All posts in Social Justice

Kapor Foundation Offices Prepare for Election Day 2010

Encouraging evidence of the growing strength and vibrancy of Latino civic participation continues to emerge.  Unfortunately, deliberate efforts to silence the voice of these communities continue on as well.  In ways similar to the call earlier this year for Latinos to boycott the census in the name of immigration reform, there has been a call for Latinos to not vote this election.  Below is Kapor Foundation key grant partner VotoLatino’s statement in response to this “don’t vote” campaign.

With only a day left until this year’s mid-term election, we hope not only that you vote, and that you encourage your friends, co-workers, family and community members to do the same, but that we also collectively be watchful and vocal about any attempts to disenfranchise or discourage our active participation.

Here at the Mitchell Kapor Foundation offices, we’re gearing up ourselves.  We hope many of you coming over from Oakland, especially you morning casual carpoolers, have seen the “VOTE” sign in our windows, visible from the Fremont Street off-ramp in San Francisco.  And, beginning tomorrow, we will once again host the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law as they corral as many legal professionals as possible throughout the nation to answer calls and assist voters on Election Day through the 1-866-OUR-VOTE voter services Hotline.

Happy early Election Day to everyone!   Looking forward to hearing your own stories from these mid-term elections …

Voto Latino released the following statement regarding Latinos 4 Reform’s “Don’t Vote” campaign:

“While Voto Latino applauds the right for free speech, Voto Latino is fundamentally opposed to any organized effort by community leaders or organizers urging Latinos to sit out of the upcoming mid-term elections. The specific claims by Latinos for Reform are misleading to voters. Voting, no matter your political party or which candidate you support, is the most important civic tool that American Latinos have to be heard and understood by decision makers nationwide.

To be clear, only one thing happens when you don’t vote. You vote against your interest. Instead, you elect your opponent’s interest.

Now, more than ever, American Latinos are feeling squeezed. They have the highest unemployment rate, highest foreclosure rate and highest high school drop out rate. The next Congress will decide our country’s next steps and will take up legislation addressing our community’s top priorities. As a result, it is imperative that American Latinos exercise their vote to ensure that their voice is clear and present.  The American Latino community does not have the luxury to sit this election out.

Voto Latino is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that seeks to educate and empower American Latinos and young people to become engaged in the political process. Through the multi-tiered United We Win campaign, Voto Latino is actively working on a national and local level to get out the vote this mid-term election.”

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

The Windcall Institute has just announced the call for applications for its renowned residency progam, a “mini-sabbatical” for social justice leaders. Windcall is part of our colleague funder, the Common Counsel Foundation. The application deadline is November 30th. Click HERE for more information.

From their announcement:  “A Windcall Residency is a free, mini-sabbatical of three or four weeks, held in a restorative setting with a small cohort of community and labor organizers.  Since 1989, over 435 dedicated organizers have benefited from a Residency (Windcall Alumni).

You will have time to reflect, write, create, engage in physical activities and renew your energies – all in the company of other committed organizers.  Windcall Resident awardees can also access post-Residency coaching.

The Windcall Institute is a national program to renew and develop social, environmental and economic justice organizers.  Our goal is to support valuable leaders staying in their work for the long haul by supporting them in rediscovering their purposes, renewing their energies, working in more sustainable ways, and launching new approaches.”

Just having returned from a sabbatical, I can happily testify about the rejuvenating potential of such a break, so don’t pass up this opportunity!

Photo borrowed from the Windcall website.

Today, October 18th, is the last day to register to vote in the State of California.

If you haven’t already, register through California Secretary of State Debra Bowen’s website or through Kapor Foundation key grant partner, VotoLatino.

Already registered?  Check out these California-based voter engagement alliances, Oakland Rising, San Francisco Rising and the California Alliance.

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

Last week at The California Endowment in Los Angeles, the BMOC (Boys and Young Men of Color – A  Research Project of the Warren Institute) hosted a policy symposium that focused on issues concerning boys and young men of color.  The event, titled: Building Healthy Communities: Improving Educational, Health, Social, and Economic Outcomes for Young Men and Boys of Color,  had a public policy focus on young men and boys of color as a strategy to develop a plan for equitable, sustainable, healthy communities in California and across the nation.

Several community based organizations, community activist, and high school students from across the country participated.  Christopher Edley, Chair and Dean of the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, served as the moderator and did a great job of giving attendees an opportunity to speak and express their concerns and receive feedback from panelist.  The most inspiring part of the Q & A sessions was that the number of young men wanting to step forward and talk about  issues affecting them and their peers.  Many of  these students were proud residents of Oakland, CA and they were not intimated by the names, titles, or number of degrees before them, but rather more interested in talking directly to those who are in a position of power to help better the economical, educational, and social outcomes of their community.  These conversations definitely got the ball rolling for some of the workshops and presenters that touched on such topics as Building Stronger Pathways to Economic Opportunity for Young Men and Boys of Color, Postsecondary Access and Success for Young Men and Boys of Color, and Supporting Young Men and Boys of Color in the Philanthropic Sphere.

The conference was an overall success.  To be around so many individuals of various backgrounds all focused on issues of young men of color was a great experience and I look forward to see what develops from this.

photo source: http://www.boysandmenofcolor.org/

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

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.  

On a panel at the Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy pre-Council on Foundations Conference in April, I presented four suggestions for social justice funders to consider.  Previously, I wrote about the first three of these, Find a Political Home, Build the Vehicles to Move us Forward and Develop your Skills as an Organizer. Below, I share the fourth of four suggestions.

4) Choose to be a Member

To be clear, I would only share this last suggestion with those who already engage their jobs, philanthropy and the larger non-profit sector with a commitment to social justice values and practices.

For those who do, I encourage us to see ourselves as members of a social justice movement rather than as something more removed, rather than to see ourselves simply as supporters.

As I’ve been taught to understand it, membership implies mutuality – mutual investment in one another, mutual ownership of our shared work, mutual accountability to shared goals, and mutual discipline and care in our approach  - in ways that the role or term of supporter or even volunteer do not.  While maybe only a subtle distinction, I do believe that it matters and particularly so in regards to the limits of where we go as a social justice movement.

As an example, a volunteer committee I was a part of became a membership committee of the community based organization with whom we worked.  To get to that point, it took years of working together, many missteps and months of consciously organizing ourselves as volunteers. It was a recognition of the trust, relationships and accountability built between us volunteers and the organization’s existing members and staff, but more importantly for all of us, it was an ask of us … it was an ask to not abdicate our respective positions, privileges or power, but to instead respectively bring them to bear in the organization’s grassroots organizing efforts and to tie our development, our growth and levels of commitment and responsibility with those of the organization’s other members.  As a funder, it’s also been the ask that I’ve been trying to answer in the affirmative.

End note: I realized in drafting these four suggestions, that any one of us could be entirely successful in our foundation jobs without following any of them.  But, having been in philanthropy now for some time, I’ve increasingly come to believe that to be successful as social justice funders we must at least consider thoughtfully each of these four suggestions.  And, I guess my hope is that for an increasing number of us, success as social justice funders is what we’re working towards.