Meet the Latest Partners for Places Grantees | Six Communities Receive Grants for Community-led Sustainability Projects
BY TFN STAFF
They are turning a defunct hospital site into an urban sustainability farm and an empty field into an outdoor classroom. They are working to shield community gardens from the pressures of development. And they are striving to help underserved neighborhoods become greener, cooler and more resilient to the ravages of climate change.
The newest round of Partners for Places grantees, announced today by The Funders Network (TFN) and the Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN), showcases the creative and collaborative efforts happening at the local level to create equitable and sustainable communities.
In all, six U.S. communities will receive more than $380,000 in Partners for Places grants, plus matching funds from local partners, to support sustainability efforts that focus largely on advancing frontline community needs and priorities.
“These projects show how lifting up the voices of those disproportionately impacted by climate change — low-income communities and people of color — can help drive innovative, equitable approaches to complex issues,” said Pat Smith, president and CEO of TFN. “By bringing together local governments, place-based funders and frontline community-led groups, these grantees are also building relationships that will fuel even more action and collaboration at the grassroots level.”
The six communities receiving this latest round of Partners for Places grants are: Anchorage, Alaska; Boulder County and the cities of Boulder and Longmont, Col.; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Cleveland, Ohio; Richmond, Va., and Rochester, N.Y.
Meet the New Grantees!
In Richmond, where decades of disinvestment and inequitable policies have created drastic climate-related inequities such as heat-related illnesses in the Southside neighborhood, Partners for Places will help fund a neighbor-led greening plan that addresses the root causes of climate injustice and restores decision-making power to Black and Latinx communities that have historically been marginalized in city planning and environmental projects.
The need to address brutal temperatures and other neighborhood issues inspired action in Chattanooga, which will use Partners for Places funding to improve the predominantly Black neighborhood of Orchard Knob – which suffers from an aging housing stock, inland flooding, and high surface temperatures due to urban heat island effect. The grant will support efforts to plant trees, transform the site of a demolished building into public green space, and make neighborhood homes safer and more energy efficient.
In Colorado, Boulder County along with the cities of Boulder and Longmont will use the matching grant to fund the formation of a climate justice collaborative that centers equity and justice to advance climate action and sustainability efforts. The frontline community member-led collaborative will create and apply a racial equity framework, shifting power structures and enacting just solutions to local climate change issues.
The Beechwood neighborhood of Rochester is home to community gardens that have transformed abandoned lots into healthy spaces, providing access to nutritious produce and instilling a sense of pride among residents. But mounting development pressures have prompted concerns that the community gardens may disappear. This Partners for Places grant will help fund physical improvements, crop planning, environmental education and youth employment opportunities. The gardens on city-owned land will also be purchased and entered into a community land trust, shielding these beloved community resources from development.
In Alaska and Ohio, new Partners for Places funding will support efforts to reimagine empty, unused spaces into gathering places that celebrate nature, connect to cultural traditions and promote community healing:
In Anchorage, the grant will be used to help turn the site of a demolished hospital into an urban sustainability farm, located within the traditional land of the Dena’ina Athabascan people, to be called the Stickleback Farm and Native Heritage Garden. The transformation will include the creation of a workforce development program for young people, increase access to local foods, provide space for mental health workshops and educate other Alaskan communities about climate resilient agriculture.
In Cleveland, Partners for Places funding will be used to turn a vacant field in the predominantly Black neighborhood of Buckeye-Woodhill into The Ubuntu Gathering Place, a vibrant outdoor space inspired by the Nguni Bantu term meaning “I am because we are.” The gathering place will feature an outdoor amphitheater, a community gathering plaza depicting the continent of Africa, and a memorial space. The project, which received a Partners for Places Green Infrastructure matching grant, will also help mitigate flooding and other water management issues by rerouting stormwater to a vegetated infiltration basin that will become the centerpiece of an outdoor classroom.
Matching Funders & Community-led Groups
The latest Partners for Places grant recipients, matching funders and frontline community-led groups are:
Anchorage, Alaska ($75,000): To convert a vacant site into tan urban sustainability farm to be called the Stickleback Farm and Native Heritage Garden that will increase access to local foods, provide additional work opportunities to homeless and at-risk populations, and provide space for mental health workshops and educational programs. Frontline community-led group: Alaska Seeds of Change, a program of Alaska Behavioral Health. Matching funder: Alaska Conservation Foundation ($75,000).
Boulder County and Cities of Boulder and Longmont, Col. ($108,000): To develop a frontline community member-led collaborative that creates and applies a racial equity framework to support just solutions to climate change. Frontline community-led groups: Community-Driven Climate Justice and Resilience Group; Equitable Climate Action Team. Matching funder: Philanthropiece Foundation ($108,000).
Chattanooga, Tenn. ($25,000): To transform the historically underserved Orchard Knob neighborhood through structural, hardscape and softscape improvements, reducing inland flooding and the urban heat island effect. Frontline community-led group: Orchard Knob Neighborhood Association. Matching funder: Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga ($25,000).
Cleveland, Ohio. ($75,000): To transform an empty field into the Ubuntu Gathering Place, a new public park that includes green spaces for community gatherings, learning opportunities, cultural performances and more. The project will also help mitigate flooding and other water management issues by filtering stormwater to a vegetated infiltration basin that will become the centerpiece of a green infrastructure outdoor classroom. Frontline community-led and partner groups: Burten, Bell, Carr Development, Inc.; East End Neighborhood House; Western Reserve Land Conservancy. Matching funder: Saint Luke’s Foundation ($75,000).
Richmond, Va. ($25,000): To create and implement a neighbor-led greening plan that centers people who are directly impacted by climate injustice and seeks to repair decades of systemic disinvestment in South Richmond. Frontline community-led groups: Southside ReLeaf; Virginia Community Voice. Matching funder: Virginia Outdoor Foundation ($25,000).
Rochester, N.Y. ($76,425): To advance environmental justice in the Beechwood neighborhood and establish equitable city land sale policy through collaboration from government, nonprofits, and our local community foundation. Frontline community-led groups: City Roots Community Land Trust; St. Mark's & St. John's Episcopal Church; Taproot Collective. Matching funds requested from: Rochester Area Community Foundation ($76,425).
About Partners for Places
Partners for Places, led by the The Funders Network (TFN) in partnership with the Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN), will provide $384,425 in funding to these six communities through the grant program. With contributions from local matching funders, a total of $768,850 will be committed to fund sustainability projects in these selected communities. This grant cycle includes $75,000 — plus the local matching funds — awarded to the green stormwater infrastructure project in Cleveland. TFN and USDN have partnered with the Green Infrastructure Leadership Exchange, a practitioner network that supports communities seeking to grow green stormwater infrastructure programs, to support outreach efforts.
To date, Partners for Places has awarded nearly $8.5 million across North America in this successful matching grant program, leading to over $18 million in investments.
The matching grant program brings national funder investors together with place-based funders to support equitable sustainable climate action and green stormwater infrastructure projects. The program is currently supported by five investor foundations: The JPB Foundation, The Kendeda Fund, The Kresge Foundation, the New York Community Trust, and the Pisces Foundation.
Partners for Places FAQ's
→ Where is Partners for Places making an impact?
Read previous grant announcements and explore the Partners for Places Grantee Map here.
→ Where can I learn about completed Partners for Places projects?
Visit the Partners for Places Idea Bank to explore what grantees are doing, learning and sharing.
→ When is the next round of Partners for Places matching grants?
Partners for Places will open a new round of funding in late February 2022.
For more information about Partners for Places, please reach out to Ashley Quintana, ashley@fundersnetwork.org.
TFN 2022 Annual Conference: Call for Proposals!
BY TFN STAFF
Please note: This post was updated 7/7 to reflect the extended deadline. The new deadline for the TFN2022 Call for Proposals is July 12, 2021.
The Funders Network’s 2022 Annual Conference: Seize the Moment is scheduled to take place March 14 -16 in San Diego, California.
TFN invites you to submit a session proposal for our 2022 Annual Conference, which brings together funders from across North America to deepen learning, foster collaboration and catalyze action.
Our theme for our 2022 Annual Conference — Seize the Moment — is an opportunity to come together after more than a year of disruption to share how we can deepen our ties to the people and places we serve, deploy resources where they are most needed, and push for powerful and creative strategies to address inequities and move toward justice.
TFN’s Annual Conference brings together funders from across North America to explore the strategies and stories that are creating more equitable, sustainable, and resilient places to live.
This work has been central to our network since our inception.
But we recognize that the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, coupled with a long-overdue national reckoning on racial justice, has presented us with a singular moment in history. How can we move forward with purpose and impact? How do we meet this moment?
We will explore other questions such as:
▪How can philanthropy best support grassroot organizations that are leading community-powered efforts to combat the climate crisis, address racial injustice, and build economic opportunities?
▪As communities seek to rebound from the disastrous health, social and economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, how do we ensure a truly equitable recovery?
▪How can the sector effectively advocate for equitable policies at the local, state and regional level – and leverage its reputational capital to combat disinformation and defend against the erosion of civil liberties?
▪What are the tools and strategies that break down silos, unlock potential and improve outcomes, especially for marginalized and underrepresented communities?
We look forward to coming together in San Diego to delve into and lift up the work that is making an impact in these challenging and unprecedented times.
This call for session proposals is open until July 12, 2021
Submitting a Proposal
→ Read the TFN Conference Proposal Guidelines for information on review and selection criteria, session formats and more.
→ Share your proposed session via our Online Proposal Form.
Grounded in Racial Equity
Our conference planning committee and TFN team are encouraging session ideas that are interdisciplinary, cross-cutting and grounded in racial equity.
TFN recently completed a strategic planning process that centered racial equity as both cross-cutting and foundational.
TFN’s Strategic & Racial Equity Frameworks share key strategies, our racial equity framework and action plan, and program priorities. Download a copy here.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
How can Community Development Capital Promote Health Equity in Smaller Cities? Join TFN's 6/15 Inclusive Economies webinar to learn more
BY TFN STAFF
Smaller cities present distinct opportunities, including strong entrepreneurial spirit and growth potential, to advance health equity in ways that create outsize impacts for relatively small price tags. But these small and midsize cities face many challenges in attracting and sustaining community investment capital.
Join TFN's Inclusive Economies for a June webinar that will explore the insights and lessons shared, including the challenges and promising strategies to improve community investment systems in smaller places — and the important role funders can play in supporting key partnerships and projects that advance health equity in those communities.
How Community Development Capital Can Promote Health Equity in Smaller Cities takes place on June 15 at 2:30 p.m. ET. (Register here.)
We’ll be joined by Don Hinkle-Brown, CEO of the Reinvestment Fund, a mission-driven financial institution that provides analytical tools and financing to strengthen neighborhoods, scale social enterprises, and build resilient communities. As a product of Reinvestment Fund’s Invest Health initiative, a report by Urban Institute called Making Community Development Capital Work in Small to Midsized Cities describes the challenges small and midsize cities can face in attracting and sustaining the capital needed to develop a pipeline of community development projects. From 2019 to 2020, the Reinvestment Fund convened a series of roundtables with community development investment practitioners who have financed projects that aim to improve the social determinants of health in small and mid-sized cities through community development capital.
Join us to explore the insights and lessons shared, including the challenges and promising strategies to improve community investment systems in smaller places — and the important role funders can play in supporting key partnerships and projects that advance health equity in those communities.
This webinar will also include real-world models to illustrate lessons learned in implementing strategies to improve community investment systems in smaller places with a health equity-promoting lens.
Speakers
Don Hinkle-Brown, CEO, Reinvestment Fund
Raquel Favela, Senior Director, National Development Council
Brian Payne, Executive Director, CDFI Friendly Bloomington
Registration
How Community Development Capital Can Promote Health Equity in Smaller Cities
June 15 | 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. ET
Register here.
Please register for this funder-only webinar by June 11 to receive log-in information.
About TFN’s Inclusive Economies
TFN’s Inclusive Economies working group brings place-based funders and related partners from across the sector together to build working relationships, advancing understanding of practices and policies that lead to inclusive prosperity and taking joint action that drives the field forward. We apply a three-part focus — race, place and prosperity — to economic growth and development.
A particular goal is connecting people and neighborhoods of color to employment and wealth-building opportunities through investment, systems change, and policy reform.
For more information, please contact Hazel Paguaga at hazel@fundersnetwork.org.
"Athletic exercise on foot and on bicycle" by pedrosimoes7 is licensed under CC BY
Photo by Orione Conceição is licensed under CC0
How can data and storytelling bring a greenway to life? Join the Collaboration of Regional Trail Initiatives for a June 3 webinar
BY TFN STAFF
How can data and storytelling bring a greenway to life? Join the Collaboration of Regional Trail Initiatives Trail Funders Working Group for a June 3 webinar to explore just that.
Five years after cutting a ribbon on the Razorback Regional Greenway, a bold and ambitious 37-mile greenway trail system connecting all of the large communities within the Northwest Arkansas region, the greenway network and supporting culture continues to grow.
Research, surveys and trend data have all enabled public officials to advocate for sustained funding and continued growth of a cycling infrastructure and a burgeoning cycling culture. As the Walton Family Foundation launches a new five-year strategy, how do they see communities sustain this effort and build upon its success, and what lessons might they learn as they work with partners to foster greater connection and expand access to all residents in the communities?
Please join Jeremy Pate, senior program officer with the Walton Family Foundation based in Bentonville, Ark., as he leads a conversation about the tools of measurement that Northwest Arkansas has used to tell a story, compel public interest, and educate and advocate for continued funding and development of greenway trails.
RSVP
Data and Storytelling to Bring Regional Greenways to Life
Wednesday June 2, 3 to 4 p.m. ET
To RSVP for this funder-only event, please email Hannah Clemenson at hclemenson@pecpa.org
The Funders Network is a co-sponsor of this funder-only webinar presented by the Collaboration of Regional Trail Initiatives Trail Funders Working Group.
About the Collaboration of Regional Trail Initiatives
The Collaboration of Regional Trail Initiatives (CRTI) is a network of regional trail organizations born out of a desire to better understand the challenges and issues being faced regional trails groups, to learn from and share with other practitioners, and explore the potential of facing shared obstacles together by leveraging our collective visions and impacts. CRTI brings together trail visionaries from across the country. Within the group, foundation representatives meet to discuss issues related specifically to their role in furthering this work. For more information, please reach out to Hannah Clemenson, program coordinator at the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, at hclemenson@pecpa.org.
I’m Not Just a ‘Model Minority’: Why AAPI voices are essential to the fight for justice — and how philanthropy can help
BY Jonathan Hui, The Kresge Foundation, TFN PLACES Alum
I am a first-generation immigrant from Hong Kong. Home for me is a complicated web of California, and Michigan, and Hong Kong. I am grateful for my adopted country, and every day I miss the sounds and smells of my birthplace.
And yet I was often taught that being as “American” as possible was the best — if not only — way to succeed in this country.
Speak fluent English. Learn the seventh-inning stretch. Remember that football involves touchdowns and not goals.
As I learned to assimilate, I also leaned into the stereotype of the “model minority”: the hard-working Asian overcoming all odds to achieve the American Dream. I held on to this mythic vision of myself as a way of propping myself up, something that offered validation and access white-led spaces in schools and the workplace.
What I didn’t realize, however, was that the model minority myth is just that. A myth.
It is a myth because it didn’t, and shouldn’t, define me or my community.
It is a myth because it was a stereotype created not to prop up Asian Americans, but to pit people of color against each other. The “model minority” term, coined by a white sociologist, was subsequently used by politicians to discredit the need to address racial injustices toward other peoples of color. It compares the success of Asian Americans to that of our other BIPOC brothers and sisters. It does not celebrate our achievements, but serves to imply the inferiority of others.
As we recognize Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month this May, I invite you to celebrate and elevate the unique stories of your AAPI neighbors around the country. No two AAPI stories in the United States are the same. Each brings a complex web of family histories and life experiences that have shaped our journey in this country. Our stories embody remarkable achievement and incredible pain of real people, far beyond the one-dimensional myth of the “model minority.”
I recall the countless times I’ve been asked: “How did your English get so good?” The unspoken but clear implication being that there was something wrong with the English spoken by my fellow immigrants. And in our nation’s political discourse, we still hear stories of AAPI entrepreneurs and leaders highlighted as examples only to be asked: “If you made it, why can’t they make it?”
But this myth hasn’t translated into reality for AAPI people, including our representation in governance and business. AAPIs make up 6% of the nation’s population, but less than 1% of its elected officials at any level. In business, AAPIs make up 12% of the nation’s workforce, but only 1.5% of Fortune 500 corporate officers. Those rates are similarly appalling for our Black and brown peers in business, despite their hard-earned gains in the political sphere.
What I didn’t realize, therefore, was that my claiming the role of model minority came at the expense of my fellow AAPIs, and my Black and brown brothers and sisters. It taught me lies I internalized over time: How I prided myself at the expense of my fellow immigrants for my language fluency, or how I found myself questioning others’ success — or seeming lack of success — while being blinded by my own privilege and access to certain opportunities.
What does privilege look like for me, a member of the AAPI diaspora? My own access to education, my family’s access to wealth-building opportunities, my being welcomed into white-dominant spaces as the “model minority” have all contributed to privilege I have experienced in this country.
Indeed, I am responsible for buying into that myth, and yet am determined that I can no longer allow a myth that has perpetuated white-centeredness to reign supreme over how I view my brothers and sisters of color.
Even within the AAPI community, the model minority myth generalizes the AAPI experience. It shows our community as a monolith rather than an interconnected web of cultures, languages and peoples from hundreds of different Asian and Pacific cultures. It ignores what makes each of us human.
The response in many corners of our country to the recent murders of seven Asian women and their colleagues in Atlanta demonstrated this dehumanization. Rather than focusing on the heinous acts, commentary focused on the women’s jobs, comparing their careers to the story of the model minority. Rather than telling the stories of the women that lost their lives, we created space to somehow justify the murderer’s fetishization of Asian women. People, somehow, started asking questions of the women: “If these other Asians made it, why couldn’t they make it?”
So as we celebrate AAPI Heritage Month during the month of May, I invite you to hear the stories of your AAPI neighbors and to honor what makes each of them their own. Each story brings a different experience of immigration, of navigating the tension of cultural identity, of learning new and old languages, of food and family, of each of our intersecting identities.
And if you asked me to share my story, I would tell you about how I have to explain “where I’m from” to strangers. I would tell you about how I was determined to stay fluent in Cantonese so I can speak to my grandparents. About teaching English and civics to American high school students. About how I have come to understand my place as an Asian man living in a majority Black city like Detroit.
About how, after all these years, I am still juggling my American patriotism and Chinese cultural identity.
Mine is the story of just one person — a first-generation, Chinese, heterosexual, Christian man working in philanthropy. There are countless other AAPI experiences that deserve to be lifted up and amplified.
Who else will you invite to share their story?
Through these stories, I hope that we will find ways to celebrate what makes each of us unique. That our stories will tell of our community’s power, and hope, and complexity. That each of these stories will catalyze a shift in our culture and our policies. I hope that we will start by dismantling the dominance of white-centeredness that continues to pervade our nation — one that dehumanizes peoples of color and pits BlPOC communities against each other. I hope that I will continue to learn how I can join in a journey of shared liberation with my Black, brown and Indigenous brothers and sisters, and with the advocacy alongside our white allies, recognizing that none of us will truly experience freedom and liberation in this country unless we all do.
What Can Funders Do?
There is much we can do as funders to change the narrative of AAPI communities in our country.
1. Learn More
Read the “State of Philanthropy Among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders,” which provides a thorough analysis of AAPIs in the nonprofit and philanthropic sector, and proposes a set of recommendations for policymakers and funders. (You can also read about another recent AAPIP study, “Seeking to Soar: Foundation Funding for Asian American & Pacific Islander Communities”, on the TFN Blog.) I would also encourage you to read this call for solidarity and collective action from Asian American/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy, released in the wake of the Atlanta attacks.
2. Reject the Model Minority Myth
Rejecting the model minority myth opens the door for more equitable and effective policymaking and funding. Rather than seeing the AAPI experience as a prepackaged set of identities and stories, policymakers should ask the right questions to fully understand the experience of each person, and each sub-culture and subgroup.
We can start by using disaggregating data, which allows us to target interventions that support different communities within the AAPI umbrella. The percentage of Indian and Malaysian Americans with a bachelor’s degree in California (70% and 63%, respectively) is dramatically higher than those for Laotian (10%) and Samoan (12%) Americans. Poverty rates are similarly disproportionate: 42% of Hmong youth and 33% of Cambodian youth live in poverty in California, compared to between 6 and 7% of Taiwanese or Japanese youth.
We increase our understanding of the challenges faced by each sub-group as we continue to disaggregate. Think, for example, about our LGBTQIA AAPI neighbors, the elderly, or those with physical disabilities. It is only by recognizing the unique challenges faced by each subgroup that we can truly address the needs that span across the communities that make up the AAPI umbrella in the United States.
3. Recognize the Context of Place
We know that the challenges faced by AAPI communities in the San Francisco Bay Area and New York are different than those in Southeast Michigan or New Orleans. Each faces a different context of poverty and economic opportunity, housing regulations, school segregation, state and local laws that enhance or restrict access to voting, and much more. And in this era of increased violence and hate crimes toward AAPI communities, we must also recognize how the context of place shapes the safety and security experienced by our AAPI neighbors.
I hope you’ll find time to hear the stories of your AAPI neighbors, not just during AAPI Heritage Month, but year-round.
I hope you’ll honor those stories and hear within them how our shared tears of joy and sorrow have built our collective power.
I hope you’ll work alongside your AAPI colleagues to better examine how design of policies and funding programs can best address the priorities of the many communities within the AAPI family.
And I hope you’ll join us in a fight for the shared liberation of all peoples of color — of all people — as we march toward justice and opportunity in this country.
About the Author
Jonathan Hui is a program officer at The Kresge Foundation, supporting the Detroit Program’s work in early childhood and neighborhood development. He joined the foundation in 2017. (Read his full bio here.) Jonathan was also a member of TFN’s 2019 PLACES Fellowship cohort, embarking on a year-long leadership development program for professionals in philanthropy to better understand issues of race, equity and inclusiveness, and recently joined the PLACES Advisory Board.
“Origami – order out of chaos” by docoverachiever is licensed under CC BY
Read AAPIP's Study: Seeking to Soar: Foundation Funding for Asian American & Pacific Islander Communities
BY TFN STAFF
Earlier this spring, Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy released a report examining the level of foundation investments in AAPI communities — and whether it has kept pace with changing demographics and needs over the past three decades.
The report was released in the wake of the deadly and racially motivated attacks on Asian-owned businesses in Atlanta, part of a disturbing uptick in anti-Asian violence during the pandemic that has been fueled by rhetoric wrongly blaming Asians for the spread of COVID and tapping into long-held xenophobia and racism against AAPI communities.
As part of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and in keeping with The Funders Network's commitment to encourage investment and philanthropic leadership that supports racial equity, we are sharing this study with our TFN audience. (We also invite you to read this blog post from TFN PLACES Alum Jonathan Hui of The Kresge Foundation, sharing his experiences as an immigrant from Hong Kong and reflecting on the role philanthropy can play in supporting the AAPI community.)
According to AAPIP's report, Seeking to Soar: Foundation Funding for Asian American & Pacific Islander Communities, "foundation funding designated for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities only accounts for 0.20 percent of all U.S. grantmaking."
Or, as the report further notes: "[f]or every $100 awarded by foundations for work in the United States, only 20 cents is designated for AAPI communities."
While the population of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the U.S. has seen substantial growth, foundation funding for AAPI communities flatlined — and those funding dollars are "heavily concentrated among a handful of foundations" that account for nearly 40 percent of all philanthropic support for AAPI communities, according to the AAPIP report.
While the report focuses on the period between 2009 and 2018, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and its impacts on the AAPI community have thrown the data into sharp relief.
As AAPIP's President and CEO Patricia Eng and Interim Vice President of Programs Lyle Matthew Kan note in the report's introduction:
"Similar to the experiences of Black, Latinx, and Native American communities, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have been and continue to be disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. COVID-19 infection rates for Pacific Islanders were consistently among the highest in the country, undercounted and hidden without the magnifying glass of disaggregated data. As the country shut down, Asian American unemployment rates increased by more than 450 percent from February to June 2020, the highest rate of increase of any racial group. Moreover, nearly one in four Asian Americans were employed as frontline workers — risking their own health and safety to stem the tide of the infection and get the country back on track."
They further note that "[i]n the face of great disparities and challenges, the fact that the percentage of philanthropic dollars designated for AAPIs has not moved in at least three decades, is cause to raise many eyebrows."
You can read more key takeaways, download the full report, and access infographics from the report via the AAPIP website.
More resources and information from AAPIP
- Register for their May 24 webinar, Invisible Ink - AAPI Representation in the Media & Perpetuation of the Model Minority Myth
- Read this open letter to philanthropy, A Call for Solidarity and Collective Action: Asian American Philanthropy Letter of Intention
- Visit AAPIP's Supporting API Communities Resource Directory, created to mobilize the philanthropic sector towards meaningful action in the midst of heightened violence and hate targeting Asian American communities.
"Origami - order out of chaos" by docoverachiever is licensed under CC BY
Save the Date: Summer Strategy Series with TFN's Mobility and Access Collaborative
BY TFN STAFF
Mobility advocates, activists and funders have found themselves at the crossroads of these intersecting issues over the past year: A deepening climate crisis. Persistent racial and ethnic inequities. The economic and social fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.
They have moved with urgency and purpose in communities across the country. What have we learned? Where are the opportunities for impact? And what comes next in the fight to advance sustainable and equitable mobility?
Join the Mobility and Access Collaborative, an initiative of The Funders Network, for a three-part Summer Strategy Series this June.
These interactive sessions are designed around facilitated funder-to-funder conversations — giving us a chance to connect, share and strategize together.
We hope you'll save the date for these sessions below.
Celebrate
June 8 | 1-2:30 p.m. ET
Get inspired as we share the "Top 10" wins and great projects focused on mobility and access, and how they can serve as helpful lessons and replicable models.
Statewide Struggles
June 15 | 1-2:30 p.m. ET
Dive into the challenges and opportunities at the state level, including efforts to fight highway expansions, support funding measures, and bend the curve towards climate and equity.
Crystal Ball
June 22 | 1-2:30 p.m.
What's next on the mobility and access front? We'll hear from leading thinkers in the sector on how to build and keep momentum on the road ahead.
Stay tuned for updates on speakers and registration info!
About the Mobility and Access Collaborative
The Mobility and Access Collaborative, an initiative of The Funders Network, is an action-oriented effort that recognizes the urgency for ambitious — and quickly implemented — solutions to limit the devastating impacts of climate change. Join the collaborative's listserv by emailing Hazel@fundersnetwork.org
"Mayor Rick Kriseman Helps Students Cross Safely" by CityofStPete is licensed under CC BY-ND
American Rescue Plan: Join TFN's Inclusive Economies webinar to learn how funders can help communities leverage federal dollars
By TFN Staff
Communities across the U.S. are poised for an unprecedented infusion of direct and programmatic funds through the American Rescue Plan (ARP), a historically ambitious $1.9 trillion economic stimulus bill intended to help the country rebound from the coronavirus pandemic and its ongoing economic impacts.
This cash infusion is desperately needed in communities where the pandemic has wrought economic havoc and worsened already stark inequities. But many cities — notably small and mid-sized municipalities — often lack the capacity to access federal dollars, navigate funding requirements, and build projects that create meaningful and equitable impacts.
How can funders help communities access and leverage these critical federal dollars to ensure the best outcomes for people and places?
Join TFN’s Inclusive Economies at 3 p.m. May 19 for a funder-only webinar, American Rescue Plan: How Funders Can Help Leverage Federal Dollars for Local Impact.
This webinar will highlight the role that funders can play as a support structure for the implementation of ARP funds in local communities. This includes the Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund’s $350 billion for states, municipalities, counties, tribes, and territories, according to the National League of Cities, which has developed a scalable structure to empower cities large and small to create local impact through the ARP.
Please register here for this funder-only webinar by May 17 in order to receive login information.
Join us for a discussion with:
Jane Alexander
President & CEO, Community Foundation for Mississippi
Dr. Robert Blaine
Director, NLC’s Institute for Youth, Education and Families
Paula Sammons
Senior Program Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Scot Spencer
Associate Director, Local Policy, The Annie E. Casey Foundation (moderator)
About TFN’s Inclusive Economies
TFN’s Inclusive Economies working group brings place-based funders and related partners from across the sector together to build working relationships, advancing understanding of practices and policies that lead to inclusive prosperity and taking joint action that drives the field forward. We apply a three-part focus — race, place and prosperity — to economic growth and development. A particular goal is connecting people and neighborhoods of color to employment and wealth-building opportunities through investment, systems change, and policy reform.For more information, please contact Hazel Paguaga at hazel@fundersnetwork.org.
"Des Moines Teachers Begin to Get Vaccine" by Phil Roeder is licensed under CC BY
"Des Moines Teachers Begin to Get Vaccine" by Phil Roeder is licensed under CC BY
Cleveland Fed's Policy Summit 2021 will focus on economic resilience & equity
BY TFN STAFF
Policy Summit 2021: Pathways to Economic Resilience in Our Communities, organized by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, will focus on economic resilience and equity and how they play out in communities of all sizes and compositions. The event, which takes place June 23-25, will highlight the policies and practices that support or hinder people in our most vulnerable communities from being able to prepare for, adapt to, and respond to shocks and stresses.
The effects of COVID-19 and racial injustice will likely be front and center, across a range of topic areas, including but not limited to, small business, workforce, and housing. Check out the agenda for #PolicySummit2021 here.
Pat Smith, president and CEO of The Funders Network, will moderate two sessions at #PolicySummit2021:
Opening Keynote
Economic Resilience: What It Is, What It Is Not, and Why We Must Prioritize It Immediately
Description: “As we move through a pandemic that has wrought havoc on our communities, we find there are many facets to rebuilding: reinvigorating local and regional economies, strengthening neighborhoods by adding quality and affordable housing, supporting small businesses, and providing career pathways for our current and future workforce. This session defines economic resilience, highlights its importance in post-COVID-19 times, and provides ways communities can work toward achieving this goal.”
Speaker:
Otis Rolley, Senior Vice President, The Rockefeller Foundation
Plenary 1
Common Ground in Urban and Rural America: What Has Undermined—and What Can Build—Economic Resilience
Description: “Economic resilience is needed, in both urban and rural communities, now more than ever. In this session, speakers share stories and insights about the geographic and racial exclusion that has undermined the economic health of these two populations essential to the success of our nation. The discussion will also identify strategies and interventions both populations can use to build economic resilience.”
Speakers:
Caitlin Cain, Vice President and Director, Rural LISC
Andre M. Perry, Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution
Otis Rolley, Senior Vice President, The Rockefeller Foundation
We hope you join us for three days of actionable, resource-rich presentations and conversations about building the economic resilience of our communities. Register for this free and virtual event here.
Photo by 5540867 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA
Investing at the Frontlines of Climate Change: New funder toolkit focuses on climate, health and equity
BY TFN STAFF
The Funders Network (TFN) is thrilled to share a new funder toolkit — focused on climate, health and equity — that aims to help accelerate investments, advance strategy and expand partnerships.
As the impacts of climate change accelerate in communities across the country, funders in every sector face immense needs for investment — especially in communities that are disproportionately impacted. The challenges are profound. But so is a historic opportunity to embed a culture of health, eliminate longstanding inequities, improve the environment, and reshape our communities around the needs of people.
Exciting efforts are emerging across the country. But meeting this moment will require philanthropy to work ambitiously, strategically, at scale and across sectors.
To support this, eight philanthropy-serving organizations worked together to create Investing at the Frontlines: A Funder Toolkit on Climate, Health, and Equity. The aim is to help philanthropy accelerate investments, advance strategy and expand cross-cutting partnerships, especially by supporting highly impacted communities and populations in their own solutions-focused work.
Ready to Get Started?
Whether getting started in this space or ramping up existing efforts, funders can use the toolkit to:
- Gain an overview of a large and interconnected landscape
- See how leading funders, NGOs, and government agencies are working on the frontlines of climate change
- Connect to funding partners or potential grantees
- Scan resources by state, issue focus, or impacted community
- Search for individual funders, NGOs, major funder hubs, and active nonprofit coalitions in relevant areas
- Suggest updates to include additional work
Partner Organizations
TFN is proud to be among the eight philanthropy-serving organizations that worked together to produce Investing at the Frontlines of Climate Change: A Funder Toolkit on Climate, Health, and Equity:
Climate and Energy Funders Group (CEFG)
Environmental Grantmakers Association (EGA)
Health & Environmental Funders Network (HEFN
Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders (SAFSF)