 March 2016 |
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Catalyst Team
Ravi Shah
Senior Program Associate
Lauren Kay
Director of Communications |
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From the Desk of Paul Vandeventer
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Politics, Please, Not Bile
Ordinary politics involves the appreciation, sometimes grudging, of the needs, interests and aspirations of others. When New York Times columnist David Brooks took on the topic in his Feb. 26 column, he contrasted ordinary politics to a strain of "antipolitics" frequently latent in the land, but growing particularly conspicuous in America this election season.
My first instinct is to write off antipolitical attitudes to plain old ignorance. Arguably, there's some merit in assuming that those uneducated in the structure, history and traditions of American democracy might form skewed views of voting, elections, legislative bodies and big public institutions. The mental stretch required to understand so many moving parts might prove intimidating, leading to the sort of resistance and denial that opens the door to over-simplifying hucksters, demagogues and frauds masquerading as "the people's candidate" for public office.
To read the entire article, please click here.
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Projects in the Spotlight
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African American Board Leadership Institute: Changing the Face of Nonprofit Boards
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Participants from AABLI's most recent training class.
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Virgil Roberts, the Los Angeles attorney and noted civic leader, was a frequent panelist and speaker from 2008 to 2010 for the California Legislative Black Caucus Foundation. Following these events, he found he was consistently being asked to serve on boards -- so many that both he and then-president of the foundation, Yvette Chappell-Ingram, grew concerned: if there weren't enough peers to be tapped for board service now, they reasoned, what would happen in the future?
''We both realized our generation of boomers had done a poor job of preparing the next generation for board leadership positions," Chappell-Ingram recalled. "It led to a lot of conversations, a lot of brainstorming about what we might do about the issue."
A few years later, Roberts and Chappell-Ingram officially launched the African American Board Leadership Institute (AABLI). The mission of the project is straight-forward: develop a pipeline of qualified African American candidates to serve on governing boards -- nonprofit, for-profit or public commissions.
AABLI, the only project of its kind in the country, was embraced almost immediately, says Chappell-Ingram. "I knew we had something good going right from the start," she recalled, "when we helped our first group of participants secure 15 placements." Organizations appreciate having a reliable source for good candidates and participants offer high marks for a curriculum that helps empower them as leaders and offers a new angle on career development.
To read the entire article, please click here.
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Honors & Recognition
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President's Volunteer Service Award
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Projects in the News
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In response to a spate of hit-and-run crashes in Boyle Heights, both NBC and KPCC turned to Multicultural Communities for Mobility for comment and insight here and here. The group, which works to advocate for and promote street safety to cyclists and pedestrians in low-income neighborhoods, held a community event last Saturday, as a way to draw attention to the need for safety and public space improvements along Caesar Chavez, a major east-west thoroughfare.
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The success of the Los Angeles Food Policy Council's Good Food Purchasing Program ( GFPP), which is gaining attention across the country as a model for food system change, is the subject of a Policy Link case study and article that examines the far-reaching 'ripple effect' that comes with moving major institutions like the Los Angeles Unified School District and California's State University system to purchasing processes that support more equitable food systems. The project has also given rise to a new off-shoot, The Center for Good Food Purchasing.
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For Grace project leader Cynthia Toussaint wrote a piece for MariaShriver.com that highlighted the project's partnership on an ad which aired during the recent Super Bowl - speaking on the issue (and ensuing controversy) about the needs of people challenged by chronic pain being lost in the current opioid crisis.
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Welcome Our Newest Projects
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Brazil Arts Connection
Project Leader: Sergio Mielniczenko
Brazil Arts Connection supports the cultural mission of the Brazilian Consulate in Los Angeles by brokering relationships with key stakeholders who want to support the long-term sustainability of cultural programming currently being offered by the Consulate to the community at large.
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Events and Learning Opportunities
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Funders Forum 2016
9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Thursday, June 16
Educate CA's 2016 Funders Forum is an opportunity for nonprofit staff and leaders to meet with representatives from corporate, private and family foundations. Previous participants have included the California Community Foundation, Liberty Hill Foundation, and the Capital Group Companies. Cost is $100 and includes lunch and networking. Register here.
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From the Field
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Nonprofit Jobs Increased Throughout the Great Recession
New data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show employment in the nonprofit sector has held strong. In fact, the nonprofit sector played a countercyclical role in the most recent recession, growing larger as other sectors of the economy were shrinking, the Washington Post reports. Read more here.
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Survey: Addressing Impact of Nonprofit Debt
CalNonprofits has launched the Nonprofit Student Loan Project to combat the student debt crisis and its impact on the nonprofit community. CalNonprofits is for help from the nonprofit community via this brief survey about the issue. The survey can be found here.
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Lessons on Nonprofit Sustainability
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About Us
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Community Partners offers expert guidance, essential services, and a strong dose of passion to help foster, launch and grow creative solutions to community challenges.
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