By Stuart Comstock-Gay and Paul Herdman
Inspired by Black History Month and our unwavering desire to address structural and systemic racism in Delaware and beyond, the Delaware Community Foundation and Rodel are proud to sponsor the Black Voices for Black Justice Fund.
This initiative aims to highlight black voices in our community. Through nominations, the program provides strong, imaginative Black leaders with a financial award to use their voice and solutions for building a fair, equitable, and anti-racist America that better reflects the best of humanity.
Through this partnership, a person from Delaware will be selected as a leader.
Wes Moore, the bestselling author of Five Days: The Fiery Reckoning of an American City, co-chairs the fund. Moore spoke to the DCF and our friends during a 2020 “Building Opportunity” keynote.
Click here to learn more about the Black Voices for Black Justice Fund, and click here to nominate a Black leader from your community. The deadline to submit nominations is March 15.
Archive for racial justice
My synapses are firing, and I’m full of appreciation and joy!
Last night, hundreds of you joined us in a discussion with Wes Moore – about race, structural racism, hope, and passion. We also heard from a local panel, featuring Bebe Coker, Rev. Edwin Estevez, Alonna Berry and Charito Calvachi-Mateyko, responding to Wes and sharing their thoughts about where we are, and where we need to go. 
Thank you to everybody who participated.
There is so much to digest and think about, but a few items stuck hard with me.
The racial awareness that has come about in 2020 is not, said Wes, because of something different that happened this year vs. last. Killings of, and harassment of, black men and boys have been with us for a long time, and are not going away. What’s different now is that we are in a movement, not a moment. And at some point, we will reach a time when we will say, “Can you believe racial justice was something people had to fight for?”
Wes also reminded us that we do not have the luxury of “looking past race,” when race remains the most accurate predictor of life outcomes in America.
Wes reminded us that every person’s story matters, and every story is interesting “because it is that person’s story.” Unfortunately, we too often don’t know people’s stories until it is too late.
And there’s not really room to discuss the powerful statements by all of our panelists. Suffice it to say, they were great.
Finally I appreciate that so many of us want to make progress. In his book Five Days, Wes says, “The figures in this book were each, in their way, fighting to prevent the tragedy of Freddie Gray from playing out again and again…In their small victories and looming failures, they revealed to me the importance of individual changemakers and the indispensable necessity of collective action.”
As for us at the DCF, we believe that collective and individual action to reduce racial inequities is and must remain central to all of our work. The work is not just a one-time thing, but will imbue all we do.
We are engaging in this work in a number of ways.
• Right now, in partnership with the Rodel Foundation, we are pleased to say that we will support a Delaware participant in the Black Voices for Black Justice Fund, a national initiative co-chaired by Wes.
• We are developing new grant opportunities focused on better supporting and investing in leaders of color, the organizations they lead, and the communities they serve.
• We are implementing recommendations of the fellows who were part of our Community Equity Project – their work will be featured on the DCF website in the upcoming weeks.
• And we are continuing to participate with the Delaware Racial Justice Collaborative being coordinated by our partners at the United Way of Delaware.
We are on a path. And we all have a part to play. And (using Alonna Berry’s metaphor), while none of us alone can move the wall, we all need to work hard on moving our individual bricks.
I felt hopeful that people with such powerful voices and so many gifts are willing to take such great risks to make sure that change happens. That made me hopeful. But I also felt a lot of anger and embarrassment for myself and for this country. To me, this is the kind of book that you have to participate in a book club for, because you have to be able to unpack it with somebody, otherwise it really weighs on your heart. The thing that I enjoyed about the book is that it really showed how one person can have this ripple effect throughout the community. – Margie Lopez Waite at 9/23/2020 book discussion
The book circles are underway. In our third annual series of book discussions, Delawareans are now using Wes Moore’s Five Days as a stepping off point for deep dialogue about race and equity in our country.
The book tells the story of the days after Freddie Gray was killed in Baltimore – from the perspectives of real people in the city – a business executive, a police officer, community activists, city councilman, and more. Through Wes’ book, we get a chance to hear the thoughts of many, all of whom want things to improve, but all of whom also see these challenges through their own lens.
Americans are seeking to confront our racial past, present and future. More of us are confronting our own role, our own opportunities, weaknesses, and biases. For me, I also come to this with a belief that the vast majority of us want to do the right thing, want to address the historical racism in the country, and and want to make change. But we don’t always know how to do that, have not done that yet, and recognize there is much yet to do. We owe it to our country’s future to lean in, reflect, learn, and be part of the solutions.
A colleague from the community foundation in Buffalo told the DCF Board recently that in their work on equity, they emphasize the importance of “calling people in to the conversation and the work, not calling people out [for their errors and weaknesses].” That’s how we hope this book helps the conversation. I hope this book contributes not just to the analysis, but also toward bringing people into the conversation, and inspiring the change we must see.
Wes will join us in a discussion on Thursday, November 19. We hope you will have read the book, talked with others about it, and are thinking about the change you can make before then. You can also join one of our larger book discussions – and can sign up on our website.
The 500 books we purchased for this event are, fortunately, already out in the hands of Delawareans. So we don’t have any more to send. But the state’s libraries have books to borrow (on-line, too), and the book is also available through on-line book portals. Please check it out, and join us on the 19th of November.
When you have your own book discussions, send us your observations, and photos, and we’ll share them as well. To do that, send comments to Kelly Sheridan (ksheridan@delcf.org).
What a long strange trip it’s been. Others have said it in more clever ways, and with deeper analysis, but 2020 is turning out to be both the year we never wanted to see, and a year that has laid bare our deepest challenges, and will present opportunities to make America better than we’ve ever been.
The pandemic, economic crisis, a continuing political maelstrom… And across and intertwined in it all, a recognition that racial equity is at the core of so very many of our challenges. This work – around equity and race in America – is defining work of our time, and work that DCF is in for the long haul.
It’s for these reasons that we are welcoming Wes Moore as our 2020 Building Opportunity speaker.
DCF’s Building Opportunity speaker series began in 2018 with Robert Putnam, at which point we announced our commitment to focusing on the tragic opportunity gap in America. We promised to keep our attention on the need for a society where all members can flourish. We followed that up with Jim and Deborah Fallows, who traveled the U.S. talking with people who are rebuilding their communities.
And now Wes Moore. He’ll be talking about his hot-off-the-presses book, Five Days. Wes, a Baltimore native, Rhodes scholar, former White House Fellow, and now CEO of the Robin Hood Foundation, writes in this book about the aftermath of the killing of Freddie Gray in Baltimore. He tells the story through the eyes of eight people from vastly different walks of life in the city, from business executives to police officers to protestors and family members.
When we reached out to Wes last fall, we discussed our desire to focus our opportunity gap on a specific discussion of race. We thought we’d talk about his book The Other Wes Moore. I won’t describe it here, but it’s a fabulous book, and one that forces us to consider the thin line that often separates lives that are successful, and lives that are not. But then Wes pointed out that his new book would be coming out this summer. And it’s about a police killing, and racial injustice, and people trying to do something about it. It couldn’t be timelier.
Because what we’re seeing in the COVID-19 crisis is that people of color are affected in much higher numbers that white people. We’re seeing more people of color in jobs that keep them squarely in the cross-hairs of the coronavirus. And while these times affect all of us, the greater challenges for Black and brown people are part of our reality, one that DCF is committed to addressing.
This will be an important discussion. Please join us. You can do so in two ways.
First, again we have books to give out to Book Circles. We urge you to read the book, talk about it, and consider where we go from here.
And then join us on November 19 as Wes talks about the book, and the realities of America today. We’re finalizing the details for that day But we think you’ll find it worthwhile.
This week on our podcast we hear from Micheal Crumble.
Micheal Crumble for the H. Fletcher Brown Boys and Girls Club. (Have I ever said how much fun my job can be.)
Micheal Crumble is, in his own words, “Boys and Girls Clubs through and through.” For almost 20 years, he has been focused on helping kids through their programs – from Dumfries, Virginia to greater Washington, D.C., to Silver Spring, Maryland and now Wilmington. And that work comes after a career in the Air Force.
A military guy. A guy who cares about community and cares about kids and wants them to have real opportunity. Currently, Micheal is the Unit Director of the H. Fletcher Brown Boys and Girls Club in Wilmington.
Micheal is all in for this work, and has an important story to tell about his work.
It’s worth noting here what an important role the Boys and Girls Clubs are playing up and down the state. The program at Brown is serving some of the most overlooked kids in the city. But that’s also true at all of their facilities, and in their school based programs. In Seaford and Laurel and Milford and Dover and Smyrna, and, and, and.
Thanks to that organization. And thanks to Micheal for his leadership at the H. Fletcher Brown site.
Check out this week’s podcast here.
Listen and subscribe to all episodes in the series at delcf.org/podcast.
Micheal Crumble, director of the H. Fletcher Brown Boys & Girls Club in Wilmington, talks about building opportunity for underserved youth. Following a 20-year career in the military, Crumble found a second vocation creating opportunities for kids to learn and grow. Under his direction, the H. Fletcher Brown Boys & Girls Club recently opened a digital arts lab, funded in part by the DCF.
Our nine-episode Building Opportunity in Delaware podcast series focuses on how can we build opportunity and strengthen community for all. DCF President & CEO Stuart Comstock-Gay talks with Delawareans who are building opportunity through the arts, faith communities, libraries and everything in between.
You can listen and subscribe on Apple, Spotify. and Google Podcasts. Find all podcast episodes at delcf.org/podcast.
There are many approaches to building opportunity. One area we too often ignore is the importance of art. In this week’s podcast, David Stradley from Delaware Shakespeare talks about the work they are doing to bring Shakespeare to non-traditional places – homeless shelters, prisons, mental health facilities and more…and how that changes the experience, and includes a broader diversity of people in the work.
Our talk is about art, creativity, community, connection and voice.
Said David. We love “to create programming … that allows the partners we serve to further express their voice, instead of just going and doing a play and them sitting there and watching.” He continues, “we use Shakespeare as a launching pad..,where community members can give voice to issues that are concerning to them, through the lens of Shakespeare.”
It’s a compelling discussion for art as a community builder. And he is compelling when he talks about this work as “the most fulfilling work that I’ve ever done as a theater artist.”
Check it out.
To see all of the podcast links, click here.
In our second episode, Bryant Garcia, immigration program coordinator at La Esperanza in Georgetown, talks about building opportunity for Latino communities.
Our nine-episode Building Opportunity in Delaware podcast series focuses on how can we build opportunity and strengthen community for all. DCF President & CEO Stuart Comstock-Gay talks with Delawareans who are building opportunity through the arts, faith communities, libraries and everything in between.
You can listen and subscribe on Apple, Spotify. and Google Podcasts.
It’s long been said that if you want to go quickly, you go alone. But if you want to go far, go together.
Yesterday’s Focus on Wilmington showed the power of going together. It was DCF’s first community engagement session this year, and brought together 14 collaborative programs in the city, with a hundred citizens, leaders and activists – to share innovative work and break down silos.
Dorrell Green, recently named superintendent of the Red Clay School District, spoke about the Dual Generation Center at Stubbs Elementary School, a partnership between the state and Christina School District – a new center
that will focus on early education but provide support for a broad range of family issues. Said Green to WDEL. “No one entity can do it alone. I just think this [event] is a good example of folks coming together to support, as a whole.”
From the Stubbs project to the comprehensive plans of REACH Riverside to break the burdens of inter-generational poverty in the Riverside Community, to the work of the Wilmington Leaders Alliance and Generations to reinvent employment pipelines, we heard from many of Wilmington’s most inspiring collaborative efforts. You can read about the programs that were highlighted here.
During the event, participants said things like, “I heard about things I’ve been wanting to do and learned they are already happening, and being done better,” and “This was a great way to learn about how funding aligns with community needs and a great way to connect with leaders.” And “I just didn’t know about this program, and it’s exactly what I’m looking for.” Collaboration is indeed well practiced in Wilmington and Delaware, with leaders like the Wilmington Community Advisory Council and United Way doing heavy lifting.
DCF organized this event as one of many activities to build on the work of our fall 2018 community leadership lecture from Bob Putnam, talking about his book Our Kids and about the opportunity gap in America. During the lead up to that event, and afterward, we heard repeatedly from friends and colleagues that folks wanted to know more about what’s going on and how to plug in. Even those of us most involved keep finding new programs that we didn’t previously know about, and which are great opportunities for partnerships.
There is so much tremendous work going on. And everybody knows that we need to work together. Most of us are working together. This program tried to broaden the connections. And it’s not the end. DCF is committed to helping bring people together to strengthen partnerships up and down the state. Watch for more about future focus conversations.
Here is another post about working with DCF, and why it can be a great way to achieve charitable goals…this one describes the Field of Interest fund.
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We all have passions that drive us, that occupy a space in our heart and motivate us to improve the world. One way to address those passions – and invest in our community’s future – is through the Field of Interest Fund. These funds are designed by the donor to focus gifts in an area that is important to them, such as protecting the environment, supporting educational 
advances, or expanding access to the arts. And then, instruct the DCF board and staff to make sure good grants are made on that issue now and in the future.
It’s a way to narrow philanthropic giving, but keep your donation flexible enough to meet the changing needs of the community. The fund type allows for long-term community impact on issues that matter, while providing immediate benefit for the donor in the form of a tax deduction at the time the gift is made.
Think of it as hitting the target without having to nail the bullseye.
Here’s how it works:
1. Donors identify an area of personal interest, as broad or narrow as desired. (DCF staff can help narrow the focus if you wish). For example, the Jonathan Moyed CARE Fund, established at the DCF in 2001, is focused on innovative and creative ways to provide/support long term health programs for Delawareans. The DCF researches the organizations doing effective work in this important area and awards grants to make the greatest impact possible. Over the years, Moyed CARE fund has supported the Mary Campbell Center, Ingleside Homes, Nanticoke Health Services and other important organizations.
2. Donors create the endowed fund at DCF with a gift of cash, securities, or other property worth $15,000 or more. That gift becomes a permanent source of community funding, targeting the donor’s area of interest. Donors can add more funds at any time.
3. The DCF board awards grants to community organizations and programs that are making a difference in the selected area of interest. All the while, DCF handles the administrative requirements for the fund, including managing the fund assets and overseeing the fund’s investment.
There’s a lot of great work being done in philanthropy today. A field of interest fund is a great way to not only protect and promote the issues you care about, but also to ensure they get the support they need in the future.
It’s hitting the target — even from far away.