Movement leaders, social service organizations and infrastructure partners are equipped to provide crucial leadership and support for marginalized communities and nonprofit organizations.
Community Leadership remains grounded in these priorities:
Deputy Vice President Jennifer Aronson and Yolanda Coentro, founder of the Institute for Nonprofit Practice, highlight the impact of our collective work in support of those who power Greater Boston's nonprofit sector.
Program Officer Candace Burton and VietAID Executive Director underscore the importance of flexible funding like the Safety Net Grants program to provide nonprofit partners with the ability to identify and meet critical community needs.
Jennifer W. Aronson
Deputy Vice President, Programs
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Juliana Brandão
Senior Program Associate, Shifting Power and Advancing Justice
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Candace Burton
Program Officer, Safety Net Grants
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Vetto Casado
Director, Shifting Power and Advancing Justice
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Leigh Handschuh
Senior Program Officer, Nonprofit Sector Infrastructure
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Carlos Muñoz-Cadilla
Senior Associate, Nonprofit Sector Infrastructure
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Quynh Nguyen
Associate, Safety Net Grants
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The Summer 2024 edition of TBF News features a full exploration of our Community Leadership pathway, including our work in support of nonprofits, the launch of "Shifting Power, Advancing Justice" and our investments in supporting the social safety net through the twice-annual Safety Net Grants program.
The Community Leadership pathway supports the individuals and organizations that push Greater Boston and the Commonwealth toward a more just society. The pathway includes three focus areas:
A resilient and diverse Greater Boston nonprofit sector is critical to meet the challenges fueled by systemic and structural inequities imposed on marginalized communities. The Nonprofit Sector Infrastructure focus area will provide grant support for key infrastructure partners. The support will help advance equitable models, policies and practices that disrupt the status quo to create the conditions for a sector that uplifts and supports historically excluded leaders and organizations.
This focus area uplifts movement leaders to reclaim their power and strengthen the communities they serve. Through multi-year funding and resources, we will launch three years of sustained support (beginning in 2023) for a group of core leaders and their organizations that have critical roles in advancing social justice in Greater Boston.
Bolstering the safety net is critical to help stabilize marginalized communities so they can thrive. When residents struggle to make ends meet, a social safety net makes the difference between sickness and health, scarcity and plenty. With a commitment to those most vulnerable in our communities, like seniors and people with physical disabilities, this focus area supports the components of life that make people whole by responding to their immediate needs. Through the Safety Nets Grants (SNG) program, we will distribute grants semi-annually to organizations and/or leaders who reflect the communities they serve.
Movement leaders champion equity and social justice but often face inequities while serving their communities. Many movement leaders come up against hesitant boards and funders, siloed funding and “incremental support or crisis funding rather than long-term infrastructure dollars.”Movement leaders of color in Massachusetts find that they are “frequently excluded from networks and relationships of wealth. As a result, movement leaders may be overlooked by funders, even though they are the leaders who could most effectively drive investments in underserved communities.”
On top of structural barriers, leaders of identity-based nonprofits report higher levels of stress “being called upon to represent a community.” These inequities affect leaders, community safety nets and the broader nonprofit sector. Investments in movement leaders bring us closer to shifting systems and restoring the wellness, safety and joy they deserve.
With rising costs and an economy recovering from a pandemic, community needs have remained. In 2022, more than half (52%) of low-income parents said they did not have enough money for food, rent or mortgage. Responding to people’s health, housing and job emergencies increases their chances of well-being. Through the power of a social safety net, funders help Greater Boston’s nonprofits ease vulnerable residents’ burdens, enabling them to participate in self-determined futures.
In addition to supporting movement leaders and safety-net organizations, we are committed to supporting the health of a nonprofit sector that centers racial equity and its workforce. Increasingly, reliance on nonprofit services without proportionate investment has strained the sector’s infrastructure including its workforce wellness, delivery of essential services, advocacy efforts, and fundraising capacity. Supporting sector infrastructure equips organizations to shape and push forward policies and practices that create sustainable and thriving conditions for the people the sector employs and serves. Funding for the sector’s infrastructure needs to increase, as investment continues to fall behind the overall growth of giving and inflation, with only 5% of funders making up more than half of infrastructure funding nationally.
By creating opportunities with and for individuals, organizations and infrastructure partners, we envision reknitting the fabric of what makes our communities whole.
In the first of a new series from Orlando Watkins, our Chief Program Officer writes with Safety Net Grants Program Officer Candace Burton about the years-long learning journey to weave community leadership throughout our collective work.
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The six partners will work together in a three-year effort to strengthen their leadership and move their organizations forward in their efforts to spark social, economic and political change in Massachusetts.
Learn more and meet the leaders