Mitchell Kapor Foundation Weblog

We’re very proud to share that our own Carmen Rojas has been tapped to serve on the EPA’s Environmental Education Training Program Task Force, one of five people in the *nation* to serve in this capacity!! The task force is charged with reviewing education materials that are developed and distributed to low income communities on pressing environmental issues. Many congrats to Carmen for representing community interests at the local, state, and federal levels!

Just wanted to thank Adrian Henderson and the M. Robinson Baker YMCA in Oakland for presenting me with a Community Service Award at their Juneteenth celebration last Saturday (the Kapor Foundation has underwritten their college fair costs for the past two years though the College Bound Brotherhood).

This is a definite honor, considering that these are folks who embody community service through their everyday work in the heart of West Oakland. So the feeling is mutual – thank YOU for your thoughtfulness and dedication to community! (And my apologies for wearing shades onstage, lol).

Late last year, CompassPoint released a wonderful study: Creative Disruption: Sabbaticals for Capacity Building and Leadership Development in the Nonprofit Sector (download here). The report analyzes the myths and actual benefits of  nonprofit leaders being able to step away for a well-planned break – a sabbatical – during which the individual benefits from a period of rejuvenation and the organization’s “second tier” of managers get to further develop their leadership skills.

Here at the Kapor Center (which includes our sibling organizations, Level Playing Field Institute and Kapor Enterprises), we’re testing out a new sabbatical program, and yours truly has the privilege of being the pioneer. As this Thursday, July 1, I’ll be out of the office until September 1st.

Of course I’m looking forward to it, since I haven’t had an extended break (beyond a two week vacation) in 17 years. And while I know that this will be a challenge in many respects (dealing – or not dealing – with email is a big one!) I’m fully confident in my staff colleagues to hold down the fort until we’re all together again. So please feel free to continue to contact the appropriate Foundation staff with questions; they’re prepped to answer own their own and in my stead. Meanwhile, have a great summer! Namaste.

I’m pleased to announce the launch of phase two of our College Bound Brotherhood!

Last year when we closed out the first phase of the Brotherhood, then called the Black Boys College Bound Initiative, we decided that we needed to be more inclusive of organizations that do not receive any of our limited grant money but would benefit from the greater community of people interested in and dedicated to young black men’s wellness. The renaming of the initiative to “Brotherhood” is meant to convey a larger movement of organizations, families, and individuals. I hope that everyone will join us – and vice versa – in creating this college bound culture in the Bay Area.  Sign up for our listserv (collegebound AT lists DOT mkf DOT org) to receive updates on workshops and events, both sponsored by us and by others we hear about.

We’re opening a call for grant requests between now and June 15, looking to provide $25,000 grants for up to 15 nonprofit organizations that work on college readiness with young black men in Bay Area public high schools. Click HERE for more information on how to apply!

I’m especially excited to spread the word about Collegeboundbros.org, an online searchable database of college readiness programs for young men. Over the next several months, we’re making a concentrated effort to encourage all appropriate Bay Area organizations to create profiles on the database, which we’ll then begin sharing directly with students and schools. Click HERE to add your organization to the database!

As we already know, creating positive opportunities for our youth – both young men and young women – is CRITICAL to the future well-being of black communities. In the spirit of Harambee, let’s all pull together to ensure that young black men, who are all too often in particularly perilous situations, know that we’re invested in their happiness and success! (And yes, our young brothas CAN and DESERVE TO be happy!)

Last week we had the fortune to host the CiviCon, the first gathering of open source programmers working on CiviCRM, the free relationship management software. CiviCRM provides online fundraising and donor management, event registration, membership management, email blasts, newsletters, and report generation. All for free!

Check out this hella cool message that Mitch recorded (and our colleagues at Kapor Creative illustrated and energized) explaining the achievements and merits of CiviCRM.

Congrats to Demos, which was praised in last Friday’s New York Times for their critical public policy and advocacy work from a progressive perspective. Demos, which will celebrate its 10th anniversary next month, was one of our first grant recipients when we launched the civic engagement focus area in 2007. They remain one of our key grant partner organizations, mostly for their notable work on voter registration modernization and campaign reform.

Keep up the great work (we need it)!

I’m excited to welcome Mario Lugay to the Kapor Foundation as the Associate Program Officer. In this role, Mario will be responsible for the Foundation’s national VoICE grantmaking and movement-building work. Mario will also work with Carmen on our electoral empowerment efforts in California communities of color.
Mario has an extensive background in civic engagement and community organizing. He and I first became acquainted through his work with the Funders’ Committee for Civic Participation (FCCP), the national strategy and affinity group for philanthropy professionals involved with elections and other civic issues. Mario initially joined FCCP and the American Dream Fund as Program Associate and, in 2008, became FCCP’s first Program Director, where he served in this national role until January 2010 (and then we promptly snatched him up!).

Prior to that, Mario worked as the National Coordinator of Racial Justice 911: People of Color Against the War, consulted with Listen, Inc. to help bring a delegation of U.S. youth organizers to the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and was the Development Coordinator for CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities in the Northwest Bronx. Mario has served on CAAAV’s Strategizing Committee and on the Community Funding Board of the North Star Fund in NYC. A native New Yorker, Mario earned a BA in political science from Columbia University.

We consider it quite a coup to be able to work with Mario. Please join us in welcoming him to the Kapor Foundation team!

I am so pleased to welcome Justin Davis to the Kapor Foundation staff as the program coordinator of the College Bound Brotherhood. In this capacity, Justin will create profiles of community-based organizations for our soon-to-be-launched public database of Bay Area college access programs as well as conduct college outreach to young men in Bay Area middle and high schools. He’ll also assist with grantmaking to Bay Area nonprofits working in this realm.

Justin is a Bay Area native and graduated from Stanford University in 2004 with a BA in Communications. He embraced the title of “student athlete” while at Stanford as a power forward for the men’s basketball team, helping guide them to three PAC-10 titles during his athletic campaign (no hateration allowed, Bears and Bruins)! After graduation, Justin pursued his dream of playing professional basketball in multiple European countries and domestically in the NBA.

Justin believes that many of his opportunities are attributed to the numerous mentors and teachers who believed in him and encouraged him to succeed. While no longer a professional athlete, Justin is very committed to helping young men of color receive the same educational and economic opportunities that he’s had. His interest in education, specifically in urban contexts, developed during his undergraduate senior year while taking graduate courses in education.

Justin aims to eventually develop and institute a national college-level program that focuses on the social and academic development of black student athletes, who historically have the lowest graduation rate of student athletes, to help develop them better prepare for post-collegiate professional careers.

We look forward to working with Justin and immersing him in the world of college access in the Bay Area!

We’ve just completed a process to identify new key partner organizations. And while the bulk of our funding will support this cohort, I want to reiterate to the broader community that we are still able to consider quarterly grant requests for special opportunities and efforts like convenings and tech-related work.

If you’re interested in learning more, please feel free to check out our regularly-updated guidelines (or keep reading the blog) and contact us to discuss your ideas.