Search Results
This month, President and CEO Dwayne S. Marsh has officially taken the reins from Steve Barton and Phuong Quach, senior staff who’ve served as NCG’s interim leaders for the past six months. The three took turns answering questions about the moment in which we find ourselves and the possibilities ahead. As the interview was drawing to a close, Dwayne paused to check if we were going to address race explicitly. And so, signaling the new future into which we are stepping, we did.
As we look ahead in 2021, it will be another difficult year for California’s older adults. Many of them are experiencing social isolation during shelter-in-place, are at high risk of contracting COVID-19, and have difficulties accessing in-home health care and support services. Many older adults will cope with anticipated wildfires and lingering smoke during Public Safety Power Shutoffs later this year.
On March 11th a levee breach on the Pajaro River in Monterey County resulted in the evacuation and flooding of the community of Pajaro – a predominately Latino farmworker community.
When NCG stepped into the policy space two years ago, we did so knowing that it would require us to be bold and lean deeply into our mission to bring philanthropy together to build healthy, thriving, and just communities. With the 2020 election around the corner, there is much at stake for California and our region. There has never been a more appropriate or important time for philanthropy to be advocating and using its voice in service of building a Better California for all.
Achieving racial equity and sustaining a viable democracy go hand in hand. NCG defines democracy as the processes, systems, and structures for historically marginalized and underrepresented community members to participate in a political system that fulfills the promise of an equitable multi-racial society. Northern California is a region that can model this approach, ensuring that people of color and other communities historically underrepresented and marginalized in our political process fully engage in the democratic process.
Alice shared that in their NCG tenure, they are most proud of developing and implementing Racial Equity Action Institute (REAI), a multi-sector cohort program for leaders interested in operationalizing racial equity in business, government, nonprofit and philanthropic sectors. Because of their visionary leadership, we created a network of 100+ leaders who are working to move racial equity from theory to practice in their specific sectors.
The personal is political. These past two years have made that abundantly clear. NCG’s Leadership, Culture, and Community team also knows that the professional is often deeply personal.