Search Results
Communication is fundamental to our lives. It’s how we connect with each other and navigate society. Yet our ways of communicating often exclude the one-in-six adults in America with a sensory or communication disability, including people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, blind or low-vision, have speech or intellectual disabilities, and many more.
Working in racial equity and social justice in the philanthropic sector is challenging because the “personal is political,” and there often feels like no break from our 9-5 roles. We don’t get to take off our skin or the grief we feel in our bodies from the years of oppression of racism that our people have endured.
As we consider our roles, it is important to remember that justice is defined not by our own definitions but by the communities directly experiencing injustice. It is also important to keep in sight how our roles align with, support and uplift the existing work of community organizers who have long advocated for restorative and healing justice as common practice, rather than forms of justice defined by the same systems and institutions that uphold structural racism.
Drumroll please, for our newest team member Huong Nguyen-Yap, who as the Northern California Grantmakers’ first Vice President of Equity and Justice will be accelerating racial equity efforts not only for NCG but for the philanthropic field.
The California Criminal Justice Funders Group (CCJFG) is an established network of funders and donors that invest in a wide range of system change. We firmly believe that efforts to transform this country’s response to safety, justice, and accountability must be led by those individuals who have been directly impacted by systems of punishment themselves.
As a part of our Member Spotlight series, we spoke with Amy Saxton, Vice President of Program Development at The James Irvine Foundation. Amy shared how she is approaching her work, program strategy, and where others can jump in to collaborate.
Our criminal justice system is broken. It disproportionately impacts and targets communities of color and poor communities, and costs California taxpayers billions a year, money that could otherwise be directed towards more fruitful investments in community development, drug treatment, mental health services, education, and jobs. Our system of mass incarceration does not increase public safety, reduce crime, or bring adequate relief to crime survivors