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Summary
NCG is excited to announce Kirin Kumar (he/him) as its Director for Climate and Disaster Resilience. As a part of the Strategic Initiatives team, Kirin is an integral member of Philanthropy California’s disaster response team.
This is a pivotal moment in protecting and strengthening the fabric of American democracy. While we are still grappling with the destabilizing efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, we are watching the threat to democracy growing as state legislators in multiple states are pushing for new voting barriers that target Black and brown people, working-class folks, young people, and immigrants.
The magnitude of the current social context requires us to recalibrate and accelerate change. NCG works to engage with members so for philanthropy can make the most of its influence. You can engage with us in the following ways:
Since its founding, Akonadi Foundation has focused on supporting power building and organizing to advance racial justice in Oakland and around the state. In 2000, a year after Akonadi Foundation was launched, California voters approved Proposition 21, which targeted young people of color. Under Prop. 21, many 14-year-olds could be tried as adults rather than in juvenile court, and 16-year olds could be incarcerated in adult prisons. At Akonadi Foundation, we were inspired by the activism and efforts of youth advocates and youth-led groups against this racist ballot measure.
I am so invested in Black liberation work and always trying to figure out how to move my institution towards this vision. In particular, I keep hearing recently that philanthropy has a role in the reparations movement. My question is where do I start to engage my institution (a small and mighty family foundation) on reparations and the land rematriation efforts. All the questions- who, what, where, when, how?
2020 has truly tested our resolve. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people in prison cannot be understated. As rates of infection rose inside prisons throughout the state, we witnessed our movement partners quickly and efficiently organize in response to this crisis. We witnessed the same tenacity and steadfastness this summer, as organizers led uprisings worldwide to protest racist state violence after the killing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and countless others—violence that is all too familiar for incarcerated people and their families.