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NCG is thrilled to share Liana Molina is joining the NCG team as Director for Policy and Movement. Learn more about Liana's experience, what this role means for NCG, and get to know her here.

We have the privilege of living in one of the richest, most innovative, and – some believe –progressive regions in the world. Now is the time we prove it. We must enact solutions that withstand punitive and regressive policies, fortify community, and embody values-based approaches. 

My first executive director position was with MACLA/Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana in San Jose, CA. I distinctly remember the day I started, it was May 7th, 2003 and I had just taken on the role with all the energy and confidence of an almost 28 year old, artist and recent youth center leader can and should have. 

Reimagining a freeway and reclaiming 42 acres of prime new buildable land in Downtown Oakland. Repairing harm by leveraging the same infrastructure development that caused the harm in the first place. These are big visions with big rewards for the communities that have experienced a barrage of generational oppression. How can we be bold and innovative in our support for families with strategies grounded in cultural preservation and equitable community development?

These past months, we've found ourselves returning to the same question: are our plans still serving their purpose or is there a greater opportunity made possible by the crises in which we find ourselves? We asked NCG's board, staff, and membership to weigh-in on how they're balancing this question. We'll publish their reflections in the months to come in this series on persistence and adaptivity. Glen Galaich of the Stupski Foundation kicks us off with insights, confessions from his consulting years, and a look at what he’s paying special attention to right now

Philanthropy brings a special appetite for innovation and has the capacity for greater risk-taking – and those stances are needed at this moment to preserve affordable housing. When affordable housing is destroyed – through neglect and disinvestment, demolition, increased rents - people lose their homes, neighborhoods lose community, and the region becomes a more congested and less interesting place. 

Working in racial equity and social justice in the philanthropic sector is challenging because the “personal is political,” and there often feels like no break from our 9-5 roles. We don’t get to take off our skin or the grief we feel in our bodies from the years of oppression of racism that our people have endured.