Gladys Washington, Senior Program Officer at the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation framed the discussion well at the Association of Black Foundation Executives (ABFE) luncheon in Atlanta. Having the conversation in a southern city was fitting considering that most African Americans live in the south, the most poverty is in the south, highest incarceration rates are in the south. Gladys noted that Hurricane Katrina pulled back the veil on how America felt about Black people in the south. “Our success as black families in this country is dependent on the success of our black men and boys. Don’t forget the South in our fight for social justice.” Given our community’s challenges, Gladys said that “being young, gifted, and black in philanthropy is a wonderful thing” as she introduced our dynamic luncheon speaker Dr. John H. Jackson, President of The Schott Foundation for Public Education and a part of President Obama’s 13-member Education Policy Transition Work Group. If leadership is, in fact, the capacity to be in the right conversations at the right time, I’m so glad I was at ABFE’s meeting during Dr. Jackson’ important and inspiring presentation.
Dr. John H. Jackson talked about the critical correlation between educational attainment, incarceration economics, etc. We can see by race and ethnicity who’s more likely to end up in jail. How do we identify the social policies that are leading to these disparate, unnatural results? We have to ask the question, why have we won some battles, but are still losing the war. We have the first African American President, but only 47% of Black males are graduating from high school. This is our challenge. Are we waiting for the institutions from the past – the Black church, the civil rights organizations, the parents – to make the change? We have to recognize that we have a role in rebuilding all of these institutions – the family, the church, etc. so that these intermediaries can divert resources to our communities. We can’t wait to see what the NAACP is gonna do or what the church is gonna do. The question is, what are WE gonna do? Dr. Jackson gave us four ideas.
1. Be comprehensive – How do we integrate our work to build a philanthropic movement? We have to be bigger, better, bolder. To address disparities, we have to be comprehensive. We have to represent the 2.0 GPA students as well as the 4.0 students. Institutions as they exist are failing populations. Institutions are existing in silos. Very little communication is happening to help education those in the prison system. There is an entire generation that is not institutionalized at all – not connected to the church, college, etc. They don’t belong to anything,. How do we reach those people? We need new models of connecting to communities. We need those who will rebound for this generation – we need to work that into our overall portfolios and agenda. What are we doing with the miracles of children that God keeps sending us? Every individual has potential. The Schott Foundation operates under the belief that education has to be a federal right. So there has to be resource accountability around this issue – with governors and legislators. Every young black man cannot achieve the success of President Obama without having the opportunity of a good education.
2. Be strategic - Even in the institutions where we have membership in, our voices are still not heard. That’s why we’re there – to bring that message. The movement has to come from the outside. Major social movement has to come from outside of the White House. This philanthropic work is your part of the movement. It may be lonely, it may be an individual struggle to achieve this goal. But that’s why you were put here. To continue the work of those who came before us. You need to go into the meeting with the research to make the case, which is where ABFE can help. And sometimes you have to be “strategically uninformed,” to be able to make decisions as if you didn’t “know better” to get the resources to where they need to go. We can’t make decisions based on political reasons – we have to have the moral and ethical framework to do what’s necessary.
3. Be persistent. We have to have the same persistence as the Civil Rights boycotters – disciplined and persistent enough not to ride the bus for a year. Our movement has to involve community organizing and advocacy.
4. Be engaged. The generation before us had an urgent sense that enough was enough. When you keep doing what you been doing, you gone keep getting what you been getting. Black males are graduating at 47% now, but we were in leadership positions when the rate was 70%, 60%, 50%. What are we willing to give up to bring about the type of change that’s necessary? This is a very personal call. Everyone plays a very important and personal role in the movement. Our role may not always be to be in the limelight.
There will be inside and outside struggles to achieve the results we want. Think of the story of Esther in the Bible, who risked everything to save her Jewish people. We may hold high positions in philanthropy that we don’t want to risk, but we are well-positioned for such a time as this. We have everything that we need to fix the problem. We shouldn’t feel no ways tired. I can’t tell you when it will get better, but it is in our hands. Our future is ours to shape. The question is to be or not to be, but the answer is in our hands.
Full disclosure: ABFE hired me to provide blogging services for this event to leverage the power of social media for their members and to share their story with the wider philanthropic community. The views expressed here are solely my own, however, and I stand by my commitment to authentic coverage of these issues. Would you like to hire me? Visit my portfolio to see samples of my work.
Cozality on 
bsaunders on 
