I'm excited to share the election of our 2022-2024 slate of TFN’s Board of Directors, which includes four new additions to our phenomenal board.
This year's election was conducted via electronic ballot, with the results shared at TFN's Annual Meeting during our recent Annual Conference: Seize the Moment in San Diego.
At our meeting, we also celebrated the election of our new TFN board officers and bid a fond farewell to those board members who concluded their service in March.
I want to offer my deepest gratitude to these board members for their service over the years: Neelima Shah of the Bullitt Foundation (and most recent TFN board treasurer), Eric Muschler, of the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund; and Kellie Terry of the Surdna Foundation.
While he remains on TFN's board, I also want to share my heartfelt thanks to Craig Martinez of The California Endowment, who concluded his two-year term as board chairperson in March — a tour of duty that coincided with the the most severe period of the coronavirus pandemic.
As chair, Craig — along with the rest of the board — helped guide TFN through this challenging period as our team navigated the impacts of the pandemic and how best to be of service to the broader TFN community.
I'm excited to share that Don Hickman of the Initiative Foundation has been elected as the new chairperson of TFN's Board of Directors. Don has been an invaluable member of TFN's funder community for many years, and currently sits on the PPREP Steering Committee. (You can learn more about Don and the Initiative Foundation in this TFN Know Your Network blog post.)
I'm also thrilled to note that our board now includes six TFN PLACES alums, the most we've ever had! We are so proud of the cadre of philanthropic leaders that make up the PLACES Alumni Network, and are grateful for their continued support of TFN's mission. (You can read about the newly announced 2022 PLACES Cohort here.)
Join me in congratulating these new and returning board members, as well as our newly elected board officers.
During our virtual election, which concluded March 7, TFN members elected the Board of Directors class of 2022 – 2024. Please note that the first four candidates are being elected to a first term of office. The remainder are current directors who are renewing a term of office.
In addition to the directors just elected to a new term, there are four directors who are in the middle of serving a two-year term as part of the 2021 - 2023 class.
TFN is pleased to announce that at its January 2022 meeting, the TFN Board of Directors elected the following individuals to serve as its officers. Officers are elected for a one-year term, except the chairperson, which has a two-year term.
Chairperson
(2022-2024) Don Hickman Vice President for Community and Workforce Development Initiative Foundation
More than 35 leading climate justice, environmental, civil rights and philanthropic leaders are calling on climate funders to re-think their giving and for far greater philanthropic investment in ending greenhouse gas emissions from transportation. The open letter to funders comes after the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill which commits nearly $90 billion in guaranteed funding for public transit over the next five years — the largest federal investment in public transit in history.
The letter is being delivered to climate foundations with the expectation that they will increase funding to advocates to push for the greenhouse gas reductions necessary to address the nation’s transportation system impacts on climate, equity, and health.
If you or your organization would like to sign on to this letter, click here.
Please reach out to either Martha Roskowski, program lead for the Mobility and Access Collaborative, Darryl Young of the Summit Foundation, or David Bragdon of TransitCenter if you have any questions about this effort.
Read the full letter below.
Open Letter: Investing in Multimodal Transportation
Dear Philanthropic Community,
We share your commitment to tackling the climate crisis and promoting racial justice. We believe that multimodal transportation is key to advancing these crucial goals. Yet, despite the fact that transportation accounts for the greatest share of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., transportation is vastly underfunded in climate philanthropy (accounting for less than 10 percent of climate funding) and the frontline organizations fighting for a just, multimodal future are campaigning on shoestring budgets.
We urge leaders in climate funding to invest in community-based groups who fight for better transportation. We further urge leaders in funding of electric vehicles to make supplementary investments in civic advocacy for public transit and other alternative climate-friendly modes of transportation. We urge leaders to boost the sum total of transportation investments. Specifically, we believe an additional investment of $200 million in transportation organizing is needed to transform the way Americans move, replacing our dependence on highways and roads with an approach to transportation and land use that includes transit, electric trucks and cars, biking, walking, and more.
Public transit is often overlooked as a means for tackling climate change and promoting racial equity. This is a grave mistake. Buses and trains provide mobility across race and class, to people in rural and urban communities alike, and to seniors and people with disabilities. Paired with biking and walking, transit reduces sprawl, improves health, and lowers transportation expenses.
Meanwhile, highway construction and widening continue at a breakneck pace, despite the extreme environmental costs and the catastrophe that highways have long represented for communities of color. Perversely, highway widening has been promoted as a means of reducing congestion and carbon emissions though it does the opposite and even though highway projects continue to harm communities of color. The $135 billion allocated for 58 major highway expansion projects since 2014 could have funded more than 250,000 electric buses.
Every five years Congress reconsiders transportation priorities. We must do two things between now and the next reauthorization: we must not only shape a better context for the 2026 legislation, but we must also influence the implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) to ensure that we make progress on climate and equity rather than move backward. Successfully influencing implementation of the IIJA, in turn, will help us build power and momentum towards a better reauthorization in 2026. This requires effective grassroots pressure, and creating that pressure requires robust collaboration from philanthropy.
Philanthropy can help unlock the latent power of riders by supporting the frontline organizations that are building a social justice movement for multimodal transportation and transit-oriented development. We’ve already seen the difference this untapped constituency can make. The examples below show effective community-based advocacy is essential to winning less carbon-intensive infrastructure investments:
➡ In the Seattle region, a broad network of groups organized by the Transportation Choices Coalition led to creation and passage of a ballot measure that raised $54 billion in new revenues for a vast expansion of the light rail and bus systems.
➡ In Houston, the Texas Department of Transportations threatens to destroy over a thousand homes and businesses in low-income neighborhoods of color. With its partners, the civic group LINK Houston, funded by philanthropy, organized the opposition and currently has prevailed on the U.S. DOT to temporarily pause the project due to its likely civil rights violations.
➡ In New York City, a diversity of groups originally convened under the initiative of Mayor Michael Bloomberg pressed the legislature for years to adopt decongestion pricing, which will reduce emissions and generate $1 billion per year for transit improvements. Local foundations funded the Riders Alliance and others to accomplish this victory.
➡ In Los Angeles, bus riders are predominantly low-income people of color, and many are “essential workers,” yet at the height of COVID LA Metro proposed disproportionate cuts interfering with their ability to get to work. Civic groups including ACT LA, Investing in Place, and Move LA, pressured the LA Metro board to restore service that was fairer and more responsive to need.
Organizations like these took a tremendous leap amid the pandemic, campaigning in coordination for the first time to win historic federal investment in transit. Specifically, the American Rescue Plan and Build Back Better Act deliver federal operating assistance for transit for the first time, and the IIJA includes an unprecedented $107 billion in transit funding. Yet, the groups fell short of stopping the IIJA’s increased highway funding, and failed to achieve the transformational goals of ending the 80/20 spending split and securing significant new investments to allow more people to move out of cars.
Undeterred, these groups are now focusing on local, regional and statewide agencies, advocating for federal dollars to be used to improve transit service, stop highway expansions, and build better places to walk and bike, particularly in frontline communities. In the process, these organizations are honing the advocacy muscle necessary to fundamentally restructure our transportation priorities. These efforts should command the full backing of philanthropy. Instead, organizers and grassroots leaders are winning what they can with extremely limited resources.
A $200 million philanthropic investment over the next five years would empower local groups to build a robust, coordinated field to win local battles, direct the coming surge of federal funding and prepare for reauthorization. With this funding, frontline organizations will reduce greenhouse gases in their communities and be ready to win a transformational reauthorization fight in 2026.
Funding local and regional organizing for multimodal transportation is crucial to achieve our shared goals of climate justice and racial equity. We look forward to collaborating with you to build a more sustainable and equitable future.
Sincerely,
David Bragdon, Executive Director, TransitCenter Michael Leon Guerrero, Executive Director, Labor Network for Sustainability LeeAnn Hall, Executive Director, Alliance for a Just Society Martha Roskowski, Coordinator, Mobility and Access Collaborative Darryl Young, Sustainable Cities Program Director, Summit Foundation (initial signers)
Jenny Russell, Executive Director, Merck Family Fund Elizabeth Love, CEO, Jacob and Terese Hershey Foundation Johanna Bozuwa, Executive Director, Climate and Community Project Beth Osborne, Director, Transportation for America Charles Brown, President and CEO, Equitable Cities LLC Derrick Johnson, President and CEO, NAACP May Boeve, Executive Director, 350.org Mike Pratt, President & Executive Director, Scherman Foundation Varshini Prakash, Executive Director, Sunrise Movement Ron Milam, Director, Smart Growth California Pat Smith, President and CEO, The Funders Network Dan Chu, Acting Executive Director, Sierra Club Lisa Jacobson, Senior Program Officer, Mobility, Barr Foundation Corinne Kisner, Executive Director, NACTO (National Assoc. of City Transportation Officials) Matt Casale, Environment Campaigns Director, PIRG (Public Interest Research Groups) Bill Nesper, Executive Director, League of American Bicyclists Kevin Mills, Vice President of Policy, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy Amy Hennessey, Senior VP, Communications & External Affairs, Ulupono Initiative Robert Dean, CEO, Center for Neighborhood Technology Fletcher Harper, Executive Director, GreenFaith Judith LeBlanc, Executive Director, Native Organizers Alliance Jerry Maldonado, Vice President of Programs, PolicyLink David Biemesderfer, President & CEO, United Philanthropy Forum Ben Crowther, Highways to Boulevards Director, Congress for the New Urbanism Michael Kodransky, US Director, Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) Joel Espino, Transportation Equity Lead, Wend Collective Aaron Dorfman, President & CEO, National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy Manish Bapna, President & CEO, Natural Resources Defense Council Denis Hayes, CEO, Bullitt Foundation Rushad Nanavatty, Managing Director, Urban Transformation, RMI Shelby Scales, Director, OSDBU, USDOT* Diane Ives, Consultant* Tamika Butler, Tamika L Butler Consulting LLC* Yonah Freemark, Urban Institute* Jacqueline Patterson, Founder and Executive Director, The Chisholm Legacy Project: A Resource Hub for Black Frontline Climate Justice Leadership* Basav Sen, Climate Policy Director, Institute for Policy Studies* Greg LeRoy, Executive Director, Good Jobs First Bryn Lindblad, Deputy Director, Climate Resolve Benjamin de la Peña, CEO, Shared-Use Mobility Center Robert Puentes, President/CEO, Eno Center for Transportation
*Organization for identification
The above list reflects the signatories as of April 13. To view an updated list, or add your name as a signatory, clickhere.
BY Kerry Hastings and Ann Fowler Wallace, TFN Urban Water Funders and GREEN working groups
On February 16 and 17, funders from TFN’s GREEN and Urban Water Funders working groups came together to deepen learning and connections. This virtual gathering was the second annual convening where these two working groups met together, recognizing how interconnected their interests are. Both groups focus on disparate climate impacts on low-income communities and communities of color, the importance of community-led solutions, and the need for increased and targeted investments into those same communities to transform them into hubs of sustainability, health, equity and innovation.
Nearly every funder arrived with a hunger to root ourselves in this moment of extreme disparity and growing climate-fueled disasters, as well as one of unprecedented investment coming down from the federal government into states and communities. We used our two days to learn from frontline community leaders, government officials, and one another. Our sessions provided opportunities to hear from members of the White House’s Environmental Justice Advisory Council (WHEJAC), Hawaiians leading climate resilience and OneWater work in Honolulu, and funders growing their racial equity muscles as they center equity in their institutions and implement equitable grantmaking practices. We also held several opportunities for breakouts for deeper funder connection and learning.
Our two days together left funders feeling inspired and motivated both by the ideas and solutions proposed, as well as the work ahead to implement those solutions. Below are a few of the themes on how philanthropy can step into its role with the greatest impact, and ways that funders want to dive deeper in learning and implementation of these solutions.
Supporting workforce development and inclusive leadership pathways. Philanthropy can support the next generation of water leaders by investing in leadership development and workforce pathways. There was particular interest in learning beyond the water and climate sectors and tapping into expertise of jobs programs such as Americorps or Public Allies to support a more diverse workforce.
Get frontline organizations what they need most. The verdict is clear: nonprofit organizations (NGOs), especially those on the front lines, need unrestricted, multi-year grants to do their most impactful work. In addition, frontline leaders called on philanthropy to support endowments for environmental justice groups to lessen the ever-present burden of fundraising, as well as support self-care, career pathways and wage growth within NGOs so that great staff don’t have to leave movement work to advance in their careers.
Utilize intermediaries as a tool for targeted investments. For those funders who cannot build direct relationships with every community where they would like to move funds, intermediaries – when used thoughtfully – can be a way to drive investment to and build capacity of smaller organizations and ecosystems of organizations that serve places or specific communities, such as Native American intermediaries. Intermediaries can also serve as a path to get federal and state resources directed towards community-led solutions.
Support government agencies directly. A powerful image of an hourglass was shared by a WHEJAC member during our opening session; at the top of the hourglass is the pledge and commitment of the federal government to do something big on equity, and at the bottom are the billions of dollars ready to go out the door. In the middle, however, is the bottleneck of limited staff capacity to make the commitment a reality. How can philanthropy help expand this pinch point? Foundations can loan executives or support additional staff from talented NGOs, and through advocacy and funding of community groups, support de-siloing of government agencies to encourage collaboration at the local, state and national level.
Commit to and invest in racial and economic equity. Funders continue to hunger for more peer learning on how to deepen their equitable grantmaking practices and internal operations. Funders discussed how to make the case to trustees, how to support ongoing evaluation to ensure new practices are meeting their intended goals, and ways to use various tools to identify spots for improvement, such as the Meyer Memorial Trust’s DEI Spectrum Tool.
Protect democracy. It is not an exaggeration to say that this moment is different than any other in our lifetimes, as we watch a renewed attack on democracy in our nation and around the globe. While funders each have their specific program and issue areas, the larger context of protecting our democracy must be considered and invested in, including a focus on the judiciary and the dangers that lie ahead for progressive causes and Black, Indigenous and other People of Color communities.
GREEN and Urban Water Funders working groups convened virtually in February. Photo credit: Ron Milam
To learn more about our two working groups and sign up for our newsletters, visit the Urban Water Funders and GREEN working groups pages.
About the Authors
Ann Fowler Wallace is TFN’s director of programs. Ann manages TFN’s working groups and regional networks, is part of the GREEN working group team, and serves on the Governance Committee and Grant Selection Committee for the Partners for Places grant program.
Kerry Hastings is the program lead for TFN’s Urban Water Funders working group, as well as the program manager for Smart Growth California, a TFN initiative.
BY Dion Cartwright, TFN Director of Equitable Initiatives and
Leadership Development
TFN’s vision is to create generations of courageous philanthropic leaders who are engaged, emboldened and equipped to bring about a just society.
That’s why we are so proud to announce the 2022 PLACES Fellows — 16 exemplary grantmakers who will embark on a year-long curriculum focusing on racial equity and justice.
They will work together to not only deepen their understanding of structural racism and its malign impacts, but to acquire the tools and resources needed to challenge and change systemic inequities through their grantmaking.
Because of the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, we had to hit pause on our PLACES Fellowship program last year.
Before we celebrate the 2022 PLACES Cohort, I want to acknowledge our 2020 PLACES Fellows, who accepted their fellowships just a few weeks before COVID hit the headlines, causing us to quickly pivot our learning agenda into an all-virtual format. These 2020 PLACES Fellows adapted with grace and goodwill – and bore witness in real-time to the disproportionate health, economic and social impacts this pandemic wrought on Black, Indigenous and other communities of color.
In fact, throughout this ongoing pandemic, I’ve drawn tremendous inspiration and motivation from our PLACES Alumni Network, who have stepped up to offer each other support, resources and compassion over these past two years.
Over the years, PLACES cohorts have addressed issues impacting disenfranchised communities, including structural racism, gender justice, health equity, environmental sustainability, economic development and community engagement — asking difficult questions, exploring uncomfortable truths and confronting their own biases along the way.
As our society continues to wrestle with a long-overdue reckoning on racial justice, it’s essential that our philanthropic institutions work to remedy systemic inequities, including those within their organizational cultures.
I look forward to learning and sharing alongside these 16 new PLACES Fellows as we embark on this year-long journey. They represent a wealth of expertise and lived experiences, and hail from diverse geographies and backgrounds.
On behalf of the selection committee (comprised entirely of PLACES alums) and TFN’s PLACES team, including Equity Programs Manager Talissa Lahaliyed and the PLACES Advisory Board, join me in congratulating these outstanding 2022 PLACES Fellows!
Going PLACES Blog Series
After each PLACES site visit, we ask the fellows to reflect on their experiences in our blog series Going PLACES. Check out some recent highlights from our PLACES alumni.
Questions?
If you would like to know more about PLACES, including ways your organization can invest in our equit-focused PLACES Fellowship and Alumni Network, email Dion Cartwright at dion@fundersnetwork.org.
For nearly two years, we’ve had to navigate the impacts of the pandemic on our personal and professional lives, including figuring out how best to serve the people and communities we care about. That’s why I believe it is essential that we gather to share our experiences and insights if we are to seize this moment — as funders and as individuals — to bring about transformative change.
We pride ourselves in putting the wellbeing of people first: our members, our team, and our partners and allies. We (and our organizations) all have varying degrees of comfort when it comes to events and travelling these days, so I wanted to share the updated Health & Safety protocols in place for our annual conference.
I hope sharing these measures helps you make an informed decision about whether to join us in San Diego.
Here are the measures we have in place for TFN2022:
Wearing N95, KN95 or KF94 masks/face coverings while indoors, which TFN will provide attendees.
Proof of vaccination with exemptions for medical or religious reasons.
Proof of negative antigen COVID-19 test results taken within 24 hours of check-in at the event registration desk.
Daily, self-administered rapid antigen testing. (TFN will have self-testing kits available for purchase at cost.)
Additionally, the TFN team is working diligently to plan for reasonable social distancing for concurrent sessions and other events at our conference venue, the US Grant Hotel.
While I truly look forward to seeing you at the conference, I also recognize and understand that the challenges presented by this pandemic haven’t hit us all evenly — especially if you or someone you care for is medically vulnerable or you have children in your household who are too young to be vaccinated.
To those of you who can’t make it to San Diego, please know that we understand and are thinking of you. (And we’ll continue to offer virtual events throughout the year as part of our TFN learning agenda.)
Please take a moment to read the full Health & Safety section on our TFN2022 website.
How can philanthropy best support community-powered efforts to combat the climate crisis, address racial injustice and build economic opportunities?
As communities continue to grapple with the disastrous health, social and economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, how do we ensure a truly equitable recovery?
How can the sector effectively advocate for equitable policies at the local, state and regional level — and leverage its reputational capital to combat disinformation and defend against the erosion of civil liberties?
What are the tools and strategies that can improve the outcomes and impact of grantmaking, especially for marginalized and underrepresented communities?
We recognize that the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, coupled with a long-overdue national reckoning on racial justice and the ever-increasing impacts of climate crises and extreme weather, has presented us with a singular moment in history. I look forward to joining you in San Diego to expand our learning, foster collaboration and catalyze action.
About the Author
Patricial L. Smith is the president and CEO of The Funders Network. Pat joined The Funders Network in 2018, bringing with her a wealth of expertise in the public, private and nonprofit sectors. Pat took the helm on the cusp of the network’s 20th anniversary, guiding TFN through key milestones during a pivotal moment in our history, including the launch of internal equity training for TFN’s team, an affirmation of our organizational commitment to racial equity and a new strategic framework that will govern TFN’s future direction through 2025. Pat’s vision is to help create a generation of philanthropic leadership that is engaged and emboldened to tackle the defining issues of our era — namely pervasive racial, economic and environmental injustices — and committed to bringing about a just society. Read more about Pat and the rest of the TFN staff on our Team page.
Partners for Places is a successful matching grant program that improves communities by supporting equitable sustainability projects that build partnerships between local government leaders, frontline community groups and place-based funders in the U.S. and Canada.
National funders invest in local projects developed through these partnerships to promote a healthy environment, a strong economy and well-being for all residents.
Through these investments, Partners for Places fosters long-term relationships that make our communities more resilient, prosperous and equitable.
These one-to-one matching awards provide partnership investments between $25,000 and $75,000 for one-year projects, or between $75,000 and $150,000 for two-year projects, with a 1:1 match required by one or more local foundations.
Interested in applying? Access the application and resource documents below. (These resources are also available on our Partners for Places home page.)
Informational Webinar (3 p.m. ET March 10): Register here.
About Partners for Places
Partners for Places is led by TFN in partnership with the USDN. As in previous grant cycles, we are excited to partner with Green Infrastructure Leadership Exchange, a practitioner network that supports communities seeking to grow green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) programs, to support outreach efforts.
To date, Partners for Places has awarded nearly $8.5 million across North America in this successful matching grant program, leading to more than $18 million in investments.
Read about previous rounds of grants under the “Meet the Grantees” section of the Partners for Places page.
Submitting a Successful Proposal
Partners for Places will help fund a new park for community gatherings in Cleveland. Photo credit: Western Reserve Land Conservancy
Partners for Places currently administers two grant programs: General Grants, and a Mini Grants program.
General Grants in Round 19 will:
1. Create or improve collaborative partnerships between a local government sustainability and/or water department(s), frontline community group(s), and place-based funder(s).
2. Advance equitable climate action (ECA) and green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) projects that address frontline community priorities.
3. Apply a racial equity approach to both the collaboration and the project planning/implementation.
The application deadline for Round 19 is April 13 (by 11:59 p.m., any time zone).
Collaboration and partnership are at the heart of the Partners for Places program.
Since 2012, the matching grant program has helped foster dozens of new partnerships between local government sustainability leaders and place-based funders across the U.S. and Canada — relationships that often continue long after the original Partners for Places project has been completed.
In recent years, the grant program has adopted a strategy that leads with racial equity and a sharper focus on how best to advance equitable and sustainable communities.
Starting with the Round 17 Invitation to Apply released in July of 2020, the primary partners have been expanded to include local frontline community groups.
This collaborative partnership model is intended to more deeply embed the values and practice of racial equity into local community decision-making processes.
Partners for Places will help Chicago schoolyards into vibrant green spaces for play and learning. Credit: Space to Grow.
Additional Resources and FAQ’s
→ Register for our Round 19 Informational Webinar designed to help potential applicants prepare proposals, March 10 at 3 p.m.ET. Register here.
→ Read this feature story about Partners for Places in Inside Philanthropyhere.
→ If you have questions about the Partners for Places program, please feel free to reach out to Ashley Quintana at ashley@fundersnetwork.org.
→ Where is Partners for Places making an impact? Read previous grant announcements and explore the Partners for Places Grantee Maphere.
→ Where can I learn about completed Partners for Places projects?
Visit the Partners for Places Idea Bank to explore what grantees are doing, learning and sharing.
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Featured image at top: The City of Bridgeport, Conn., received a Partners for Places grant to help revitalize the city’s coastline. Photo Credit: The Trust for Public Land
TFN’s Mobility and Access Collaborative is an action-oriented effort that recognizes the urgent need to limit transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions in our escalating climate crisis, while eliminating underlying inequities in the mobility system. The collaborative brings together place-based, regional and national funders to share stories, examine best practices and explore critical issues. Funders engaged in the Mobility and Access Collaborative were instrumental in the launch of the Mobility Fund, which supports local advocacy efforts. Read on for more information about the Mobility Fund's second round of grants. (You can learn more about the Mobility Fund’s first round of grants here.)
By The Mobility Fund
Eight mobility advocacy groups received a total of $391,500 in grants to support their work to advance equitable and sustainable transportation from the second round of the Mobility Fund.
The fund leveraged contributions from national funders with matches from local funders of nearly $761,000 to benefit local and regional non-profits working to make transit, biking and walking convenient, safe and accessible for more people.
“Transit is an essential service for getting people to work, school, medical appointments, and other important destinations in their lives,” said Tenzin Dolkar, Midwest Climate and Energy program officer for the McKnight Foundation.
“There has never been a more important time to invest in transit, biking, and walking—for people and for our planet. That is why the McKnight Foundation supports the Mobility Fund and the advocates working every day to protect and expand sustainable and equitable mobility options,” said Dolkar.
Transit service continues to be impacted by COVID-19 and those impacts fall disproportionately on underserved, underrepresented, and historically marginalized communities. Advocates working to protect, preserve and enhance mobility at the local level are chronically underfunded and the need for support is great. In Round 2, the Mobility Fund received 45 letters of interest, from which the Fund invited 17 proposals with a total request of $891,500.
“The Mobility Fund is a key philanthropic investment opportunity at the intersection of transportation, equity and climate,” said Lina Fedirko, program manager on the Transportation Team at the ClimateWorks Foundation, another investor in the fund. “ClimateWorks is excited to join partners for the second year, in supporting the local advocacy necessary to push for emissions free transportation that centers and serves people."
“These grants are about supporting advocates fighting for a just, clean and healthy transportation future. It starts with these people and hundreds of others that deserve more support,” said Darryl Young, director of the Sustainable Cities Program at The Summit Foundation, which also supported the fund.
Grants provide general operations support and support for collaboration between community groups that advocate for mobility.
Photo Credit (above and featured image): Bike East Bay, one of several organizations receiving grants through the latest round of the Mobility Fund.
Grantees from the second round of the Mobility Fund are:
Active Transportation Alliance, Chicago ($50,000) Building Power for Equitable Transportation Investment: A project to support the Transportation Equity Network Advocacy Committee efforts to mobilize its membership around an advocacy strategy, to ensure a transparent and accountable decision-making process that prioritizes racial equity for Chicago’s 2022 capital spending and beyond.
Atlanta Bicycle Coalition ($72,500) Expanding More Equitable Transit in Atlanta: A project to create deeper collaboration between the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition, MARTA Army, and the Partnership for Southern Equity to inform, educate, and empower community residents to advocate for more equitable, accessible transit in Atlanta.
Bike East Bay ($50,000) Community Organizing for Equitable Slow Streets in Oakland: A project to partner with the City of Oakland and local community groups to expand and permanently adopt Oakland’s post-pandemic Slow Street network.
Coalition for Smarter Growth, Fairfax County, Va. ($50,000)Safer Streets for Bailey’s Crossroads:A project to involve community members in advocating and winning design solutions to make their streets safer, and improve access to transit and services —i creating a model for local engagement and successful advocacy that can be applied in other priority communities.
Futurewise ($45,000) Advancing Equitable Transit-Oriented Communities on Seattle’s Eastside: A project to advocate in partnership with local BIPOC communities for updates to local neighborhood plans, accessible housing, and transportation policies that will create equitable, transit-oriented communities in the areas served by the upcoming Sound Transit East Link light rail expansion.
Health by Design ($24,000) Building the Indiana Mobility Management Network: A project to advance and accelerate efforts underway to establish a Mobility Management Network (MMN) for the state of Indiana in 2022.
Move LA ($50,000) Centering Equity for LA Transit Riders: A project to prioritize the restoration and expansion of LA Metro bus service, support funding for a fareless transit system pilot, and advocate for capital projects that prioritize bus speed and active transit that benefit low-income and communities of color.
Seattle Neighborhood Greenways ($50,000)BIPOC-Led Solutions for Community Safety: A project to support a workgroup is dedicated to reviewing and revising laws governing the use of our public streets to better meet the needs of the BIPOC community who have historically been excluded from the full and free use of this shared public space.
Photo credit: Coalition for Smart Growth, one of several grantees receiving funding through the second round of the Mobility Fund.
About the Mobility Fund
The Mobility Fund supports community-based advocacy around sustainable and equitable mobility through competitive grantmaking. To date, the fund has granted $778,000 to 17 mobility advocate groups working to advance equitable mobility access and use in communities since its launch in 2020. Thus far, grant recipients have reported $1,807,943 in additional funds leveraged, including local matching funds, producing a 232.4% return on the Mobility Fund’s investment. This fund is housed at Global Philanthropy Partnership. It is supported by the pooled funds of trailblazing regional and national philanthropic foundations who are comfortable working at the
nexus of equity and climate to transform broken systems. Fund processes are guided by an Advisory Team made up of local mobility advocates and national funders. For more information about the Mobility Fund, contact Martha Roskowski at martha@furtherstrategies.com.
Like most of you, our team has had to adjust the ways in which we connect as colleagues over the past two years. We've had a few epiphanies along the way — most notably that our team and our work are best served by going fully remote as an organization.
While many of our staff and program consultants were working remotely across the U.S. even before the pandemic, this means we will no longer have a brick-and-mortar Miami hub office.
Effective Feb. 1, we'll have a new mailing address for business purposes. Please update your records with this new address:
2000 Ponce de Leon Blvd, Suite 600, Coral Gables, FL 33134
Our all-remote set-up allows for operational savings, while also affording our team the added flexibility to better balance our professional and personal lives.
This change will not impact our member services or programming, and all of our phone extensions will remain the same. If you have any questions about TFN's all-remote workplace set-up, please feel free to TFN's Vice President and Director, Member Services Maureen Lawless or Director of Finance and Operations Jennifer Cummings.
On behalf of the entire TFN team, we're grateful for our membership's continued support and shared commitment to helping communities move toward racial, economic and environmental justice.
President Joe Biden this week addressed the nation from Atlanta, a city at the heart of the civil rights movement, painting a dire picture for future elections and American democracy without the passage of key legislation to protect voting rights. That includes the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would restore anti-discrimination components of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that were stripped away by the Supreme Court in 2013.
The United Philanthropy Forum (UPF) has released a letter of support for the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, and urges the United States Senate to prioritize passing this act before the end of the 117th Congress.
The Funders Network's President & CEO Pat Smith, a UPF board member, has signed on to this letter on behalf of the TFN team. We encourage others in the charitable sector to sign on as well. The letter sign-on is open to foundations, nonprofits and national and state infrastructure organizations.
Below is UPF's summary of the letter in support of the voting rights act. To read the full text and signatories, and to submit your name to the list of supporters, click here.
(The deadline to add your name to this letter is Jan. 21, 2022.)
Charitable Sector Letter to Congress in Support of Voting Rights: Summary
Last year, the United States House of Representatives passed the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. The bill, which United Philanthropy Forum has endorsed, now awaits action in the Senate.
Our Public Policy Principles outline a commitment to championing racial equity and strengthening democracy. Via this commitment, the Forum looks to endorse positive, practical solutions that seek to eliminate economic, social, health, and educational barriers, and replaces them with policies that are fair, just, create equitable opportunities and outcomes, and diminish racial and ethnic disparities. By restoring the protections of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act is a common-sense public policy proposal that will accomplish these goals, and aligns with this commitment by eliminating racial discrimination in the voting process.
As the letter to the Senate states, Congressman Lewis dedicated his life to advancing civil and human rights for all Americans, recognizing injustices when he saw them and calling them out. So, while this issue may not be front and center in your individual policy agendas, if we are truly committed to racial equity and racial justice, we cannot afford to be silent on this issue. We must call out injustices when we see them, and use our platform to bring positive change.
This should not be a partisan issue, Philanthropy has a long and distinguished record of standing up for voting rights. No matter the issues that funders support, or the regions where they focus their funding, philanthropy cannot do its work successfully without a strong and healthy democracy where everyone has the ability to vote freely and fairly.
TFN’s signature annual event is especially meaningful this time around: The 2022 Annual Conference will mark the first time in two years our community of funders, partners and practitioners will be able to come together in person.
We’ve all had to navigate the impacts of the pandemic on our personal and professional lives, including how best to serve the people and communities we care for.
TFN’s Annual Conference is a chance to reconnect with friends and colleagues in the sector — and to identify opportunities for collaboration and action that address the multiple and intersecting challenges we face: an escalating climate crisis, an ongoing pandemic, persistent racial injustice and a widening wealth gap, all of which are causing disproportionate harm to communities of color.
We invite you to join us to learn and share powerful and creative strategies that can address systemic inequities and move us toward racial, economic and environmental justice.
This year’s conference theme, Seize the Moment, is a call to action to our sector to lean into this unprecedented moment with urgency and purpose.
The 2022 Annual Conference will offer a wealth of sessions, speakers and mobile workshops that will challenge and inspire us to discover new ways to overcome obstacles to opportunity, empowerment and justice for all. (You can take a look at our agenda here.)
We’re excited that TFN’s 2022 Annual Conference will take place in our home state of California.
With a diverse population, rich cultural heritage and geographic location as a border community, San Diego provides critical context and opportunities to learn as we address pressing issues such as immigration, climate change, affordable housing and more. We’ll hear from thought-provoking voices as we explore innovative, interdisciplinary work that is making an impact in San Diego and beyond.
This conference is also a chance to connect with your peers across the sector. Over these three days, we’ll have plenty of opportunities to socialize — most notably at our Eat Here! local food reception, which will highlight the multicultural culinary heritage and food systems of the San Diego community.
The safety and well-being of our attendees, vendors and TFN team members is a top priority. Please read the Health & Safety section of the conference website to learn more about the COVID-19 protocols in place for this conference, including vaccination and testing requirements for all attendees. We’re also asking attendees to indicate their preferred sessions in advance to help us plan for appropriate social distancing during breakouts and other conference activities.
We look forward to seeing you in San Diego!
About our TFN2022 Co-Chairs
Christiana DeBenedict serves as Director of Environmental Initiatives at The San Diego Foundation, leading programs and directing resources to build a more equitable and resilient San Diego. She is a member of the statewide steering committee for Smart Growth California, a TFN initiative that brings funders together to build healthy, equitable, and sustainable communities throughout California.
Marisa Aurora Quiroz is President & CEO of the International Community Foundation, which is committed to protecting the environment and improving the quality of life in Baja California and Latin America. An alum of TFN’s PLACES Fellowship 2017 Cohort, she is based in San Diego County’s National City.
Kerry Hastings is the program lead for TFN’s Urban Water Funders working group, as well as the program manager for Smart Growth California, a TFN initiative.
Patricial L. Smith is the president and CEO of The Funders Network. Pat joined The Funders Network in 2018, bringing with her a wealth of expertise in the public, private and nonprofit sectors. Pat took the helm on the cusp of the network’s 20th anniversary, guiding TFN through key milestones during a pivotal moment in our history, including the launch of internal equity training for TFN’s team, an affirmation of our organizational commitment to racial equity and a new strategic framework that will govern TFN’s future direction through 2025. Pat’s vision is to help create a generation of philanthropic leadership that is engaged and emboldened to tackle the defining issues of our era — namely pervasive racial, economic and environmental injustices — and committed to bringing about a just society. Read more about Pat and the rest of the TFN staff on our Team page. 
Christiana DeBenedict serves as Director of Environmental Initiatives at The San Diego Foundation, leading programs and directing resources to build a more equitable and resilient San Diego. She is a member of the statewide steering committee for Smart Growth California, a TFN initiative that brings funders together to build healthy, equitable, and sustainable communities throughout California.
Craig Martinez is a Senior Program Manager at The California Endowment, which is committed to social justice and health equity for all Californians, and is based in Los Angeles. He is the chair of The Funder Network’s Board of Directors and an alum of TFN’s PLACES Fellowship 2013 Cohort. He also co-chairs Smart Growth California’s statewide steering committee.
Marisa Aurora Quiroz is President & CEO of the International Community Foundation, which is committed to protecting the environment and improving the quality of life in Baja California and Latin America. An alum of TFN’s PLACES Fellowship 2017 Cohort, she is based in San Diego County’s National City.