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Communities across the country – especially those continuing to struggle with economic and health impacts from the pandemic – are hoping to access part of the billions of dollars in economic recovery dollars deployed to support economic recovery. However, it is groups disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, including rural, historically underserved, and BIPOC communities, that need to secure the funding that will have a generational impact on community climate resilience, public health, and other crucial systems.
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.
We recently lost a powerhouse in our field. Gwen Walden was the Senior Managing Director at Arabella Advisors' San Francisco office. She had a long history in our community and sector serving on the Boards of the East Bay Community Foundation, the Surdna Foundation, and the Breast Cancer Fund.
When I started at Hirsch Philanthropy Partners, I had a few impressions. First, I was sensing a desire for big change in Bay Area philanthropy that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. I was engaging in conversations about race, power and decision making, which were the kinds of conversations I was having previously in the nonprofit space. I also discovered that several Bay Area grantmakers were already doing grantmaking differently, bringing diverse communities closer to the center of their work and challenging power dynamics. It felt like a ripe time for change.
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 -- Northern California Grantmakers today released a REPORT examining the effects of the 2017 North Bay Fires on the arts communities in three counties. Commissioned with funding from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the report finds that artists have been profoundly impacted by the fires, due to physical and economic loss as well as emotional trauma, with the impact of the fires disproportionately felt among arts organizations serving communities of color in the region.
In Get It Right: 5 Shifts Philanthropy Must Make Toward an Equitable Region, we've highlighted 5 case studies from regional leaders who are already doing this work. Read about how the Akonadi Foundation is building Black movements.