Liberty Hill Blog: News from the Frontlines

How to Uplift Change Today

The contemporary challenges and untapped resources facing the African American community launched a spirited lunchtime conversation at Liberty Hill's Uplifting Change Summit this year.  USC Professor Ange-Marie Hancock moderated a panel featuring artist Mattie McFadden-Lawson, entertainment lawyer Virgil Roberts and actor Jesse Williams. The conversation loped from educating sports and Hollywood celebrities about philanthropy, to the importance of African Americans on boards, to the importance of holding ourselves to account.

“I’d like to see us focus less on what people can do for us than what we can do for ourselves. The foundation for us is us,” said Virgil Roberts.

And from there, the 100 or so guests moved into breakout sessions to make it real.

Check out our Facebook album of photos of panelists and participants. 

Learn more about Liberty Hill's Uplifting Change initiative.>>

(from left: Ange-Marie Hancock, Virgil Roberts, Amelia Williamson, Kafi Blumenfield, Mattie McFadden-Lawson, Jesse Williams)

RETURN TO LIBERTY HILL'S HOME PAGE. 

Uplifting Change Summit Feb. 28

Participants at 2011 Uplifting Change

By Susan LaTempa

Liberty Hill’s fourth Uplifting Change Summit takes place Thursday, February 28th. The day’s menu of activities includes a morning session with expert advisors on fundamentals of strategic giving followed by a festive lunch spotlighting inspiring philanthropy leaders. In the afternoon there will be interactive conversations on political giving, board service, and closing down the school-to-prison pipeline. The summit closes with an informal networking reception.

We talked to Liberty Hill Board member Latonya Slack, a member of the Uplifting Change planning committee. For event information, please visit www.LibertyHill.org/UpliftingChange

Please explain why Liberty Hill initiated this annual event and how it’s changed since it began.

LS: There was a need to have a forum where African Americans could come together to talk about what philanthropy means and how it impacts our lives. There really wasn’t a space for that in Los Angeles prior to this. I have been involved in Southern California Blacks in Philanthropy, an affinity group for employees and trustees from philanthropic institutions to share resources and support each other. But there wasn’t a place countywide where all African Americans—not only those who were involved professionally, but others who were just becoming involved or those who wanted to take their giving to the next level—could explore topics, learn new information and gain a deeper understanding by having access to experts in philanthropy.

The first few years, the summit proved to be really a good way to bring people together, to reach out to people who had never thought of themselves as philanthropists. It was a good place to hear about African American-centered funding, and gain new information about the issues affecting Los Angeles.

This year, we’re concentrating on how African American philanthropists can come together in a more strategic way, either by forming Giving Circles, and/or by increasing or strengthening the support they give to causes, including those involving social justice organizing and agenda setting. We’ll discuss investments and vehicles they can use for those opportunities and how best to address those needs.

 

2012 panelists (l to r) Virgil Roberts, Susan Taylor, Charles Fields

What has your personal experience with Uplifting Change been like? Were there any surprises?

LS: At previous summits, it was an amazing experience just to connect with folks who were in the room, people with tremendous experience who were sharing and learning from each other. The energy was dynamic and electric. It was a revelation to me to be exposed to Ange-Marie Hancock’s research about Black philanthropy in Los Angeles (“Giving Black”). I had heard about and had some experiential understanding of how philanthropy is different in the African American community, for example, what it means to tithe, and how providing family or community support is not generally recorded or reflected in most statistics. It was enlightening to understand and to value the community that those numbers represent.

Uplifting Change participants 2010

What are the planning committee’s aims for this year’s Uplifting Change Summit?

LS: The Summit will provide some practical advice with a pre-summit intensive facilitated by experts with experience in philanthropic planning.  We’ll have guests discussing different strategies on how to leverage your giving, through a variety of approaches, such as through giving circles – highlighting one very successful example inspired by Uplifting Change – or through board leadership. We’ve also decided to delve more deeply into topics that resonate with African Americans – for example education, but specifically how our efforts can change the school to prison pipeline for our young people. We are also going to examine how the recent electoral fundraising wins for President Obama among African Americans can be leveraged for Los Angeles’ communities. It’s our goal to attract people who have the means, the capacity and most importantly, the desire to give more strategically. Using a social justice lens, we want to help them find a space to discover how they can channel their resources more effectively.

  Latonya Slack, JD, Principal, Slack Consulting Group, is a member of Liberty Hill Foundation's Board of Directors. A former  senior program officer at the James Irvine Foundation, she previously served as Executive Director of the California Black Women's Health Project, Inc. She is a 2006 German Marshall Fund fellow and has served as chair of Southern California Grantmakers’ Board of Directors as well as on a variety of other boards and philanthropy-sector initiatives. 

 Read about the 2012 and 2011 Uplifting Change events.

RETURN TO LIBERTY HILL WEBSITE HOME PAGE

Photos of Recent Grantee Actions!

When we say that Liberty Hill's community-organizing partners are on the "frontlines of change" one of the things we mean by that is that everyday people are involving themselves in issues that eventually make it to TV news and Sacramento and Washington.

In January, the snapshots shared on Facebook by dozens of organizations illustrate that frontlines action. They show us marches, press conferences, viewing parties, educational forums and other events that you don't usually get to see unless you were there.

The two women above are at an LA Voice PICO event-- Gun Violence Prevention Sabbath at Dolores Mission.

The young activists pictured here from Youth Justice Coalition and Gender Justice L.A. are at a statewide rally for prison reform in Chowchilla.

And this third picture shows Liberty Hill 2013 Leader to Watch Rabbi Heather Miller in conversation with Jesus Andrade at Community Coalition's Martin Luther King Interfaith Prayer Breakfast.

We post a collection of snapshots of grantees in action every month-- a great reason to connect with our community on Facebook!

RETURN TO LIBERTY HILL HOME PAGE

January 2013 Frontline to Headlines

Hector Flores of InnerCity Struggle and Lizette Patron of Monica Garcia LAUSD Board President's office at opening day Esteban Torres HS. 

January Frontline to Headlines

The new year means that some changes in state and federal law enacted last year and supported by Liberty Hill grantees are now being implemented (such as the Homeowners Bill of Rights and changes in school discipline). But it's also clearly a time of new proposals, and there's a lot of energy behind the push for immigration reform. Most recent items first.

January 23 to February 4

Liberty Hill’s 2013 Leaders to Watch announcements are being gradually rolled out to the press and we hope to follow these Fab Five ambassadors for Liberty Hill throughout the year. The wide range of interest is already apparent in these clips, one Witness L.A., a blog that covers the criminal justice system, another from A Wider Bridge,  a blog that is "building LGBTQ connections with Israel," and stll another from radio station KPFK. From the blog for KPFK’s show “Uprising,” here's a  video of an interview with two of the Leaders, Rabbi Heather Miller (Liberty Hill Advisory Council) and Ariel Bustamante (GSA Network).

January 30

Martin J. Blank offers an update in Huffington Post describing how InnerCity Struggle and its allies support the success of Torres High School (opened 2011), the school that community activism not only built but runs. Read about the community school model, the student-founded mentorship program and other innovations.

January 29

Some members of Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles went in caravan to Nevada at the invitation of the White House to hear President Barack Obama’s presentation of proposals for immigration reform; some stayed in L.A. and held a viewing event and rally.  Local CBS was on hand for the latter.

January 28

“Progressives have achieved the impossible” in California, says The New Republic in this analysis of the passage of Prop.30 due to the “massive increase in political participation.” California Calls and the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) are among the Liberty Hill allies and grantees in the successful “Reclaiming California’s Future” coalition.   

January 25

The Press Enterprise reports on a coalition including Pomona Economic Opportunity Center that protests the targeting of day laborers in border patrol roundups.

Here’s an in-depth report on Youth Justice Coalition’s alternative high school with students, experts and Liberty Hill 2013 Leader to Watch Kruti Parekh contributing to the discussion.

January 17

In a series of comments to reporters including this one to L.A. Weekly’s Patrick Range McDonald, Coalition for Economic Survival challenges mayoral candidates to address housing issues.

January 15

In its highlight of a partner organization, the “Fix School Discipline” blog from Public Counsel interviews Executive Director and Founder of CADRE, Maisie Chin, who emphasizes parent organizing and empowerment as strategies for change.

January 11

Liberty Hill is facilitating the “Building a Lifetime of Options and Opportunities for Men” (BLOOM) initiative, which launched an online community for the youth participants, described in an item on the blog “Black Gives Back.”

January 2

New Year, New Laws: Southern California Public radio’s “Multiamerican” blog untangles the technicalities of the law allowing the DMV to accept license application paperwork from young people who have signed up for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) immigration status, with comments from Jorge Mario Cabrera of Coalition for Humane Immigrant Right in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment and other advocates are excited about the passage of the California Homeowners Bill of Rights, described in this blog by Southern California Public Radio’s Frank Stoltze.

RETURN TO LIBERTY HILL WEBSITE HOME PAGE