Client News
Criminal justice organization For the People launched a cash payment pilot program to help formerly incarcerated people avoid recidivism across the state of California. A total of 50 participants are set to receive checks worth $2,750 in increment payments to successfully reenter society. The program was launched as part of a new California resentencing law that allows prosecutors to release people who received a partially excessive sentence. Hillary Blout, the author of the resentencing law and executive director of For the People, shared that the program aims to support formerly incarcerated people get a fresh start. The program focuses on “setting people up for success” and “being able to get their basic needs met,” said Blout. Read the feature article to learn more about the program.
Hillary Blout, executive director of For the People. Photo credit: For the People
California Donor Table community partners, Jonathan Paik, executive director of the Orange County Civic Engagement Table, and Pablo Rodriguez, founding executive director of Communities for a New California Education FundAn were mentioned in an article on redistricting by CalMatters. The community leaders explained how community organizers are working together to ensure that diverse communities are well represented in congressional, legislative, and local districts. The state of California redistricts every decade after the Census to make sure that everyone is represented equally. The advocacy groups formed alliances to protect the interests of communities of color through the redistricting process. Learn more about California’s redistricting process in the piece written by Sameea Kamal of CalMatters.
U.S. Rep. Karen Bass of Los Angeles spoke during a House Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington. D.C., on June 10, 2020. Photo Credit: Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP
A recent study by Way To Win, a community partner of our client the California Donor Table, revealed that Democrats need to invest more in sunbelt states to solidify their position in Congress and Electoral College. The political strategy organization challenged Democrats to engage with communities that are racially diverse to win voter confidence among people of color. Way to Win’s vice president and chief strategy officer Jenifer Fernandez Ancona says, “The big message for us is that the core strategy of the 2022 midterm [should be] about engineering and expanding enthusiasm among this high-potential multiracial, multigenerational base that is really a critical part of the electorate across the Sun Belt states.” Read more about the growing political power of people of color in the article by the Atlantic.
Photo credit: American Psychological Association
Carla Fredericks, the executive director of the Christensen Fund spoke to Vice about President Joe Biden’s decision to revoke permits for the Keystone XL pipeline on Indigenous land in Montana. The Fund awards grants to advocacy groups led by Indigenous peoples similar to the activists and tribe members featured in the piece. Putting an end to the pipeline was a huge relief to members of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes in Montana. Their efforts helped protect Indigenous women and girls who have experienced stranger violence, domestic abuse as well as sexual and aggravated assault as a result of the male-dominated oil industry since the 1980s. Read more about the impact advocacy work of Indigenous women in the piece by Vice.
From left to right: Verma Taylor, Angeline Cheek, Alberta Eagleman, and Cheyenne Foote. Cheek and elders—the backbone of Fort Peck—pose during a prayer ceremony and protest against keystone xl at the U.S.-Canada border. (photo courtesy of Kokipasni Youth Group).
In Case You Missed It
This past Tuesday and Wednesday, California’s Inaugural Reparations Task Force heard testimony on anti-Black Racism in the state’s housing and education policy. Black Californians also spoke on the impacts of environmental racism, discrimination in the banking industry, and the wealth gap. Read the piece written by KQED race reporter Lakshmi Sarah for details of the meeting led by the task force.
Civil rights activist Reverend Dr. Amos C. Brown speaks during a rally at Lowell High School on Feb. 5, 2021. Brown is the vice-chair of the California Reparations Task Force. Photo credit: Beth LaBerge/KQED
California native Chief Duane “Yellow Feather” Shepard, an extended member of the Bruce family of Bruce’s Beach, spoke to NPR about reclaiming the land of his ancestors that was stolen from many Blac families to create the well-known beachfront park in Manhattan California. Shepard’s story, a descendent of Charles and Willa Bruce, inspired the relatives of other Black families who previously owned land on Bruce’s Beach to fight back and reclaim the land that was stolen from their ancestors. Read more about this powerful story on the history of Bruce’s Beach by NPR.
A printed out wedding portrait of Charles Aaron and Willa A. Bruce was placed on top of the plaque. Photo credit: Bethany Mollenkof for NPR