Racial justice and the climate movement

RACIAL JUSTICE AND THE CLIMATE MOVEMENT

EPIP Webinar – July 27, 2016 EPIP Host: Biz Ghormley Presenters: Elizabeth Yeampierre, Farhad Ebrahimi, Samantha Harvey & Vernard Williams

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Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy (EPIP) is a national network of foundation professionals, social entrepreneurs and other change makers who strive for excellence in the practice of philanthropy.

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Speakers Elizabeth Yeampierre, Executive Director, UPROSE Farhad Ebrahimi, Founder & Chair, The Chorus Foundation Samantha Harvey, Environmental Program Officer, Overbrook Foundation Vernard Williams, Associate Program Director, ACE

AB

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PR

OS

E Founded in 1966

Brooklyn’s oldest Latino community-based organization

Leading advocates of:

- Social, environmental, and climate justice- Multiethnic, intergenerational leadership development- Community-based planning

Contact us:info@uprose.org718-492-9307

Follow us:uproseBK@UPROSE

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July 27, 2016

Institutional Transformation

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Vernard Williams, JD Associate Program Director Race and Justice Initiative Facilitator

Internal equity work is essential for organizations and funders to effectively deliver on a mission for social change.

Key takeaway

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An internal approach is vital Climate change is a justice issue

•  Those least responsible suffer the most from the causes and impacts •  68% of African-Americans live within 30 miles of a coal plant 1 •  Asthma is a top reason why students miss school 2

•  Low income communities have fewer resources to adapt to a changing climate 3

•  This is on top of other systemic justice issues •  African-Americans represent 26% of juvenile arrests yet 58% of state prison admissions 4

An inclusive, intersectional approach is necessary for an effective movement •  Increases relevancy: shows that we care about people •  Invites frontline leadership and power •  Allows for stronger solutions that benefit all

We must change ourselves to create “safe” space for an intersectional approach •  To authentically and effectively build an inclusive movement, funders and organizations must do

the internal equity and inclusion work ourselves

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1 Keating, Martha H., et al. "Air of Injustice: African Americans & Power Plant Pollution." 2002. http://www.energyjustice.net/files/coal/Air_of_Injustice.pdf. 2 "Asthma and Schools." CDC. 2015. Accessed July 21, 2016. http://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/asthma/index.htm. 3 Ortiz, Wendy. "Lessons on Climate Change and Poverty From the California Drought." Center for American Progress. August 19, 2015. Accessed July 21, 2016. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/poverty/report/2015/08/19/119446/lessons-on-climate-change-and-poverty-from-the-california-drought/. 4 "Criminal Justice Fact Sheet." NAACP. Accessed July 21, 2016. http://www.naacp.org/pages/criminal-justice-fact-sheet.

Background Alliance for Climate Education (ACE)

•  Non-profit founded in 2008 •  Our mission is to educate young

people on the science of climate change and empower them to take action

•  We run programs in five cities nationwide

•  We focus specifically on high-school-aged young people

•  And, we’ve evolved for the better

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Our founding mindset Goal: Educate as many high school students as possible on climate science and solutions Success: Our Award Winning ACE Assembly has reached more than 2 million students

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Our founding mindset Reflection: Our internal leadership team did not represent the communities we served:

•  There were no people of color on the Executive Team or Board of Directors

•  We observed higher rates of turnover for staff identifying as people of color

•  We received exit interview input that voices of POC staff were not being heard

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Focus on justice: Tension Starting this work wasn’t easy. Some staff worried a new focus on justice might:

•  Make us lose niche as science-based organization

Some executive leadership feared a new focus on justice might:

•  Raise internal tensions •  Create a loss in productivity •  Confuse our funders •  Commit us to an unsolvable problem

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From tension to progress

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We overcame internal fear by proceeding thoughtfully and seeking external support Keys to Success:

•  Worked with partner organizations for support including Fierce Allies and iMCI •  Assessed ACE’s history, strengths, and weaknesses to understand our starting point •  Built trust among staff through workshops and thoughtful discussions •  Created structure for full staff to engage in learning and strategy

Seeing tangible benefits Stronger Programs, Stronger Mission

•  Launched ACE Action Fellowship: year-long, hands-on advocacy training for youth

•  Became more effective at helping youth bring a justice frame into local and national climate actions

Enhanced ability to ally with justice organizations

•  Partnered with Grassroots Orgs in each region •  Created equity lens to guide all ACE decisions •  Formed Justice Team to safeguard Equity and

Inclusivity at ACE Internal Equity and Inclusion growth and goals

•  Training for New Hires •  Ongoing Learning for All Staff •  Goals for Each Department (HR, Development, etc)

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Tangible program impact

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A recent evaluation of our Action Fellowship with CIRCLE, a project of Tufts University, found that the Action Fellowship gives leadership skills to youth of color. Despite entering the Fellowship with significantly lower self-ratings than white students, young people of color reported greater improvement in public speaking and petitioning.

•  25% improvement in public speaking skills reported by students of color. (White students reported a 5% increase.)

•  27% improvement in petitioning skills reported by students of color. (White students reported a 5% increase.)

Intangible benefits Stronger Internal Culture

•  Earned greater trust internally •  Increased feedback from historically less

privileged ACE staff •  Gained better understanding of the value of

sharing viewpoints: every discussion doesn’t have to be turned into an action

Greater appreciation for youth feedback

•  Respect youth more as experts •  Implement youth ideas to evolve our program

Enhanced knowledge of organizational self

•  We’re not Big Green, but also not Frontline •  We’re at the intersection, and we bridge

organizations 11

How funders helped ACE Validated our investment in internal capacity building

•  Provided restricted funding for training, workshops, and staff time to build a vision and strategy for Race and Justice

•  Supported using equity and diversity as a lens to improve ACE programs to be more relevant and helpful to young people of color

Mandated a focus on Board development

•  Funders pushed ACE to develop Board leadership to be more diverse and reflect the communities we serve

Gave Advice and Feedback •  Overbrook Foundation •  Z Smith Reynolds Foundation •  Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment •  Many others

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Recommendations Make Justice a Priority

•  Fund traditional EJ or grassroots organizations, and climate organizations with budgets of less than $3M annually.

•  Push big greens, and the in-betweens like ACE, to think critically about how justice and equity interact with programs, partnerships and organizational culture.

Ask questions that support hard internal work •  Why is justice important to grantees? How are grantees

adding value to an intersectional climate movement? •  Ask grantees to set goals for justice, equity and diversity and

require an annual report on progress.

Be the change: Do the internal work yourself •  What would it take to shift your organizational culture? •  Ask and listen for grassroots perspectives; show how this

influences your funding strategy.

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“What We’ve Learned After a Decade of Climate Funding,

and What We’re Doing Instead”

What We’ve Learned:

1. Large scale social change requires social movements

2. Systemic problems require

systemic solutions

3. Place is where these things really come together

Transition is inevitable...

...justice is not.

Implications for Philanthropy:

1. Support social movements

2. Support systemic change*

3. Support places

* Supporting Systemic Change:

It’s not just what we support...

...it’s how we support it.

* Supporting Systemic Change:

1. General operating support

2. Long term grants

What does this look like in practice?

chorusfoundation.org

BEA-ITheoryofChange

ShiftingHearts:

Inspiringchange

ShiftingMinds:Working

collaboratively

Shifting culturesofpractice

IMPACT