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Rising sea levels due to climate change have put people, the natural and built environment at severe
risk not only on the California coast, but throughout the state. Flooding affects housing and
transportation infrastructure and rising groundwater releases buried toxics, with disproportionately
impacting low-income communities of color bearing the greatest burden. The price tag to mitigate
these dangers to community and economic wellbeing are staggering, with over $110 Billion projected
for the Bay Area alone.
San Francisco, CA—Arts organizations are facing unprecedented challenges as they’ve suspended public programming to help our communities adapt to life-saving shelter-in-place orders. The Arts Loan Fund, managed by Northern California Grantmakers, has announced a COVID-19 Emergency Loan to support arts and culture nonprofits and fiscally sponsored organizations in the eleven Bay Area counties. Organizations can apply for these low-interest loans to cover basic expenses such as staff salaries, artist payments, rent, and other operating costs during this challenging time.
NCG's longest-running fund, the Arts Loan Fund (ALF) is welcoming two new Co-Chairs! NCG's own Viridiana (Viry) Romero chatted with Ron Muriera and Denise Pate to talk about what's in store for the ALF, why it's unique, and how they are sharing power to support communities.
My first executive director position was with MACLA/Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana in San Jose, CA. I distinctly remember the day I started, it was May 7th, 2003 and I had just taken on the role with all the energy and confidence of an almost 28 year old, artist and recent youth center leader can and should have.
Philanthropy California (Philanthropy CA) is an initiative of Northern California Grantmakers (NCG), SoCal Grantmakers, and Catalyst of San Diego & Imperial Counties. Our combined membership represents more than 600 foundations, corporate funders, philanthropic individuals and families, giving circles, and government agencies investing billions every year to support communities across the state, the country, and worldwide. Learn more about our alliance.
The American banking system is broken, and the evidence is unmistakable. From the recent failure of one of the largest banks in the U.S. to ongoing predatory products blanketing lower-income communities, it is clear that we are at an inflection point. Bank regulators currently fall into the familiar trap of trying to fix the symptoms such as banning certain products, minor regulatory modifications without fixing the root causes of structural inequities. This results in repeated crises usually requiring taxpayer-funded bailouts but no meaningful change of the system. We must find better opportunities to address staggering losses of wealth through failures in the banking system while also building new structures that support economic equity and help build and preserve more local community wealth.
Genuine, local-level engagement between public agencies and the communities they serve is crucial to meeting the needs and priorities of people experiencing health inequities, particularly communities of color and low-income people. Public agencies often ask their communities for input, which results in low participation and feedback, perpetuating the inequitable status quo. How can public agencies re-think their community engagement practices, prioritizing people historically excluded from access to power and decision-making? And what is the role of philanthropy in this work?