I’m in the afternoon panel session for the capstone topic of the conference, “Philanthropy and the Covenant with Black America” in a packed room. I see a video guy, so I hope the conversation gets posted on the web somewhere. Here are many of the thought leaders of color key to the nonprofit, education, and philanthopic community: (moderated by) Julianne Malveaux, President of Bennett College; Angela Glover Blackwell, Founder/CEO of PolicyLink; Sherece Y. West, President/CEO Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation; Diane Bell McKoy, President/CEO of Associated Black Charities of MD; John Wilson, Dean of Research & Technology, George Washington University; and Rev. Calvin O. Butts, III of the Abysinnian Baptist Church. Steve Gunderson from Council on Foundations is also on the panel.
Steve Gunderson: Advocacy has to be part of philanthropy to effectively address the social issues raised in the Covenant. The Council of Foundations is going to take a leadership role in increasing diversity in [philanthropic] boards, programming, etc.
Calvin Butts: We have to focus on community development to be able to address the issues in the Covenant. The notion of the changing interests of foundations needs to be on our minds. We will not always be the “flavor of the month” to foundations. So we need to examine our own philanthropic giving in our communities. The church needs to partner better with existing nonprofits to achieve social outcomes. The black church need not duplicate efforts to build community, but can leverage that philanthropy to serve our needs.
Angela Blackwell: Information is useless unless we are organizaed to respond to it. The revolution could be funded if we were willing to do it ourselves. Individuals could be aggressive advocates, loud voices to keep this conversation going.
Sherece West: [Talking about her experience at a Louisiana foundation] Black communities are disproportionately vulnerable in times of disaster and times of reconstruction of our communities after a disaster. We are challenged in getting government to respond to our needs. Structural racism will continue to be a barrier to relief and recovery during disasters unless we focus resources to racial equity. It will take 15-20 years to rebuild New Orleans, and we need long-term cash investments to see this through. Black America can never let up on government, ever, especially in times of disaster. We need to build black civic capacity. Philanthropy should provide resources to displaced people to be able to engage in the recovery of their communities. We have to fund the revolution.
John Wilson: It’s difficult to connect areas of Covenant with philanthropy. Those things are not areas where institutions are well-represented. We need better informed activists. We need to take advantage of our Black universities. The Black community needs to reshape our values. The problem is many of the values being espoused in our churches, that kind of “prosperity theology” that preaches “bling bling” to our congregatiobns. I think we need to strengthen our universities and revolutionize our values.
Diane McKoy: We need to have an explicit conversation on what should guide philanthropy concerning Black issues. We should not assume that all values are the same for Black people. We need to have inclusion and advocacy guiding philanthropy. Outcome-driven principles, facts, change need to be at the core of our agenda.
Julianne Malveaux: What issues need to be addressed in the upcoming Presidential election that won’t be addressed? Panelists: disproportionate incarceration rates for Blacks, Hurricane Katrina reconstruction, unemployment, drug prevention policy, wealth leakage in the Black community
Whew! What a rich and thought-provoking discussion that surely merits more attention. The panel also reminds us to watch our local PBS stations tonight, where Tavis Smiley will moderate the first All American Presidental Forum on the campus of Howard University in Washington, DC.
This forum will provide the first major opportunity for the candidates to present a detailed discourse and dialogue on their social agendas. The forum will air on PBS from 9:00 to 10:30 pm EST and will also be simultaneously webcast on pbs.org.The following Democratic presidential candidates have been confirmed to participate: Senator Joe Biden, Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator Christopher Dodd, Senator John Edwards, Senator Mike Gravel, Congressman Dennis Kucinich, Senator Barack Obama and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson.
(Thanks to Black Gives Back for reporting on this hot off the presses this morning!)
