Investing in Leaders + Doers
We do systems-level work and people move systems. Grand Rapids Community Foundation is committed to investing in the wholeness of people working for positive and equitable change in our community.
Leaders and doers are shaping the future of Kent County by pressing for racial equity and finding ways to make a difference in the lives of friends, family and neighbors. There is an added burden for those personally navigating the dual pandemics of COVID-19 and racial, social and economic injustices in our community. This sacrifice has undoubtedly impacted their health and well-being. That’s why Grand Rapids Community Foundation is intentionally investing in these leaders and doers. We put people first because we know that individuals and people generate systems-level outcomes.
As the Community Foundation strives to become more actively anti-racist, with an increased focus on community input, we know we are asking a lot of our partners. In order to find a different way of being in relationship with investment officers, grant partners, community education partners, donor partners and more, we need to think differently about how we are investing in those individuals.
How are we putting people first and understanding that the changes we are making today are going to impact generations to come? Our partnerships with New City Neighbors and Shannon Cohen Inc. show how we follow the lead of community voices and invest in their well-being.
How are we putting people first and understanding that the changes we are making today are going to impact generations to come?
Ricardo Tavárez
“So often we hear that youth are the leaders of tomorrow. I think youth are actually the leaders of tomorrow and today. We might as well give them the tools that they need and empower them to step into those places."
— Ricardo Tavárez
Students Growing Justice
At New City Neighbors, what starts with hands in the dirt results in youth leaders envisioning solutions to end systemic injustice. New City Neighbors’ holistic approach empowers students in their program, builds into them as individuals and learns from them along the way.
New City Neighbors’ vegetable farm creates jobs for students as they grow produce, which is sold through their farm stand and community-supported agriculture program and given to local food pantries. Their New City Café trains students in restaurant entrepreneurship, including cooking, customer service, food systems, healthy eating and marketing.
New City Neighbors does more than train students in farming or business fundamentals. “When we talk about a holistic approach, we have to talk with students about systemic injustice beginning with food systems and property ownership. We have to talk about nourishment, mental health, physical health,” says Ricardo Tavárez, executive director. “We have to talk about injustice and what it’ll take to create a more equitable society.”
The lessons are not one-sided. Staff members offer opportunities for students to provide critical program feedback and activate justice in their own schools, communities and lives. “So often we hear that youth are the leaders of tomorrow. I think youth are actually the leaders of tomorrow and today,” Ricardo says. “We might as well give them the tools that they need and empower them to step into those places.”
New City Neighbors models active anti-racism for its students by embedding diversity, equity and inclusion into its new home and location. Last fiscal year, a grant partnership with the Community Foundation supported their ability to relocate to a permanent location that aligns more closely with those values. They are guaranteeing that at least 40 percent of their renovations will be done by Black, Indigenous and other people of color contractors.
“So often we hear that youth are the leaders of tomorrow. I think youth are actually the leaders of tomorrow and today. We might as well give them the tools that they need and empower them to step into those places.
— Ricardo Tavárez
Healing the Healers
Our partner Shannon Cohen, founder of Shannon Cohen Inc., understands that Black, Indigenous and other leaders of color often carry an extra burden. She believes that investing in our difference makers requires a new approach—healing-centered engagement and people care. “People who have been architects of the solutions, who have kept our community together in the midst of these dual pandemics, no one asked about the state of their soul. No one inquires if they’re really alright. And that is a dangerous assumption, to assume that, just because someone is high functioning or high achieving, they are fine,” Shannon says.
During the last year, the Community Foundation partnered with Shannon Cohen Inc. by investing in Community Care Circles. These custom-curated spaces and experiences nourish local leaders of color through inspiration and strategy sessions that invite them to candidly discuss their visible and invisible struggles. “We need to create circles of care where these leaders unpack what has been happening to them emotionally, psychologically, physically,” Shannon says. “And we need to let them be human and lay aside their mantles of leadership, their titles, their roles, their responsibilities. To have a place where no one is coming with an ask, but we’re coming with an offer.” Her work highlights the fact that investing in people requires introspective self-care as well as community and systems-level care.
The kind of healing that happens in psychologically safe spaces like Community Care Circles is critical for our community’s leaders and doers. Intentionally shifting toward this kind of people first investment will affect generations to come, if done through a lens of racial, social and economic justice. “I think until we are ready as communities to go back and look at this generational thread of injustice, oppression and hate—in a system that was built on a hierarchy of human value based on the color of a person’s skin—we’re never going to get it right. And we need to be willing to look at how that intersects with systems of today,” Shannon says.
“People who have been architects of the solutions, who have kept our community together in the midst of these dual pandemics, no one asked about the state of their soul. No one inquires if they’re really alright."
— Shannon Cohen
Shannon Cohen
“People who have been architects of the solutions, who have kept our community together in the midst of these dual pandemics, no one asked about the state of their soul. No one inquires if they’re really alright."
— Shannon Cohen
People First Philanthropy
As we keep navigating and responding to COVID-19’s long-term impacts, investing in people must be part of the equation. While we celebrate the incredible ways our nonprofit and community partnerships are finding ways to put people first, we know there is still much to be done.
The Community Foundation is leveraging resources from unrestricted funding, assessing our internal practices and reimagining what a renewed West Michigan might be as we head into our centennial year in 2022. We are also committed to an increased investment in our community-led and identity-based funds. Our volunteers are showing us the way as they reimagine philanthropy for our African American Heritage Fund, Challenge Scholars Dream Fund, Latinx Advisory Committee, Our LGBTQ Fund and our Youth Grant Committee. The investment goes beyond dollars. These partnerships require space and agency to be decision makers for how funds are raised, reviewed and distributed. Thanks to our partners’ support, lessons are rippling throughout the Community Foundation. We remain committed to finding ways to invest in our community’s health and well-being by listening to local leaders and doers.
