News
On April 25, our President and CEO Nicky Goren was invited, along with several of our grantee and philanthropic partners, to provide testimony before the DC Council’s Committee on Government Operations on the Racial Equity Achieves Results (REAR) Act of 2019 that would require the Office of Human Rights and the Department of Human Resources to develop and provide racial equity training for District employees, and the Office of Budget and Planning to design and implement a racial equity tool aimed at eliminating disparities based on race. The legislation is currently under Council review.
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Senior Director for Strategy and Equity Aisha Alexander-Young reintroduces her role at the Meyer Foundation and explains why the concept of non-racism falls short of what is really needed to bring about systems change: anti-racism. Read more on Medium: https://link.medium.com/FQPEGpBnWV
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Maryland Program Director Julian Haynes shares an emerging area of work the Meyer Foundation has chosen to test the effectiveness of its systems change efforts. Read more on Medium: https://link.medium.com/0LMoqQ0fWV
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Recently, CityBridge Education and the Meyer Foundation co-hosted a dinner conversation with former Mayor of New Orleans Mitch Landrieu, where he shared insights from his book, In the Shadow of Statues: A White Southerner Confronts History. People from the nonprofit, business, and government communities listened as Landrieu recounted the events that led to New Orleans’ removal of four Confederate statues in 2017 and the path toward racial reconciliation that unfolded as a result.
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Michael Cassidy, president and CEO of The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis – and 2016 Julie L. Rogers Sabbatical Program grant recipient – helps announce the 2018 recipients.
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On October 25, the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation’s board of directors approved 77 grants totaling $3,110,000 in general grantmaking, and four capacity-building grants totaling $103,450.
In our last grants announcement, I reiterated our focus on building a grantmaking strategy that supports our partner’s efforts to eliminate racial disparities in housing, education, employment, and asset building throughout the region. I shared our early progress to that end under our revised selection criteria and goals, and this follow up provides an update on this continuing work.
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I never thought that in 2018, I would experience fear on the basis of being Jewish in the United States. And yet, just over a week ago, I was horrified to learn of the massacre of 11 Jewish congregants – Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil Rosenthal, David Rosenthal, Bernice Simon, Sylvan Simon, Daniel Stein, Melvin Wax, and Irving Younger – at a temple in Pittsburgh. This, in the aftermath of the Nazi march in Charlottesville only a year ago and the biggest rise in anti-Semitism this country has seen since, perhaps, the turn of the century. I was also horrified to learn of the attempted massacre at a church in Louisville that, when thwarted, ended with the murder of two African-Americans – Maurice Stallard and Vickie Lee Jones – at a supermarket. And late last week, there was yet another massacre, this time of two women – Maura Binkley and Dr. Nancy Van Vessem – at a yoga studio in Florida, ostensibly for being women. Othering, in all its forms, has proven time and time again to be life threatening.
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The day I was sworn in as a United States citizen is the single most important day in my life to date. Proudly holding the American flag in my left hand, I raised my right hand and swore to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America and all that she stands for. The right to vote, to choose our leaders, and to weigh in on issues affecting our lives is at the heart of what it means to be an American. On that warm August day almost two decades ago, I finally felt like a true American, able to fully participate in our democracy and contribute to our great country. From that day forward, I wake up every morning, asking myself, “what does democracy mean to me?”
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Earlier this summer, president and CEO of Latin American Youth Center (LAYC), Lori Kaplan, stepped down from the role in which she has served for 30 years. In Lori’s total 38 years with the organization, her leadership has solidified LAYC as a nationally-recognized, award-winning youth organization. Her legacy as a leader, advocate, and trailblazer who has worked tirelessly to make DC and our region a place where all can succeed sets a strong precedent and a shining example for every one of us in the social sector.
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We recently completed our first round of grantmaking for 2018 at the Meyer Foundation! On June 5, our board of directors approved 73 grants totaling $3,205,000.
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