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Earlier this year, Angie Junck, director of the Human Rights program at the Heising-Simons Action Fund attended NCG’s Funding Strategies to Accelerate Power-building Cohort.  

The Community of Practice helped connect like-minded funders who wanted to expand their toolbox to strengthen democracy. Below Angie shares how investing in (c)(4) funding can build power for marginalized communities especially during an election year.  

Midterm elections provide voters the opportunity to assess and signal if the current presidential administration, federal elected officials, and local elected leaders are meeting their needs. This November, California voters will have the opportunity to cast their votes and determine the make-up of the Senate and House through the next presidential election in 2024.

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.

Navigating the threat of wildfire is an ongoing reality of life in Sonoma County. From 2017 to 2020, fires burned more than 300,000 acres across the county, resulting in devastating losses to ecosystems, homes, communities, and human lives. 

There are few communities that haven’t been impacted by homelessness, and while jurisdictions grapple with possible resolutions, we know that criminalizing unhoused people is not the solution to this growing problem. The real solution lies in addressing the root causes of poverty and homelessness, implementing a strategy to increase the production and preservation of affordable housing units, including extremely low income and no income housing, and protecting tenants so that they can maintain stable housing and keep from slipping into homelessness. 

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.

With the 2024 election upon us, we see the Valley made more vulnerable in a democracy hanging by a thread for the very same people that make the Valley a dynamic place. To give visibility to the multiracial richness and need for active civic engagement, the James B. McClatchy Foundation is ensuring the Central Valley is seen by fortifying the pillars of local journalism and democracy, particularly as we immerse ourselves "all in" during this election year.