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This Thursday in downtown Oakland, a ribbon cutting ceremony was held to unveil the heavily anticipated mural project at the future home of the Kapor Center.  Oakland-based artist Favianna Rodriguez Giannoni designer of the larger-than-life mural, worked extensively with Dr. Carmen Rojas and other staff of the Mitchell Kapor Foundation to develop images that not only highlighted the underlying work of the foundation but also artistically expressed why supporting positive social impact is important.

The organizations and programs profiled on the Kapor Center mural are among the local grant recipients of the Kapor Foundation. They include:  Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice, Citizen Engagement Labs, CollegeBoundBros.org (a program of the Kapor Foundation), Ella Baker Center, Green for All, La Cocina, Level Playing Field Institute, and Oakland Rising.  Each one was selected by the artist after she read profiles of their work.

The mural is located at 2148 Broadway in Oakland. The mural is just a small taste of what to expect from the Kapor Center. The building will undergo renovation construction for approximately two years. It will eventually house our offices, meeting and assembly rooms, and limited retail space. It is our hope that some of the space will be open to the community-at-large for rental and pro bono use.

Please go check it out!

Keynote Speaker Angela Davis and Kapor Foundation CEO Cedric Brown at What Works! 2010

This year’s sold out What Works! Convening brought  together more than 100 organizers, academics and funders, showcasing some of the most innovative and exciting social justice efforts happening in communities of color across the country – including, New Orleans, Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, New York, Oakland, and San Francisco among others – while also providing dedicated time and space for strategic dialogue (and socializing!) across sectors of the social justice movement.

As conveners of this event, we were immensely fortunate to work alongside and benefit  from the expertise of our Kapor Enterprise colleagues, our co-sponsors of this years convening, the Ford Foundation, Solidago Foundation and Surdna Foundation, and each of our key grant partners and invited speakers who made What Works! 2010 possible.  A heartfelt thanks to all.  We look forward to collaborating again soon.

And,  don’t forget to check back here for more from What Works! 2010 in the coming weeks.

We’re excited to share that Mitch and Freada Kapor were interviewed and featured in the Fall 2010 edition of Responsive Philanthropy, the quarterly journal of the National Center for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP). This article is an insightful glimpse into what drives their perspectives on philanthropy, both the sector and the personal practice.

NCRP promotes philanthropy that serves the public good, is responsive to people and communities with the least wealth and opportunity, and is held accountable to the highest standards of integrity and openness.  Read the full article HERE. (And never mind that photo – we were just jokin’ around.)

We are excited to host our third annual What Works! Convening November 8-9, 2010 at the David Brower Center in Berkeley. This year’s convening will bring together organizations from across the country working at the cross-section of race, civic engagement, and criminalization. Angela Davis – scholar, life-long activist, and co-founder of Critical Resistance – will be the keynote speaker.

As the national conversation about race has become inundated by the reactionary, exclusive, and xenophobic, the Kapor Foundation sees a critical opportunity to bring together organizers from across the nation – New Orleans, Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, New York and Oakland among others – to deepen their relationships and build a meaningful network of support for the collective well-being. The convening also aims to inform a cross-race and cross-sector national agenda to build political and economic power with low-income people and people of color.

The Kapor Foundation is committed to creating meaningful spaces for its allies and colleagues to share and learn what has worked in their efforts to build power in low-income communities of color. What Works! is the annual manifestation of this commitment. We’re especially pleased that our 2010 gathering is in partnership with the Ford Foundation, Solidago Foundation, and Surdna Foundation.

Panels showcase a range of community-based work: youth organizing in the Bay Area and New York; worker organizing of Black workers in the Midwest, immigrant workers nationally, and cross racial organizing in San Francisco; and long-term civic engagement illustrating the relationship between Oakland and Albuquerque.

What Works! is open to staff and membership of community based organizations, funders, students, academics, and the interested general public. Space is limited. General admission is $50. There is free admission for students (with valid ID) and for staff of grant recipient organizations of the Ford, Kapor, Surdna, and Solidago Foundations. To register for What Works!, go to whatworks2010.eventbrite.com.

Please click the following link to see the convening agenda and speaker bios:  What Works! 2010 Program Booklet

The time has come to get out there and vote!

It’s been a crazy two years since the historic presidential election of President Obama.  Since then, we’ve seen the passage of national health care reform,  the rise of the tea party movement, and the economic crisis strike across the country.  We’ve also seen negative campaign ads, local critical mass, and all kinds of parties to make sure we make it out on election day.  And now the time has come.  A number of our key partner organizations are at the forefront of local and national civic engagement efforts including the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, San Francisco Rising, Oakland Rising, and Voto Latino.  Below are some voter resources, including two voter guides from the League of Women Voters & The Ballot as well as organizational voter guides from the Ella Baker Center and Oakland Rising

League of Women Voters

The Ballot

Ella Baker Center for Human Rights Voter Guide

Oakland Rising

On September 30, the Kapor Foundation’s own Mitchell Kapor and Freada Kapor Klein were honored with the 2010 Inno+prise Award at REDF‘s 2010 Benefit + Social Enterprise Expo.  Secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Matthew Cate, also received the award.

REDF creates jobs for individuals who are overcoming chronic poverty, homelessness, criminal history, substance abuse or mental illness.  REDF created the Inno+prise Award to recognize and celebrate institutions and individuals that work at the intersection of innovation and enterprise to improve the lives of those most heavily impacted by challenging social problems.  The Kapors received the award for their leadership and dedication to ensuring justice, opportunity and equity for vulnerable and underserved populations.

In addition to Mitch and Freada’s recognition, we also celebrated the debut of REDF’s new video at the event, which was created by our own Eric Wong and the KEI Creative team in collaboration with a music producer.  To see the amazing video, click HERE.

Image source: REDF

The Kapor Foundation is pleased to announce a five year renewable gift of $250,000 to U.C. Berkeley’s College of Letters and Science to support the launch of the Berkeley Science Network (BSN).

BSN aims to strengthen the pipeline of students of color in the science disciplines where African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans and Pacific Islanders are most severely underrepresented in academia and industry – mathematics, physical science and computer science.

BSN will create a vibrant academic and social network across generations of scientists of color – from aspiring high school students to undergraduates, graduate students, post-doctoral students, and faculty – by providing formal mentoring, networking, professional development activities and opportunities needed to advance in science.

BSN also will establish an additional connection between the University of California, Berkeley and the Summer Math and Science Honors (SMASH) Academy, a program of the Level Playing Field Institute. SMASH is a three-year summer math and science enrichment program for high achieving, low-income high-school students of color from the Bay Area to excel in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM).  Through the network, SMASH scholars will benefit first hand from the experiential knowledge of Berkeley undergraduates and graduate students who have carved a similar path for themselves.

BSN will directly address one of the most critical domestic labor issues of our day, the development of highly-skilled, “home grown” talent in the sciences, while also creating a critical mass and community for students who are often isolated in their academic pursuits. We look forward to seeing the Berkeley Science Network launch and evolve over the next several years!

My name is Richard Raya. I’m seventeen years old, and will be a senior this year at Berkeley High. I would have to say that I’m something of a nerd- albeit a sociable and athletic one. I love being lazy, reading, writing, playing video games and watching movies. And yet in spite of some of these somewhat immature mannerisms- or perhaps because of them- I have an intense fascination with concepts like equality and justice, and the entire idea of people helping each other. It seems to me that we all have a responsibility, to our communities and to ourselves; to be the very best we can and contribute to the lives of those around us. Thus, I’m very excited to be interning at the Mitchell Kapor Foundation. The work that gets done in the field of social justice is vital- it is the act of helping restore equilibrium to people that have long been marginalized so that we can all become more self sufficient and more powerful in our society. This entails ensuring that people have the means to support themselves, and their community, economically, socially and politically, which subsequently entails community organizing. However, during community organizing endeavors, one key demographic is often overlooked: youth. Youth make up a significant part of a community’s size and creativity, and as such can make a significant impact in the world around them. Young people, although they may lack the power to vote and may not have as much financial power as adults, still retain passion and idealism, and as such can contribute greatly to any social justice campaign’s volume and direction. This summer, I will be delving into various methods of facilitating youth organizing to ultimately conclude what organizations like the Mitchell Kapor Foundation can do to effectively aid youth organizers.

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!