May 2011
In This Issue:Perspectives on RaceRace Matters, Part 1 of 2 When it comes to the complex issues of race and racism, we like to think that our nation has evolved from the struggles and injustices that have scarred our collective history. But has it? While segregated drinking fountains, schools and lunch counters may be a thing of the past, the vestiges of this terrible legacy continue to not only haunt us, but also to profoundly shape the life experiences and opportunities of communities of color across the United States and here in the Washington metropolitan area. In short, the reality is that the institutional racism of the past has, in many ways, created the community/social inequities that we experience in education, healthcare, housing, employment, access to social services, and more. It may be difficult to talk about – or even admit to -- but our region continues to struggle with issues of race. That discussion is complicated by the fact that our demographics are changing – for example, as the historically African American neighborhood of H Street NE is, after decades of neglect, experiencing rapid gentrification, can it retain its cultural history? And, new U.S. Census data show that, while Montgomery County, MD is now “majority minority,” the population of the District of Columbia is no longer majority-black. Moreover, in some communities the region’s growing immigrant population continues to be the source of tension --exacerbated by a weakened economy and shrinking resources generally. At a minimum, we must be open to having civil discourse on these topics. I hope that you will make it a priority to visit the important new exhibition, RACE: Are We So Different? , opening on June 16 at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. This year, we are partnering with the Smithsonian in presenting our forthcoming Annual Meeting on June 15 devoted to “Putting Race on the Table,” a discussion forum featuring some of today’s foremost thinkers on the topic of race. (See the “Upcoming Events” section of this newsletter for details.) This issue of Making Connections is the first of a two-part series examining aspects of race and racism as it affects both our nation and especially our diverse communities here at home. Opinions on this issue run the gamut and we will try to present diverse viewpoints in these pages. We’ll meet Community Foundation grantees, donors, and leaders who are working to create a more equitable region where opportunity is within everyone’s reach. In addition, I encourage you to visit our website, www.thecommunityfoundation.org, for more information and resources on this important topic and to share your perspective with us.
Meet Community Foundation Trustee Wendy Thompson-Marquez
As a child growing up in Peru, Wendy Thompson-Marquez dreamt about America. “There is no other country like it,” says Thompson-Marquez, who recently was named to the Board of Trustees of The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region. “That is what drives a lot of people—including me—to leave their homelands behind.” Like many immigrants who move to this country to get an education, flee civil unrest or earn a living, her path was not an easy one. Thompson-Marquez arrived in 1987 on a tourist visa and decided to stay and pursue her dream of obtaining a college degree despite having an expired visa. She worked as a nanny for two families who sponsored her stay until she obtained her green card after eight years. During this time, she attended Montgomery College and then the University of Maryland/College Park, where she earned a degree in business administration. “I had constant nightmares,” she says looking back on that time. The bad dreams were always the same; she would be deported and forced to return to Peru without an education. In spite of these worries, Thompson-Marquez continued to stay in this country for nearly a decade. “There were many times I thought about throwing in the towel,” she recalls. But people she met along the way encouraged her to continue pursuing her goals. Once she was documented, and after a great deal of persistence, Thompson-Marquez landed a job as a sales associate at Telemundo, the American Spanish-language television network. Remarkably, just one year later she was named general manager of the Washington station, ultimately making it one of the most profitable affiliates in the station group. She went on to manage 10 Telemundo affiliates on the East Coast and one in El Paso, Texas. As vice-president of the ZGS affiliate group, she was responsible for creating company-wide programs including a unique expo connecting Hispanic families with businesses and organizations in their areas, and a national campaign aimed at increasing literacy rates among Hispanic families. Nonetheless, Thompson-Marquez never forgot the feeling of uncertainty immigrants experience while waiting for a green card. The experience shaped her perspective on what it means to be an immigrant and inspired her current project, “Harvest of Empire,” a documentary that examines the political and social roots of immigrants and immigration from Mexico, Central America and South America. “Our immigration laws are not adjusting to current economic and social realities,” says Thompson-Marquez. “Immigration has become so polarized. My goal with this film is to educate viewers about the roots and ‘push factors’ that drive people to leave their homes.” As for her decision to join The Community Foundation board, she says: “Putting race on the table” – the topic of The Community Foundation’s June 15 annual meeting – “is something that not all organizations have the courage to do. The Foundation tackles issues that are controversial in both an open and educational way, asking the critical question, ‘how can we better understand each other?’ I like that approach.” “My American dream is the product of many people,” she adds. “None of them had a blood connection to me; some of them were strangers. The one thing they had in common: they didn’t view me as an undocumented worker. They didn't view me as an illegal alien. They saw me as a human being.” “Today I am a citizen of this country and I have a voice. But I also know what it means not to have one. I feel that I have a moral obligation to speak for those who cannot.” At the Atlas Performing Arts Center, Rebirth on H Street
H Street is back! The vibrant retail, commercial and entertainment corridor in northeast Washington that fell on hard times–in part because of the 1968 riots and decades of ensuing disinvestment–is enjoying a renaissance. The signs are everywhere. New, independently owned businesses are opening. Diners can now choose from a wide range of restaurant options, from Belgian to Jamaican to Japanese. And the corridor is undergoing a major street renovation to install a streetcar which will provide service between the Gallery Place/Chinatown and the Minnesota Avenue Metro stations.  The catalyst of this revitalization is the Atlas Performing Arts Center. More than a decade ago, local civil rights attorney, Community Foundation donor and theatrical producer Jane Lang saw the building’s potential and was the driving force behind the renovation of the long-vacant Atlas Theatre complex. In a 2003 interview, she credited The Community Foundation with making its revival possible with its lead $100,000 investment. “With that stamp of approval, other individual and foundation donors came to see this as an important project for the city,” she said. Today, the historic building, reinvented as a 21st-century multiple-use arts venue, is home to several resident arts partners. The organization’s current calendar reflects its diversity of offerings, from Fats Waller’s “Ain’t Misbehavin’” to performances by Step Afrika! and Joy of Motion’s adult hip-hop company DCypher Dance to Adventure Theatre’s summer musical theater camp. Redevelopment of H Street NE inevitably raises concerns about gentrification and the loss of local control of community assets. Lang is mindful of these concerns, working with a diverse board, residents of the community and local merchants to determine ways in which they can work together to accomplish the economic revival of their community. Orlando Brooks, a real estate management and IT consultant who spent some of his formative years living on H Street NE and several decades later returned to the neighborhood, serves on the Atlas board. “H Street inspired me to become an entrepreneur,” he says, reflecting back on his childhood. “It was the first place I saw African American business people.” As for the changing neighborhood, “I’m an advocate of being inclusive,” he says. “When the inevitable tide comes in, you need to make sure all ships rise together.” While acknowledging that there is tension in the neighborhood around the development, he says there is “a marked difference from five years ago. H Street is really starting to gel.” Sam Sweet (pictured at right), who grew up in Prince George’s County and is a veteran arts manager, was appointed executive director in February. (Lang is board chair.) Sweet shares Lang’s vision of putting people –artists, audiences and neighbors—at the center of the organization’s mission. “We want artists to feel supported here, we want audience members to feel welcome here and we want neighbors to feel we are providing opportunities and accessibility to the arts. At the same time, we are making the neighborhood stronger through revitalizing it,” he said. One of the newest Atlas initiatives is a stagecraft training and apprentice program aimed at providing training and job opportunities to unemployed and underemployed workers interested in working in theater and other venues. Jasmine Jackson is a recent graduate. The workforce program “opened a lot of doors for me,” says Jackson, who has since landed a job as weekend house manager at Atlas as well as a paid fellow at Arena Stage. “The apprenticeship represents both opportunity and empowerment.”
Tenants and Workers United: Marching on the Path to Social Justice
At Tenants and Workers United, “We sometimes say what is uncomfortable,” says Jennifer Morley, interim director of the Alexandria-based community organization that has a satellite office in the Culmore neighborhood in Fairfax County. “Our country has policies that favor people with access and money,” Morley said. “Part of our work is questioning that.”  Founded more than two decades ago, the organization is committed “to building the power of low-income people – multi-national immigrants, African Americans, women, low-wage workers and youth—in Northern Virginia, to struggle against racism and sexism, to develop multi-racial leadership for social and economic justice and to democratically control or own community resources including housing, education and health care.” Morley, who grew up in Connecticut, had her first taste of activism at 18 when she was studying in Guadalajara, Mexico. There was a real disconnect between the “big concepts” she was learning about in the classroom and what was playing out in the local community. “People were treated unjustly,” she says. “The policies they were being sold, which were supposedly going to bring people out of poverty, were creating the absolute opposite conditions.” Around that same time, Latino and African American residents of the Arlandria neighborhood in the northeastern portion of Alexandria, Virginia, were engaged in a 10-year struggle to remain in their homes. Families who had lived for years in apartment buildings in a flood plain of the Potomac River suddenly found themselves faced with eviction notices after the federal government and solved the flooding problem, the private owner of the property died, and the City of Alexandria began courting high-end developers to “improve” the area. . But the tenants persevered and ultimately founded the Arlandria-Chirilagua Housing Cooperative (ACHC), a 287-unit housing complex owned and operated democratically by its resident/owners. To date, ACHC is the only home-ownership opportunity available to low-income people in Northern Virginia. Over the years, Tenants and Workers has won more than $100 million in living wage jobs, affordable housing, health care, public education resources and other community benefits. For example, the group launched Alexandria Union Cab, a worker-owned and -operated business with more than 230 drivers and a market value of $2 million. In another campaign, parents of children attending Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) organized, demanding that ACPS hire bilingual (Spanish/English) parent liaisons to improve communication with teachers and orient immigrant parents. After that victory, families started talking about ways to close the academic achievement gap between white students and students of color in the public schools, ensuring that all students graduate prepared to go to college. “These are students who were faced with low expectations and assumptions based solely on the color of their skin or their ethnicity,” Morley said. The campaign grew out of feedback from students who said they were not getting good advice about which classes to take and how to prepare for college. “The message was, you will go to NOVA (Northern Virginia Community College),” says Morley. Mario Avalos, a native of El Salvador who is vice president of Tenants and Workers United, has experienced the challenges of the school system firsthand. Most recently, while making plans to send his youngest to kindergarten, he was pressured to list the language spoken in his home as Spanish on the child’s paperwork although the family speaks English. “I have to make sure that my children are prepared to compete in the world,” says Avalos, who is working with the school system to correct some of its policies.
Want to learn more about this complicated issue? From scholarly reports to blogs and social media forums, we have lots of ideas for you.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
I have a moral obligation to speak for those who cannot.
--Wendy Thompson-Marquez
First, be sure to visit our website, 
Consumer Health Foundation
Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
|
But that’s just the beginning, because our Facebook page is your Facebook page, too. Tell us -- which causes and nonprofits are most important to you? Share your stories and photos, promote your upcoming events, make new friends and strengthen ties with current ones. It’s a great way to get and stay connected to the nonprofit and philanthropic communities in our region. Connect to our Facebook page HERE. |
|
 |
Diane and Norman Bernstein Foundation |
 |
 |
 |
Health Reform in Our Region: What Every Funder Needs to Know
Monday, June 20, 2011
9:30am - 11:30am
The Eugene & Agnes E. Meyer Foundation
1250 Connecticut Ave NW
Suite 800
Washington, DC
What do community development, workforce development, aging, school-based health centers and prevention and wellness programs have to do with health reform? At this briefing, Len Nichols, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Health Policy Research and Ethics at George Mason University, will deliver an update on how the Affordable Care Act affects issues far beyond the provision of direct health care. Dr. Nichols will provide an overview of the law and explain what is required for its successful implementation, as well as the opportunities and potential roles for funders to go beyond dollars in their communities in the years to come.
Open to Washington Grantmakers members only.
Join Our Online Community
In our blog, "Giving It Some Thought," Community Foundation President Terri Lee Freeman and guest bloggers share their perspectives on regional issues and philanthropy. Read it and sign-up for RSS feeds HERE.
Become a fan of our Facebook page and stay up-to-date on the latest Community Foundation news! Find us HERE.
Follow us @CommunityFndn and our President, Terri Lee Freeman, @TerriLeeFreeman
Community Foundation Donors:Go Green! Sign Up for E-Statements and Donor Central
If you're a Community Foundation donor, you now can receive your quarterly statements electronically. It's the fast, easy, efficient, and earth-friendly way to keep track of your fund profile. Registering only takes a minute. Sign up HERE.
Sign up for Donor Central! This free, secure online service lets you recommend grants and check your fund activity 24/7. Contact Starlet Hunter, Director of Development, at (202) 263-4763 or shunter@cfncr.org.
About The Community Foundation
Founded in 1973, The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region promotes charitable giving and plays a leading role in finding innovative solutions to the Greater Washington region's most challenging problems. The Foundation is a community of givers – individuals, families and corporations have joined with the Foundation; as a result, the Foundation provides sound management of more than 800 funds and some $360 million in assets. In FY2010, The Community Foundation and its donors awarded some $50 million in grants to nonprofit organizations in the Washington, DC region and beyond. The Foundation has two affiliates – The Community Foundation for Montgomery County and The Community Foundation for The Prince George’s County. For more information, visit www.thecommunityfoundation.org.
•
Regional Affiliate – The Community Foundation for Montgomery County
8720 Georgia Avenue, Suite 202 | Silver Spring, MD 20910 | Phone: (301) 588-2544
•
Regional Affiliate – The Community Foundation for Prince George's County
8181 Professional Place | Landover, MD 20785 | Phone: (301) 464-6706
