Latest News at NCG

Placing blame for unsheltered homelessness on the people who experience it isn’t new, but recent policies are ensuring those same people see the repercussions. On June 28th, the US Supreme Court ruled against Gloria Johnson, a resident of Grants Pass, Oregon, who sued the city for repeatedly arresting and fining her for sleeping in public space when she had nowhere else to go.

As funders and concerned community members, we have the ability – and the responsibility – to direct more resources to local organizations that are fortifying our democracy from the ground up.

As we face the stinging backlash to progress and concerted efforts to challenge the movement for greater equity and inclusion, a new generation of organizers and leaders are defending these wins and building the power of communities to dismantle systems of oppression.  

To truly strengthen our democracy for the long-term, funders need to hear directly from young people and youth organizing staff and follow their lead to deeply invest in the ecosystem that builds political home and collective agency for us. 

The multiple polycrises of our time continue to disproportionately impact trans, gender non-conforming, and nonbinary communities of color.

Philanthropy brings a special appetite for innovation and has the capacity for greater risk-taking – and those stances are needed at this moment to preserve affordable housing. When affordable housing is destroyed – through neglect and disinvestment, demolition, increased rents - people lose their homes, neighborhoods lose community, and the region becomes a more congested and less interesting place. 

Philanthropy is full of paradoxes that hold us back. As we enter 2024, one of the most troubling philanthropic paradoxes is emerging across the field. Foundations tend to retreat when they are needed the most.  Why? Because foundations are taught to value perpetuity above our collective humanity.   

Trans leaders need the spaciousness–many of us understand to be provided by sufficient resourcing–to be able to dream even bigger. As funders, we must understand, now is not the time to center our individual agendas; we cannot focus on single program areas, issues, and strategies, or tepid expansion of portfolios.