All posts in Social Justice

NAACP LDF "Redrawing the Lines" Video

With the release of new population data from last year’s decennial Census, district lines within states will now have to be redrawn so that every district is roughly equal in population size and, as a result, each person is equally represented in governemnt.  This process of redistricting will figuratively and literally shape the conditions within which we work and live, affecting all levels of government from local school boards and city councils to state legislatures and the United House of Representatives for the decade to come.

Unfortunately, redistricting has proved less straightforward and less fair than we might hope for in a representative democracy.  Section 2 and Section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, in fact, were specifically written to address prevalent partisan and discriminatory redistricting practices.

Below are two resources, a website and a guide, that each serve as primers on what redistricting is and what the responsibilities are of us, of elected officials and, in California, of redistricting commissions to ensure a just and equitable redrawing of political lines. We hope you’ll take the time to learn more and participate in the process where possible.

NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc.: www.redrawingthelines.org |  Brennan Center:  A Citizen’s Guide to Redistricting

Are you dissatisfied with the government policies being made in your local community? Would you like to help make sure voices like yours gets heard in local policy meetings? Would you like to have a cohort of progressive leaders with the same leadership training available to support your efforts to make change in your community?

If so, you should learn more about Urban Habitat‘s Boards and Commissions Leadership Institute at their upcoming information session!

Urban Habitat’s Boards and Commissions Leadership Institute (BCLI) identifies, supports, trains, and places low-income people and people of color in priority boards and commissions seats around the Bay Area. The BCLI prioritizes seats that influence equity in the areas of transportation, equitable development, housing, jobs, and climate change. Graduates form a network of progressive leaders who are technically and politically prepared and supported to make decisions that reflect the needs and interests of low-income communities and communities of color. Graduates have the capacity and community support to advance a regional agenda for economic, environmental, and social justice and serve as the next generation of progressive officials who are representative of and accountable to the region’s most burdened populations.

Come hear how the BCLI has empowered and supported the next generation of advocates working for and representing the needs of low-income communities and communities of color, and learn about the nomination, interview, and selection process. You will also be able to meet Alumni who will be available to answer questions and share their experiences.

Logistics:

Date: February 18th, 2011
Time: 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Location: East Bay Community Foundation, 200 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Oakland

RSVP to Riana Shaw Robinson at riana(AT)urbanhabitat(DOT)org!

Image Source: Urban Habitat, 2009 BCLI Graduates

Please help spread the word to people in your network about the call for nominations for the $100,000 Purpose Prize.

In its sixth year, The Purpose Prize provides major recognition to community leaders, 60 years and older, who are creating new ways to solve our most pressing social issues – from health care to the environment, poverty to education. It is the nation’s only large-scale investment in social innovators in the second half of life.

I’ve served as part of the selection process for the past three years, and the nominations and work from people throughout our communities is amazing, as are the entrepreneurial ideas that people develop.

Nominations – including self-nominations – are due by March 31, 2011 at www.encore.org/prize.

I don’t know about other folks of color, but whenever I hear about a shooting, a terrible accident, or any form of violence, I pray real hard that it wasn’t committed by a person of color.  That was my first thought on Sunday after hearing about the tragic shooting of Gabrielle Gifffords and nine innocent people by a young man in Tucson, Arizona.  I was no more relieved when I heard it was a young white man who had committed this senseless act, but it did raise a number of critical questions for me, as a woman of color, and for our country, which is clearly suffering from it’s criminalization of people of color.  These questions included:

- If the shooter had been of South Asian descent, as was Major Nidal Malik Hasan the shooter at Fort Hood in 2009, would this shooting be considered an act of ‘home grown terrorism’?

- If voter’s in Arizona were more concerned with gun control than the policing of Latino immigrants, by enforcing ID checks and shutting down Chicano & Mexican American studies courses, would this have happened?

- If Barbara Lee had placed crosshairs over the district of a  Republican opponent, as Sarah Palin did over Gifford’s district, what would the prospects of her political future be?

- When senseless acts of violence are committed by white people, primarily white men, why don’t all white people feel responsible? Remember the Virginia tech shooting when the whole country of South Korea apologized to the US for the shooting committed by an American of Korean descent?

- And last but not least, when will it be the case that there could be a couple of crazy folks of color without it falling on all of our shoulders when someone is clearly in need of mental health services?

The Freedom From Fear Award is a new national award that will honor fifteen ordinary people who have committed extraordinary acts of courage on behalf of immigrants and refugees—individuals who have taken a risk, set an example, and inspired others to awareness or action. The award seeks to honor unsung heroes who are not professional advocates. Based on nominations from everyday people, awardees will receive a $5,000 cash award.

Nominations and self-nominations will be accepted from anyone, excluding members of the Selection Committee members, their family members, and close associates. There will be a strict conflict-of-interest policy governing members of the Selection Committee.

Nominations close on February 28, 2011. All completed forms, supporting documents, photographs, video and music files must be submitted by this date. Entries will not be accepted after this date.

To get more information, visit the Freedom from Fear Award website. No paper nominations or attachments will be accepted. The writing skill of the nominator will matter less than the power of the story. One or two references will also be requested.

Image Source: Freedom from Fear Award website

From December 6-8th, Cedric and I had the opportunity to attend the Funders’ Committee for Civic Participation (FCCP)’s 2010 Winter Convening, Is there a New Normal. As all FCCP conferences do, this one provided us with a space to learn, to think, to build and deepen our relationships with funder colleagues… in short, a space to increase our capacity to be effective and informed civic participation funders.

The breadth and scope of topics covered, concerning the range of interconnected, and often interdependent, issues that fall under a large civic participation umbrella, are much too large to cover all here.  Instead, and in the spirit of the conference’s theme, I thought I’d share a few links that can provide a glimpse of the new normal at this year’s gathering:

• Consideration of the Relationship between Culture & Politics:  “Cultural change is often the dress rehearsal for political change. Or put in another way, political change is the final manifestation of cultural shifts that have already occurred.” – Jeff Chang

• Testing out Technology Tools Transforming Civic Engagement:  National Field |  Sunlight Foundation |  Presente.org |  Voting Information Project

• Exploring Race and the New Normal, Particularly in this Year’s Political Campaigns:  Featuring the work and people (Ludovic Blain and Camille Zubrinsky) of the American Values Institute

Enjoy!

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.)

Ten days after the national mid-term elections, there is still much to digest about the implications of the electorate shifts. Attached are two excellent resources from the Funders Committee for Civic Participation:

FCCP 2010 Election Roundup (Word doc with live links)- A great compilation of analyses on policy issues, polling, and state-level elections.

Post-Election Analysis by Lake Research Partners (pdf) by Lake Research Partners

From a progressive (yet nonpartisan!) vantage point, some of this information is hard to read and accept, but these trends will have a pronounced impact on overall efforts to ensure fuller voting access and enthusiastic civic participation for all.