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Popping up near bus stops, train stations, and other strategically placed locations within a driver’s line of vision are giant billboards in crisp black and white, proclaiming: Abortion is and will remain legal in California. Overlaid on the message in a puffy, golden font reads a closing reassurance: We got you!
Election cycles bring both opportunities and challenges. With those, comes the need for time to connect with allies, celebrate wins, process change, and think about the road ahead.
Our democratic systems are deeply entwined with disaster resilience. On the eve of consequential presidential and local elections, the question of what role democracy plays in disasters, and what role the response to disasters plays in undermining or strengthening democracy, has never been more important. Funders should consider the role a strong and functional democracy plays in the ability for communities to self-determine what resilience to disasters looks like for their communities, have adequate and culturally appropriate resources to respond when disasters occur, and have the power to demand equitable recoveries.
Our nonprofit ecosystem is the backbone of our philanthropic work and efforts to build thriving communities. We rely on nonprofits to drive solutions and carry the weight of justice. In turn, how can the philanthropic sector support our nonprofits in this time?
“We are the ones we have been waiting for” is true for almost everything we do in our fight for equity and justice here in the Bay Area and beyond. As we seek to dismantle some of the inequitable and short-sighted funding practices of philanthropy, the same sentiment is true. Many community leaders across Northern California have been calling for a system shift for decades. And now is the time to take action.
The California Criminal Justice Funders Group (CCJFG) is an established network of funders and donors that invest in a wide range of system change. We firmly believe that efforts to transform this country’s response to safety, justice, and accountability must be led by those individuals who have been directly impacted by systems of punishment themselves.
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.