{"id":16285,"date":"2023-10-04T15:16:51","date_gmt":"2023-10-04T15:16:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/leadership\/when-cities-and-philanthropies-team-up-good-things-happen\/"},"modified":"2023-10-04T15:16:52","modified_gmt":"2023-10-04T15:16:52","slug":"when-cities-and-philanthropies-team-up-good-things-happen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16285","title":{"rendered":"When Cities And Philanthropies Team Up, Good Things Happen"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

With an election year upon us, the pace of policymaking in Washington, D.C. will soon grind to a halt. As a Hill staffer, I used to joke that the pace of policymaking was inversely correlated with the renaming of U.S. post offices \u2013 so expect a new name on your local post office soon.<\/p>\n

Stagnation in Washington is especially bad news for what my colleague Erica Price Burns has dubbed a \u201cnew breed\u201d of philanthropists focused on driving \u201cbroad-based change\u201d through a \u201cblend\u201d of approaches, including policy advocacy. The good news is that while federal policymaking hits pause, leaders at the local level are still working to tackle some of the nation\u2019s most complex challenges, and the \u201cnew breed\u201d of philanthropists are also partnering with cities.<\/p>\n

Josh Elder, who leads grantmaking at Siegel Family Endowment, a relatively new philanthropy founded by computer science pioneer David Siegel, told me that \u201ccollaborating with local government can certainly present challenges, but it also presents one of the most powerful levers for change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former Indianapolis mayor and Harvard professor Steve Goldsmith told me that “while the challenges faced by American cities are similar to national priorities \u2013 housing affordability, infrastructure, economic development \u2013 the root of these challenges is often hyper-local, which means the solutions aren’t always the same from one city to another.”<\/p>\n

In his most recent book, Growing Fairly<\/em>, Goldsmith explains how policymakers and businesses can build stronger and more inclusive economies. It’s an area where philanthropy can play a powerful role. As he put it to me: “One of the reasons that philanthropic partnerships are so impactful at the municipal level is that they can challenge the status quo and spark \u2013 or scale \u2013 solutions that bring community members to the table. Philanthropic capital is often the best way to take risks on the sort of cross-sector solutions required to address these grand challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/fbs-ad><\/p>\n

Here in Denver, our new mayor is poised to be the beneficiary of such investments. As the former CEO of Gary Community Ventures, Mayor Johnston is no stranger to public-private partnership. In his prior role, he leveraged the power of business, policy and philanthropy to \u201cincrease opportunity for Colorado kids and their families,\u201d spearheading investments to improve school readiness, youth success and family economic mobility.<\/p>\n

As mayor, Johnston will no doubt tap the expertise of a vibrant, local philanthropic sector to address critical social and economic issues, including homelessness, housing affordability and public safety. His experience at the intersection of philanthropy and policy should also make Denver an attractive target for national donors looking to make an impact.<\/p>\n

As Denver works to ensure that the benefits of economic growth are broad-based, it should pay close attention to what\u2019s happening in the southeast \u2013 which is fast becoming an economic hotspot in the wake of COVID-era migration trends.<\/p>\n

Atlanta is now the region\u2019s largest economic hub and one of the nation\u2019s fastest growing cities, but it is also grappling with the reality that nearly 20% of its residents live in poverty. Rather than take an outside-in approach, Siegel Family Endowment has cultivated partnerships with community leaders in Atlanta, putting \u201crisk capital\u201d to work through organizations like the Constellations Center for Equity in Computing at Georgia Tech, which is expanding access to computer science for students in underserved communities in order to \u201ccultivate\u201d a more inclusive \u201clocal talent pipeline.\u201d<\/p>\n

If it works, they\u2019re hopeful that Atlanta\u2019s story can help to prove that gentrification and economic growth don\u2019t have to go hand-in-hand. Elder explained to me that Siegel Family Endowment \u201cselected Atlanta as a partner because of its strong leadership, engaged nonprofit sector and the fact that its unique combination of diversity and a booming tech sector are critical ingredients of what we see as the future of inclusive economic growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Siegel Family Endowment\u2019s approach, which hinges on building trust and preserving autonomy, has earned respect among local stakeholders. A core component of their ground-up approach has been centered on facilitating deeper collaboration between school and city leaders, starting with the dedicated and engaged community of educators and families in the Douglass Cluster \u2013 a group of eight schools serving 5,000 students from households with an average income of $31,000 per year (well below the city average). The principles developed in the Douglass Cluster are now being used to identify opportunities and generate buy-in for city-wide investments across Atlanta\u2019s education ecosystem.<\/p>\n

A short drive down Interstate 20 in Birmingham, leaders are working to build an innovation economy rooted in the legacy of children who marched for equal rights 60 years ago \u2014 and won.<\/p>\n

Mayor Randall Woodfin, a rising national star, campaigned on the importance of creating opportunity for the city\u2019s high school students. Early in his administration, Woodfin launched Birmingham Promise, which aims to ensure that Birmingham City School students and alums have the support and resources they need to thrive after high school, whether that means attending college or pursuing other pathways and apprenticeships that lead to high-quality jobs.<\/p>\n

He then \u201ckicked\u201d Promise out of the Mayor\u2019s office, transforming the initiative into a nonprofit that will outlive the mayor\u2019s time in office with backing from local corporate partners including Alabama Power, Regions Bank and Altec.<\/p>\n

Woodfin also serves on the board of Prosper Birmingham, a unique nonprofit working to align investments and steward a collaborative civic agenda focused on inclusive job creation, job preparation and job access. It\u2019s filling a gap by focusing on often-overlooked aspects of economic growth while playing a critical \u201cintermediary\u201d role for both national and local grantmakers.<\/p>\n

\u201cBirmingham\u2019s business community is focused on inclusive economic growth because it knows that creating pathways to prosperity for everyone in the city makes us more attractive to major employers that want to call Alabama home, \u201c said JW Carpenter, Prosper\u2019s president. \u201cThat means not just attracting new investment, but nurturing the vast pool of talent that we have to ensure we have the skills and human capital that will power our innovation economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

And in Birmingham, the innovation economy is booming. From the food scene (which includes a growing number of James Beard award winners) to the startup scene (Shipt was acquired by Target for $550 million) and one of the nation\u2019s largest hospital systems, the energy is palpable. Birmingham is also home to Innovate Alabama, an initiative of Republican Governor Kay Ivey that is making investments to spur innovation and back startups throughout the state. Birmingham Talks, which aims to make the city America\u2019s sandbox for innovation in early childhood education, is using \u201ctalk pedometers\u201d to close literacy gaps for thousands of children. Prosper is also the driving force behind Operation: Backing Black Businesses, which is helping Black entrepreneurs across the region to source and acquire capital.<\/p>\n

As for Denver, Mayor Johnston is just over three months into his first year on the job and has promised to house 1,000 Denverites by the holiday season. Residents \u2013 both housed and unhoused \u2013 are counting on the mayor to solve one of the greatest challenges facing the city in decades. Mayor Johnston will undoubtedly leverage his connections to and experience with philanthropy to bring solutions to this urban humanitarian crisis. There may be no other way to solve one of the greatest challenges facing the city and its residents. But if the experiences of cities like Atlanta and Birmingham provide any guide, partnership between civic leaders and philanthropies has the potential to transform lives in Denver \u2014 and to inspire other cities to leverage the power of philanthropic capital themselves.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With an election year upon us, the pace of policymaking in Washington, D.C. will soon grind to a halt. As a Hill staffer, I used to joke that the pace of policymaking was inversely correlated with the renaming of U.S. post offices \u2013 so expect a new name on your local post office soon. Stagnation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16286,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16285","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leadership"},"yoast_head":"\nWhen Cities And Philanthropies Team Up, Good Things Happen | Brandiary<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"With an election year upon us, the pace of policymaking in Washington, D.C. will soon grind to a halt. As a Hill staffer, I used to joke that the pace of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16285\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"When Cities And Philanthropies Team Up, Good Things Happen | Brandiary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With an election year upon us, the pace of policymaking in Washington, D.C. will soon grind to a halt. As a Hill staffer, I used to joke that the pace of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16285\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Brandiary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-04T15:16:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-04T15:16:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/1696432612_0x0.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"News Room\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"News Room\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16285#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16285\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"News Room\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5062dafb0f932b59aa228f1a047332f4\"},\"headline\":\"When Cities And Philanthropies Team Up, Good Things Happen\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-04T15:16:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-04T15:16:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16285\"},\"wordCount\":1270,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Leadership\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16285#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16285\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16285\",\"name\":\"When Cities And Philanthropies Team Up, Good Things Happen | Brandiary\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-04T15:16:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-04T15:16:52+00:00\",\"description\":\"With an election year upon us, the pace of policymaking in Washington, D.C. will soon grind to a halt. As a Hill staffer, I used to joke that the pace of\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16285#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16285\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16285#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"When Cities And Philanthropies Team Up, Good Things Happen\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/\",\"name\":\"Brandiary\",\"description\":\"Latest Business and Startup News and Updates\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Brandiary\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/b-logo-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/b-logo-1.png\",\"width\":381,\"height\":100,\"caption\":\"Brandiary\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5062dafb0f932b59aa228f1a047332f4\",\"name\":\"News Room\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/avatar_user_1_1688031660-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/avatar_user_1_1688031660-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"News Room\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"When Cities And Philanthropies Team Up, Good Things Happen | Brandiary","description":"With an election year upon us, the pace of policymaking in Washington, D.C. will soon grind to a halt. As a Hill staffer, I used to joke that the pace of","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16285","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"When Cities And Philanthropies Team Up, Good Things Happen | Brandiary","og_description":"With an election year upon us, the pace of policymaking in Washington, D.C. will soon grind to a halt. As a Hill staffer, I used to joke that the pace of","og_url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16285","og_site_name":"Brandiary","article_published_time":"2023-10-04T15:16:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-10-04T15:16:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/1696432612_0x0.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"News Room","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"News Room","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16285#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16285"},"author":{"name":"News Room","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5062dafb0f932b59aa228f1a047332f4"},"headline":"When Cities And Philanthropies Team Up, Good Things Happen","datePublished":"2023-10-04T15:16:51+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-04T15:16:52+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16285"},"wordCount":1270,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Leadership"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16285#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16285","url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16285","name":"When Cities And Philanthropies Team Up, Good Things Happen | Brandiary","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-10-04T15:16:51+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-04T15:16:52+00:00","description":"With an election year upon us, the pace of policymaking in Washington, D.C. will soon grind to a halt. As a Hill staffer, I used to joke that the pace of","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16285#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16285"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=16285#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"When Cities And Philanthropies Team Up, Good Things Happen"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/","name":"Brandiary","description":"Latest Business and Startup News and Updates","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#organization","name":"Brandiary","url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/b-logo-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/b-logo-1.png","width":381,"height":100,"caption":"Brandiary"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5062dafb0f932b59aa228f1a047332f4","name":"News Room","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/avatar_user_1_1688031660-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/avatar_user_1_1688031660-96x96.png","caption":"News Room"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com"],"url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16285"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16287,"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16285\/revisions\/16287"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}