Our Chair's Book Club Winter 2020 Selection: The Color of Law
Author: Southeastern Council of Foundations
Nov19
During last week's Annual Meeting, we announced the Winter 2020 selection for our Chair's Book Club: Richard Rothstein's The Color of Law!
As we did with our previous selection, Anthony Ray Hinton's The Sun Does Shine, we will bring Book Club participants together for virtual programs over the coming months while also providing discussion guides to help deepen understanding of the issues Rothstein addresses. All SECF members are eligible to join the Chair's Book Club, one of several initiatives inspired by our Equity Framework.
In The Color of Law, Rothstein argues that unconstitutional government housing policies, not merely de facto segregation caused by private actors, have systematically deprived Black families of generational wealth and access to quality education for decades.
These issues were also the focus of Rothstein's plenary remarks at last week’s Annual Meeting. (If you registered for the Annual Meeting, you can watch Rothstein's plenary now -- other SECF members will be able to access a recording next month!)
You can join the Chair's Book Club today! More information on programming and resources for Book Club participants will be announced soon! If you're already a Chair's Book Club member, you'll automatically receive updates related to our latest selection!
Read More
Helping the Formerly Incarcerated Integrate Into the Community – and Stay Out of Prison
Author: Tristi Charpentier
Aug12
For years, Louisiana incarcerated more people per capita than anywhere in the world. At an annual rate of more than $17,000 per inmate, incarceration costs Louisiana taxpayers almost $700 million each year,1 and nearly 36 percent of formerly incarcerated persons return to prison within three years of their exits.2
Since 2004, the Huey and Angelina Wilson Foundation has funded programs to reduce the barriers hindering the successful return of individuals to communities in Louisiana. While it may be easy to forget people behind bars, 95 percent of those imprisoned will return to our communities.3 Recidivism – the subsequent commission of a crime and reincarceration – affects every member of the community.
In 2015, the foundation embarked on a journey to become more strategic in its prison re-entry work. We recognized that in order to achieve a large-scale reduction in recidivism rates, it would be insufficient for the foundation to continue to provide small, direct-service grants. The foundation partnered with The Rensselaerville Institute to develop a Strategic Results Framework with two goals in mind: to become an investor in outcomes rather than a funder of activities, and to create an initiative focused on supporting the success of returning citizens. These two ideas came together in the form of the three-year, $3 million Prison Reentry Initiative.
One of the keys to the Initiative was a shift in the foundation’s decision-making approach: from funding of activities to investing in results. Applications for the Initiative were evaluated from the perspective of an investor answering three critical questions:
- What results are being proposed?
- How likely is it that this group can achieve the proposed results?
- Is this the best possible use of foundation funds?
Read More
Announcing the First Selection of the Chair's Book Club: The Sun Does Shine
Author: Regan Gruber Moffitt and Robert Dortch
May14
We are excited to invite you to join the new SECF Chair’s Book Club. Our hope is that the books we read and the discussions we have will inspire us to find common ground, build meaningful relationships, and deepen our understanding of equity.
The first book, The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life, Freedom, and Justice by Anthony Ray Hinton, builds on the deeply moving and passionate keynote by Bryan Stevenson at the SECF’s 50th Annual Meeting last November. Stevenson, who spent his career helping those who were unjustly accused or wrongfully convicted, called upon philanthropy to be proximate to the places, people and problems that our organizations support, to change existing narratives, to remain hopeful and, most importantly, to do things that are uncomfortable and inconvenient. Anthony Ray Hinton was one of those who was represented by Stevenson.
The Sun Does Shine is Hinton’s memoir of peace, purpose, and eventually freedom after serving 30 years on Alabama’s death row after being wrongfully convicted. The brilliantly written personal narrative instructs, inspires, and creates an imperative for action.
SECF is providing access to the eBook version of the title through our recently launched Lending Library, or you can obtain a copy through your local bookseller or public library. Sign up here to participate in the Chair’s Book Club and we’ll soon share more information on how to get started and how to engage in discussion groups with your fellow SECF members.
Regan Gruber Moffitt is chief strategy officer at the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation and chair of the SECF Board of Trustees. Robert Dortch is vice president of program and community innovation at the Robins Foundation and chair-elect of the SECF Board.
Read More