Since the advent of the COVID pandemic, Movement Matters has been helping to lead an exciting body of work with a funders’ consortium in Maryland, Virginia, and the District to transform how they approach philanthropic work. Historically, this collaborative has supported advocacy and research around workforce solutions designed to connect residents to better jobs as a means out of poverty. However, the pandemic created an opening to more fully explore underlying assumptions about the workforce system, to transform the focus from job access to economic justice, and to more thoroughly examine how societal and philanthropic power dynamics reinforce racialized and gendered poverty. The project, in partnership with the Greater Washington Community Foundation, began with the development of a participatory action research (PAR) project in which Movement Matters engaged several grassroots partners in exploring the issue of economic security. The findings highlighted the notion that: 1) jobs only got folks so far, and 2) more reliable income support (e.g. COVID economic measures, universal basic income) was necessary to achieve any level of security, even for those working multiple jobs. In addition, the project called attention to the depth of community networks that enable people to survive poverty and poverty level employment. With these collective findings at hand, the Community Foundation is now engaging a broader array of community partners to identify a guiding set of economic justice priorities for the region. As a parallel part of this process, Movement Matters is engaging approximately 20 local funders in the Reimagine cohort. Our charge is to explore underlying power dynamics that contribute to economic insecurity and racial injustice (including those within the philanthropic sector) and reimagine how funders can support work that transforms our economic structures. Our first meetings have created a space for strong personal and organizational exploration of these themes. The Reimagine cohort will integrate the economic justice vision and principles that emerge from the community-side process. Centering these perspectives is critical to both point funders in the right direction about what to fund and to practice new power dynamics that put community knowledge in the driver’s seat. While there is not a formal commitment that these principles will guide philanthropic giving, we are setting the stage for a shift towards funding that is more focused on structural economic change. Throughout this process, we are committed to deeply exploring the way that philanthropic institutions often replicate white supremacist structures, while simultaneously creating a space for those employed within philanthropy to examine their own biases, behaviors, and values. This combination of individual and organizational, personal and professional, is building a transformative cohort that is learning together and will continue to support each other in changing both what kind of work gets supported and how philanthropy supports it in more equitable ways. Connect with us for more information on MM's Funder Training and Technical Assistance. Movement Matters is based in Washington, DC. We work regionally and with national partners. Providing support and accompaniment to organizers and community workers is a critical part of the way Movement Matters supports our collective struggle for justice. However, we recognize that those working on the ground are only part of the movement ecosystem. We are also excited when the opportunity presents itself to accompany funders who are interested in supporting transformative work. Over the last two years, Movement Matters has been partnering with Resourcing Radical Justice (RRJ), a funders collective that centers Black liberation as the path to a thriving Greater Washington region by advocating for philanthropic sector transformation, coordinating capacity building for and funding to Black and POC-led grassroots organizers, and building, lifting up, and learning from radical organizers. Our Movement Matters team played two distinct roles in RRJ’s Radical Learning Series process: helping to structure and ground the development of a learning cohort and providing content training to the cohort once it had been developed. RRJ drew on our expertise in creating values-driven, body-and-mind centered processes to help them envision the arc of their cohort design―from the application process to the learning modules to the post-workshop integration of knowledge, skills, and values. Those doing “professional” training for funders often overlook the need to allow participants to connect to their bodies, minds, and spirits as they navigate systems that may resist change. We provided concrete ways for RRJ to utilize arts and culture to avoid these traps and help participants deeply connect to new ways of thinking about funding and to navigate (personally and professionally) the obstacles they might face in implementing new approaches within their organizations. In addition to this overall framing, Movement Matters also designed and ran two training modules within the RRJ curriculum. These modules focused on understanding how philanthropy can both support and hinder movement work for systems change and racial justice, both in terms of what they fund and how they fund it. We drew on our deep knowledge of various philanthropic efforts to support community organizing, racial equity and systems change work in the DC area over the last 25 years in crafting the training content. We helped RRJ cohort members critically reflect on and ground themselves in philanthropic practices that contribute more consistently and meaningfully to a healthy movement ecosystem. As always, these workshops were deeply rooted in Movement Matters’ popular education approach and resonated strongly with the RRJ cohort. Helping those who organize money to be aligned with movement organizing in their vision, values, and practice is a critical part of a multi-pronged approach to creating change. We were happy to be able to partner with RRJ to do this kind of transformational work with funders in the region. Connect with us for more information on MM's Funder Training and Technical Assistance . Movement Matters is based in Washington, DC. We work regionally and with national partners. The Rockefeller Foundation’s US Equity and Economic Opportunity team is beginning to fund worker organizing in four states. They have contracted Movement Matters to strengthen their understanding of how to support the work and to provide protocols and practices to best enter the field. As in our work with other funders, we grounded our process in a detailed understanding of organizing as a distinct change strategy, clarifying how it relates to and is different from other modes like service provision and policy advocacy. We have examined best practices to recognize and address funder-grantee power dynamics, especially when it comes to supporting grassroots efforts. We have also provided models for funder support of short and long term change strategies, and identified ways to shift philanthropic culture to be more responsive to the needs of organizations on the ground. We are excited to continue this partnership as the Rockefeller team begins to make grants and support the work. Connect with us for more information on our Funder Training and Technical Assistance work. Movement Matters is based in Washington, DC. We work regionally and with national partners. |
AuthorsMOVEMENT MATTERS Archives
October 2024
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