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Project to Help Non-Profits Gain Access to Almost $200B in State and Federal Funds

The Center at the Sierra Health Foundation, a Sacramento-based organization that promotes health and racial equity, and the James Irvine Foundation, a private San Francisco-based philanthropic nonprofit that advocates for Californians who earn low wages, are the first two foundations investing in the fund called the Community Economic Mobilization Initiative (CEMI).

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CEMI is expected to begin funding the CBOs in the summer of 2022 with $14 million from the James Irvine Foundation and $1 million from the Center at Sierra Health.
CEMI is expected to begin funding the CBOs in the summer of 2022 with $14 million from the James Irvine Foundation and $1 million from the Center at Sierra Health.

By Tanu Henry, California Black Media

Non-profit organizations across California will be able to apply for funding from a pool of cash created with an initial investment of $15 million from two foundations.

The money will help local Community Based Organizations (CBOs) gain access to almost $200 billion in federal and state funding coming down the pike for economic development projects.

The Center at the Sierra Health Foundation, a Sacramento-based organization that promotes health and racial equity, and the James Irvine Foundation, a private San Francisco-based philanthropic nonprofit that advocates for Californians who earn low wages, are the first two foundations investing in the fund called the Community Economic Mobilization Initiative (CEMI).

“CEMI will strengthen nonprofits working in marginalized communities and help them secure and influence the use of public funds designated to reduce economic and environmental inequities,” said Chet P. Hewitt, president and CEO of Sierra Health Foundation and The Center.

This year, California is expected to receive close to $200 billion in federal and state funding. The money will be sourced from the American Rescue Plan ($43 billion) and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act ($56 billion), as well as the state’s Community Economic Resilience Fund ($565 million) and its budget surplus ($46 billion).

“This is a much-needed investment for community-driven organizations, particularly those that support the most vulnerable Californians. Historically, they have not been invested in the same manner as larger organizations. Many of them were affected throughout the pandemic and need this fiscal and operational support,” said Kellie Todd Griffin, convenor of the California Black Women’s Collective, an organization of more than 1500 Black women leaders in various professions from different regions of the state. “My hope is that there will be intentionality to be inclusive of the organizations that can have the greatest impact in our communities.”

CEMI is expected to begin funding the CBOs in the summer of 2022 with $14 million from the James Irvine Foundation and $1 million from the Center at Sierra Health.

“We have a golden opportunity to make sure these investments reach community-based organizations that best know the infrastructure their communities need for economic growth that is inclusive and resilient,” said Don Howard, president and CEO of The James Irvine Foundation.

Howard says the funding from CEMI aligns with the James Irvine Foundation’s mission of supporting low-income workers because it helps grassroots organizations and community advocates participate in the planning and decision-making that goes into the distribution of public funds.

“We need an economy built on inclusion, equity, and dignity for all work and workers — and that starts by making room for diverse leaders to have a say in how these once-in-a-generation investments shape their communities’ futures,” Howard continued.

The CEMI funding will provide technical assistance and training to the CBOs that qualify to build their capacity and infrastructure and build models for what community-driven economic development looks like, according to the Center at Sierra Health Foundation.

The funders of CEMI say they believe the organizations they support will grow into a strong network that can drive more “equitable economic development policy, regulation and accountability at state and local levels.”

The California Endowment (TCE), a private foundation with headquarters in Los Angeles, has also committed to investing in CEMI.

TCE is a 56-year-old foundation that supports programs that improve the health care of Californians living in underserved communities.

“The availability of state and federal funding provides California with an important opportunity to address critical health and economic challenges for the most vulnerable Californians,” said Dr. Bob Ross, president and CEO of TCE.

“This potential can only be realized by investing in community-led change,” Ross added.

Gov. Gavin Newsom praised the foundations for taking a leadership role in making a difference in the lives of Californians who need help the most.

“This initiative will help grow the capacity of committed organizations to continue their important work in communities across the state. This will be especially important as we focus on COVID-19 recovery and creating a healthier, safer, more equitable future for all,” Newsom said.

Hewitt says the project will result in “transformative change” in California.

“The past few years have laid bare the impact of long-term disinvestment in poor communities. We must do all we can to position community institutions to grow power and create opportunity for the places and populations they serve,” he said.

California Black Media

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How the Crack Cocaine Epidemic Led to Mass Sex Exploitation of Black People PART 3: The Case Against SB357: Black, Vulnerable and Trafficked

Although California Senate Bill 357 was intended to alleviate arrests of willing sex workers under anti-loitering laws, it opened up a Pandora’s box loophole that hinders the ability of law enforcement to halt human trafficking, especially of young Black and Brown girls. This segment continues to explore the history that led to this latest form of exploitation in Oakland.

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Sable tied up.
Sable tied up.

By Tanya Dennis and Vanessa Russell
Although California Senate Bill 357 was intended to alleviate arrests of willing sex workers under anti-loitering laws, it opened up a Pandora’s box loophole that hinders the ability of law enforcement to halt human trafficking, especially of young Black and Brown girls. This segment continues to explore the history that led to this latest form of exploitation in Oakland.
It was 1980: The beginning of the end for the Black family and Black community as we knew it.
Crack cocaine was introduced to the United States that year and it rendered unparalleled devastation on Black folks. Crack is a solid smokable form of cocaine made by boiling baking soda, cocaine, and water into a rock that crackles when smoked.
The tremendous high — especially when first smoked — and the low cost brought temporary relief to the repeatedly and relentlessly traumatized members of the Black community.
What was unknown at the time was how highly addictive this form of cocaine would be and how harmful the ensuing impact on the Black family when the addicted Black mother was no longer a haven of safety for her children.
The form made it easy to mass produce and distribute, opening the market to anyone and everyone, including many Black men who viewed selling crack as their way out of poverty.
These two factors — addicted Black women and drug-dealing Black men — would lead to the street exploitation for sex as we know it today.
Encouraged to try it free initially, most poor, Black women in the 1980s used crack cocaine in a social setting with friends. When the free samples disappeared the drug dealer offered to supply the women crack in exchange for allowing him to sell their bodies to sex buyers.
The increase in the supply of women willing to exchange sex for crack — a.k.a. the “sex for crack barter system” — caused the price of sex to decrease and at the same time increased the demand for sex because more buyers could afford it.
The desperation of the women to get their hit of crack made them willing to endure any form of abuse and treatment from buyers during sex, including unprotected and violent sex.
It also pushed desperate Black women onto the street to pursue sex buyers, flagging down cars and willing to have sex anywhere actively and desperately. Street prostitution grew and buyers were able to buy oral sex for as little as $5.
This sex-for-crack barter system resulted in a dramatic increase in sexually transmitted diseases including HIV and AIDS, both of which are disproportionately represented among Black people.
It also resulted in unplanned pregnancies by unknown fathers, which then resulted in children born addicted to crack who were immediately placed in the foster care system where they were often abused and/or neglected.
For his part, the Black man who engaged in the mass production and distribution of crack was often killed by gun violence while fighting over drug territory or incarcerated for long periods of time as use and sales and distribution of crack carried longer sentences than powdered cocaine.
Crack unleashed an entire chain of new trauma upon the Black family which then all but collapsed under this latest social attack that had started with chattel slavery, followed by Jim Crow, redlining, school segregation, food deserts, et. al.
Exploitation was and is at the root of the crack cocaine epidemic. It is the latest weapon used to prey upon Black people since the beginning of our time in the United States.
The sex industry and legislation like SB357 have only increased harm to Black people who have been historically oppressed with racist laws and epidemics including crack. More must be done to restore the Black community.
Tanya Dennis serves on the Board of Oakland Frontline Healers (OFH) and series co-author Vanessa Russell of “Love Never Fails Us” and member of OFH.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tanya-Leblanc/publication/236121038_Behind_the_Eight_Ball_Sex_for_Crack_Cocaine_Exchange_and_Poor_Black_Women/links/0c9605162c8f362553000000/Behind-the-Eight-Ball-Sex-for-Crack-Cocaine-Exchange-and-Poor-Black-Women.pdf?origin=publication_detail

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Oakland Post: Week of March 22 – 28, 2023

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of March March 22 – 38, 2023

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The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of March 22 - 38, 2023

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Oakland Post: Week of March 15 – 21, 2023

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of March 15 – 21, 2023

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The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of March 15 - 21, 2023

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