The Weingart Foundation partners with communities across Southern California to advance racial, social, and economic justice for all.
OF SPECIAL INTEREST
NEW: No Going Back L.A. releases plan for homelessness governance
NEW: We the Resilient, Stories and Data from American Indian and Alaska Natives in California
Los Angeles Daily News: Los Angeles must commit to an equitable recovery
F.Y. 2021 Program Plan
Report – No Going Back: Together for an Equitable and Inclusive L.A.
U.O.S. Grantmaking – Interview with Joanna Jackson, V.P. Programs
How Race, Class, and Place Fuel a Pandemic
COVID-19 Resources
Paying Nonprofits Fairly—Q&A with Dr. Va Lecia Adams Kellum
Dr. Va Lecia Adams Kellum
At the Weingart Foundation, we are committed to supporting efforts to ensure that nonprofits are fully reimbursed for their cost for services that public agencies contract them to provide. Vera de Vera, Program Director, recently spoke with Dr. Va Lecia Adams Kellum, President & C.E.O. of St. Joseph Center—a countywide provider of housing, mental health and wellness services, education and workforce training. In this Q&A, Dr. Adams Kellum shares her perspective on improving the contracting and reimbursement systems between local governments and nonprofits. To read the Q&A, click here.
Black Equity Initiative of the Inland Empire—Nonprofit Spotlight
Members of the Black Equity Initiative protest racist statements from a top San Bernardino County district attorney.
The killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and many others ignited a national reckoning with systemic racism and the ways it has fueled police violence and exacerbated health disparities amid the Covid-19 pandemic. This reckoning is especially important in the Inland Empire, home to the third largest Black population in California, 15 jails and prisons, and a visible white nationalist presence that violently opposes Black lives.
In our new Nonprofit Spotlight, we are proud to highlight the critically-important work of the Black Equity Initiative of the Inland Empire (B.E.I.-I.E.), which strives to improve social conditions in the region through empowerment, education, and policy change. Click here to read the B.E.I.-I.E. Spotlight.
‘No Going Back L.A.’ releases plan for homelessness governance
May 19, 2021
No Going Back L.A., a directive by the Committee for Greater L.A. calling for sweeping systemic changes to dismantle institutional racism, today released We’re Not Giving Up: A Plan for Homelessness Governance in Los Angeles, a report calling for a new and independent entity to align the community-wide commitment to addressing homelessness in Los Angeles resulting in greater accountability. In 2020, there were more than 65,000 people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County.
While many agencies, departments, organizations, and political actors address the issue, the magnitude of the homelessness crisis calls for increased collective action and accountability. This proposed entity will maximize coordination using common data points to develop a unified and community-driven strategy to advance measurable outcomes on homelessness. This approach was recently endorsed by columnist Steve Lopez as well as the Los Angeles Times editorial board, which agreed that it “could yield more focused leadership, collaboration and accountability.”
“We are not ready to give up on the homeless crisis and are committed to bring a magnetic force to align resources and institutions to meet the problem with the urgency and accountability necessary,” said Miguel A. Santana, President, and C.E.O. of the Weingart Foundation and Chair of the Committee for Greater L.A. “To disrupt and dismantle the systems that allow neighbors to fall into and languish in homelessness, we must set a common table to leverage change. This report proposes that common table so that we can reimagine a new and bold approach to address homelessness.”
To read the We’re Not Giving Up proposal on homelessness governance, click here.
To view the recording of the May 19 virtual report launch, click here.
Message From Miguel A. Santana,
President & C.E.O.: Reflection
Miguel A. Santana
On my cross-country trip to New England to begin my graduate program, I stopped at Port Huron, Michigan at an address handwritten on the back of a black and white photograph of my paternal grandparents. In the 1920s it was the home of Victoria and José Santana. These two young immigrants from the central coast of Mexico settled in the furthest edge of the U.S.-Canadian border to pursue a better life. A decade later, they were forced to return to Mexico with their American daughters in the face of the anti-Mexican hostility that emerged at the onset of the Great Depression.
Standing in front of this small wood-frame house, in a town built by steel mills that fed a burgeoning automobile industry, connected me to the American history that seemed to belong to someone else. To read Miguel’s full message, click here.