Search Results
2024 promises to be a momentous year for democracy—locally, nationally, and globally. Over 4 billion people are living in countries with major elections this year. In the United States, we will also face familiar but obstinate challenges, including the dearth of local news and youth disaffection with voting and institutions. We will also face challenges that are new in this digital era, namely disinformation turbocharged by generative AI that has enormous power to deceive voters, undermine trust, and destabilize our information ecosystems.
The COVID-19 vaccine will help keep communities healthy and safe and holds promise to bring an end to the pandemic that has had the most severe impacts on Black, Latinx, Indigenous, AAPI, immigrant, and low-income people. Systemic racism created the conditions that put people of color at greater risk of contracting COVID-19 and experiencing more severe health outcomes, and despite this urgency, California’s vaccination effort so far has fallen short of equity goals. We must reach and authentically engage local communities to remove barriers to access and address concerns to increase vaccine acceptance.
CCJFG Steering Committee members are excited to share the following books and podcasts that have accompanied us as we settle into Spring 2021. The content ranges from writings on indigenous forms of justice and healing to a podcast tracing the connections between hip-hop and mass incarceration to a mixed media collection of responses to the question, what does it mean to be Black and alive? These stories are rigorous, compelling, and bring us closer to understanding the intersections of history, justice work, and future-making.
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.
In this three-part series, California Criminal Justice Funders Group (CCJFG) funder-members will come together to discuss and identify funding strategies that support alternatives to the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC), including investing in community-led models that address lasting alternatives to punishment and imprisonment. We will learn about concrete funding strategies, hear from movement leaders, highlight CCJFG members’ work, and share practical strategies for supporting work that reimagines different models of community safety and justice.
In this three-part series, California Criminal Justice Funders Group (CCJFG) funder-members will come together to discuss and identify funding strategies that support alternatives to the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC), including investing in community-led models that address lasting alternatives to punishment and imprisonment. We will learn about concrete funding strategies, hear from movement leaders, highlight CCJFG members’ work, and share practical strategies for supporting work that reimagines different models of community safety and justice.
Disasters and crises impact more and more Californians each year, and our state’s nonprofits and funders often find themselves on the front lines of helping the vulnerable communities most harmed by these events.