterson Signs Domestic Workers Bill of Rights

Governor David A. Paterson today signed into law a landmark bill to grant workplace protections to domestic workers, the first such law to be enacted in the nation. Domestic workers had been excluded from many of the rights granted to other employees by legislation enacted in the past.

“Today we correct an historic injustice by granting those who care for the elderly, raise our children and clean our homes the same essential rights to which all workers should be entitled,” Governor Paterson said. “I am grateful to the sponsors for their extraordinary efforts to enact this landmark bill, and most of all to those domestic workers who dreamed, planned, organized and then fought for many years, until they were able to see an injustice undone.”

This legislation was a result of an agreement between the Governor and the Legislature and will serve as a protection for domestic workers against potential abuse and mistreatment. In addition, the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights will help ensure that domestic workers are provided with industry-specific protections and labor standards.

Among other provisions, this bill provides for:
•    The right to overtime pay at time and a half after 40 hours of work in a week, or 44 hours for in-home workers;
•    A day of rest every seven days, or overtime pay if it is waived;
•    Three paid days of rest annually after one year of work;
•    The removal of the domestic workers exemption from the Human Rights Law, and the creation of a special cause of action for domestic workers who suffer sexual or racial harassment;
•    The extension of statutory disability benefits to domestic workers, to the same degree as other workers; and
•    A study by the Commissioner of Labor on the practicality of extending collective bargaining rights to domestic workers.

Governor Paterson added: “I understand that similar legislation is now being considered in California. I profoundly hope that New York’s efforts in this area will serve as a national model, and remove the exclusions which have wrongly applied to this class of workers for too long.”

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More coverage: NY1 News (video), Colorlines, New York Daily News, DWU Blog, and, previous Kapor Foundation blog posts on DWU.