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Dear CCJFG Member, We hope that you are wrapping up this year and preparing for a joyful and restorative holiday. As 2022 ends, it is important to reflect on the challenges and opportunities the year presented. This year the movement to end mass criminalization and mass incarceration faced serious backlash by way of fear mongering in the media and consequently, threats to the safety and security of grassroots leaders.
Arts and culture creates community, celebrates identity and expression, make cities vibrant, and spurs the economy. What is at risk when artists and arts and culture organizations are displaced?
We can only act on what we can imagine. As philanthropy is called to meet this moment, we need to expand our imagination. How do we not imagine philanthropy as it is, but what it could be at its best? Within philanthropy we need practices, tools, and ways of being that are in service to resourcing freedom and equity. As those mobilizing resources, we must stay steadfast in imagining and co-creating generative pathways to a more equitable future. At NCG's 2024 Annual Conference, we will offer space to conspire, imagine, and act on ushering in new possibilities.
As we mark another Black History Month and celebrate Black futures, there is an urgency for us to address the existing divisions in our country and create solutions that move us closer towards our vision of a strong, inclusive, multiracial democracy with Black communities at the center. Some of the barriers we continue to see in communities across the nation include attacks on voting rights, biased immigration policies, blatant displays of white supremacy and white nationalism, and a decline inequitable economic opportunities.
Our criminal justice system is broken. It disproportionately impacts and targets communities of color and poor communities, and costs California taxpayers billions a year, money that could otherwise be directed towards more fruitful investments in community development, drug treatment, mental health services, education, and jobs. Our system of mass incarceration does not increase public safety, reduce crime, or bring adequate relief to crime survivors
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.
Join community, philanthropic, and public sector changemakers in a discussion about the racial and economic justice opportunities in East Contra Costa County and a community-centered philanthropic collaborative activating leadership development, narrative change, and public and philanthropic investment in the region.