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Our delegation had wrapped up a full day of meetings with congressional and agency staffers where we elevated some of the most pressing issues facing our state: housing and economic security, climate and disaster resiliency, nonprofit resiliency, and democracy and civic engagement.
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.
Philanthropy is full of paradoxes that hold us back. As we enter 2024, one of the most troubling philanthropic paradoxes is emerging across the field. Foundations tend to retreat when they are needed the most. Why? Because foundations are taught to value perpetuity above our collective humanity.
Last year in July 2021, NCG hosted a conversation with trans women of color leaders and queer/trans funder advocates–including the Akonadi Foundation, Borealis Philanthropy, Funders for LGBTQ Issues, Horizons Foundation, and Solidaire–to highlight trans leadership and dispel myths that BIPOC trans leaders and their organizations were being adequately resourced, even in the Bay Area.
NCG is excited to share that Victoria Rodarte (she/her) is joining the team as its first-ever Senior Democracy Fellow beginning March 27th. Victoria brings direct experience in mobilizing resources for a strong democracy, immigrant legal services, and interning for political campaigns
Northern California Grantmakers (NCG) and Funders Together to End Homelessness (FTEH) are pleased to announce the Bay Area Homelessness Funders Network (BAHFN). We are joining forces to advance racial equity and coordinate across the region to prevent and end homelessness in the Bay Area by creating a space to connect and facilitate action. The network draws on NCG’s expertise in bringing philanthropy together to build healthy, thriving, and just communities and FTEH’s work mobilizing philanthropy in using its influence, expertise, and voice to advance lasting solutions to end homelessness, including addressing structural and racial inequities.
Trans leaders need the spaciousness–many of us understand to be provided by sufficient resourcing–to be able to dream even bigger. As funders, we must understand, now is not the time to center our individual agendas; we cannot focus on single program areas, issues, and strategies, or tepid expansion of portfolios. The Right continues to fund for the long haul, and progressive philanthropy needs to expand our funding and our imagination. If we are working toward equity, we must be steadfast in resourcing trans leaders committed to, and creating long-term strategies for, trans people to live with self-determination and full autonomy.