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It is with great sadness that NCG announces the passing of our dear friend and colleague, Jenny Chinn. Jenny joined the team 18 years ago and held the longest tenure of anyone ever to have worked at NCG. During that time, she became the backbone of the organization – a steady, cheerful source of support for everyone who got to work with her. Her official title was Senior Operations Manager, but we often referred to her as our office mom.
The Census is one of the cornerstones of our American democracy. Mandated by the United States Constitution, it is conducted every 10 years and is the largest peacetime effort of the federal government. Census data is used for a variety of purposes from allocation of billions of dollars of federal funding to political representation apportionment to enforcement of civil rights laws. When census information is not accurate, it threatens to muffle the voices of undercounted groups and regions, and undermine the basic political equality that is central to our democracy. Institutions across the country - including local and state governments, businesses, nonprofits and foundations - routinely rely on data from the census to allocate funding, define where services are delivered and promote economic development.
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.
First, let’s get honest about the historical context we are operating in. Philanthropy exists as a result of capitalism and was formed through centuries of slavery, colonization, and displacement. The systems are designed to extract resources, privatize wealth, and centralize power and control of said resources. The systems are successfully doing exactly what they have been designed to do.
Our nonprofit leaders are tasked with solving our most critical issues – meeting the needs of communities, driving social justice solutions, and leading the advocacy and movement work to transform systems. We must prioritize the wellbeing of our nonprofit workforce if we want to succeed in advancing our social justice and racial equity agenda. Our dedicated, passionate nonprofit workforce needs adequate rest and repair to sustain themselves, and continue their work for the long term.
The NCG Funders for Climate Justice Group is a collaboration with Smart Growth California and the League of California Community Foundations. We invite funders who are interested in or are already funding at the intersection of climate justice and resilience to join us and to share and provide input as we collectively learnand take action on critical climate justice challenges and opportunities. Discussion topics in the group will focus on intersectional issues relating to climate justice, as well as philanthropic and community-based practices and trends relevant to northern California’s 48-county region. We also welcome topical and tactical feedback from funders as we improve this group.
CCJFG is creating a three-part podcast, Funding the Yes and we are proud to share the first episode with you! Funding the Yes asks the question: What does funding the yes look like within intersectional aspects of social and racial justice movements? Through conversations amongst funders and movement partners, we focus on strategies to fund building a more just future for our communities and ending systems of injustice. Each episode is co-created by CCJFG members and movement partners.