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Movement and nonprofit partners are our best defense against repressive policies that directly impact communities on the ground. As we depend on them to lead us in these fights, the collective resilience of the nonprofit workforce must be a sector-wide priority. The support for talent justice in the nonprofit sector is growing. Initiatives at The Walter & Elise Haas Fund, ReWork the Bay, Fund the People, and the James Irvine Foundation are investing in the long-term sustainability, agency, and belonging for nonprofit workers.

COVID-19 had housing advocates worried. The underlying causes of homelessness – structural racism, income inequality, and lack of affordable housing – were exacerbated by the pandemic and were going to add to the problem. 

The realities, challenges, and larger context of what Black and brown trans communities are facing locally and nationally are not well-known to funders or to our society in general. The list of articles below showcases Bay Area trans leaders and their organization’s work. From how The Transgender District is meeting the urgent needs of houseless trans people surviving in the pandemic, the ongoing legislative battles on trans youth and how GSA Network is building the leadership of trans youth of color, to the ongoing criminalization of undocumented trans migrants. 

This past week, Joe Brooks joined the ancestors, bringing to a close a powerful life and career whose impact extended deep into Bay Area philanthropy, and well beyond. Joe’s legacy in this field is vital and active through the dozens of leaders whose lives he touched in more than five decades of public service – including my own. 

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. The Right continues to fund for the long haul, and progressive philanthropy needs to expand our funding and our imagination. If we are working toward equity, we must be steadfast in resourcing trans leaders committed to, and creating long-term strategies for, trans people to live with self-determination and full autonomy.

With excitement and appreciation, we share the news that Crispin Delgado will join the Insure the Uninsured Project (ITUP) team as its new Executive Director effective March 20th to lead its work giving all Californians an equitable opportunity to live their healthiest lives. 

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.