New Members and Old Friends Connect at Annual Meeting

Over 55 Social Justice Fund members came together for this year’s Membership Meeting. Social Justice Fund Membership Meeting. I was personally thrilled to see a dozen kids at the party. It’s wonderful to see younger members and children of members joining us at our gatherings -- Social Justice Fund and our grantees continue to place special importance on the next generation of leaders for grassroots organizations and the philanthropic community.

The evening’s program began and ended with two moving poetry performances by women from Power of Hope, a youth organization that offers arts and leadership programs in Washington and Vancouver, B.C. Both poets, women of color, helped us remember the great difference young people feel when actively engaged in community-building and social justice work.

The program continued with a review of Social Justice Fund granting programs by our Grants Administrator Sarah Studer, followed by an update on the social justice opportunities and challenges in our region as reported by SJF’s Director of Grants and Programs, Scot Nakagawa. Scot explained that globalization continues to drive immigration patterns, bringing new immigrants into the Northwest and fueling migration and gentrification patterns within the region that are putting the most vulnerable sectors of our population under tremendous stress. There's also good news in that there appears to be a backlash building against the extremism of the right wing. However, the right continues to control the political agenda at the local, state and federal levels of government. All of this makes Social Justice Fund's support of organizing in the region more critical now than ever.

After Scot finished I described to the membership how Social Justice Fund continues to be recognized nationwide for our work to diversify our membership and educate other foundations. Over a third of SJF members are members of color, and we have received a very enthusiastic response to our “cross-class dialogue” this spring. All SJF members can be very proud of these accomplishments and of the impact our organization has had above and beyond the grants we make.

Board Member Transitions

We also recognized board members Gracie Close Recognizing Gracie Closeand Michael Baker, both of whom are stepping off the board as their term limits arrive this year. Gracie has been an involved, engaged member for 25 years. She has been an important link to Social Justice Fund’s history, an inspiring advocate for Dismantling Racism work, and a down-to-earth friend to many people involved. Michael joined SJF officially over 10 years ago but was involved even earlier because of his wife Judy Tobin, who served as board member. Michael has been our Treasurer and an essential member of the Personnel and Grants Oversight Committees; he has also been instrumental in our recent presentations on racial justice grant-making. We will miss both Gracie and Michael but plan to stay in touch with them both.

As these two board members exited, members confirmed two new board members: David Rogers and Sharon Gary-Smith.

Sharon Gary-Smith has focused her four-plus decades of community activism and leadership on decreasing the impacts of racism, sexism, classism, ageism, homophobia and ableism; and ensuring that people of color, seniors and youth are able to participate in community decision-making. A native Oregonian, Sharon has held a number of professional positions within the nonprofit and business world, including with the United Way, the Urban League, the National Black Women’s Health Project, and Be Present, Inc. She has consulted with a number of local, regional and national nonprofits and philanthropies that seek active engagement in the creation and funding of a racially and socially just world.

David Rogers currently serves as the Executive Director of the Partnership for Safety and Justice. He originally came to the Northwest to work for the Western States Center as a Senior Trainer/Field Organizer. He has fifteen years of organizing and social change non-profit experience, with a strong commitment to criminal justice issues. He worked for five years with the Peace Development Fund, and in 1997 he was a recipient of a Charles Bannerman Fellowship for Organizers of Color from the New World Foundation.

I want to thank everyone who attended and all who were there in spirit. As a member-based organization, we definitely enjoy these opportunities to meet new people and to catch up with old friends. We look forward to seeing many of you at our upcoming events!