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Confronting and transforming the devastating harm of a planet in crisis along with the ongoing reckoning of persistent deep inequities stands as The Work of our time. Many of us feel a blend of overwhelm, unknowing, and grief - perhaps even guilt and anxiety - that may drive paralysis.
The neighborhoods we call home are steeped in meaning, culture, and history. Across Northern California, historically Black and other people of color neighborhoods are working to reverse and repair decades of community removals and neglect, while facing ongoing pressures that threaten resident and business displacement. These communities have initiated reparative and inclusive economic and community development efforts along commercial corridors that center the culture, values and history
of local residents.
“We are the ones we have been waiting for” is true for almost everything we do in our fight for equity and justice here in the Bay Area and beyond. As we seek to dismantle some of the inequitable and short-sighted funding practices of philanthropy, the same sentiment is true. Many community leaders across Northern California have been calling for a system shift for decades. And now is the time to take action.
As California faces threats from federal budget and policy proposals amid an anticipated flat (no-growth) budget for its 2025 – 2026 fiscal year, strategic choices grounded in values of racial and economic equity are needed to ensure that all residents can thrive. The state’s budget process holds the key to determining which policies will create a more equitable California, and philanthropy has an important opportunity to influence these outcomes over the course of the state’s budget cycle from January to June.
In 2021, NCG issued a call to the sector to confront existential challenges - convergent and increasing large-scale climate disasters, gaping racialized economic inequities, and drastically inadequate infrastructure and housing - by responding with coordinated, long-term, bold approaches
As we mark another Black History Month and celebrate Black futures, there is an urgency for us to address the existing divisions in our country and create solutions that move us closer towards our vision of a strong, inclusive, multiracial democracy with Black communities at the center. Some of the barriers we continue to see in communities across the nation include attacks on voting rights, biased immigration policies, blatant displays of white supremacy and white nationalism, and a decline inequitable economic opportunities.
California’s Central San Joaquin Valley is a vast region with 8 counties. It is home to rural, agricultural, poor and working-class communities of color and contains the majority of the state’s prisons. Despite its rich history of organizing and the undeniable impacts of the state’s investment in carceral infrastructure, the Central Valley is overlooked by philanthropy. This region receives the least amount of philanthropic resources for community organizing in the state.