CONTACT: Jake Goodman, Executive Director, jgoodman [at] theopportunityfund.org
PITTSBURGH, PA, December 7, 2021 – For some, the uprisings for racial justice in the summer of 2020 came and went. But for the Opportunity Fund and its Executive Director, Jake Goodman, the energy of that time offered “a precious moment of potential.” This moment “revealed the anti-Blackness that is baked into American life, which results in an ever-evolving and systematic devaluation of Black life that is designed to protect and grow the standing of white people. Once exposed, it is vulnerable.”
A subsequent evolution occurred within the Opportunity Fund, beginning with a recognition that, every grant cycle, proposals flow in to address problems existing within systems: housing, transportation, human services, criminal justice, social services. The vast majority of applicants report that these systems create the very worst outcomes for Black people. “If we truly do not accept the current status quo of many Black people living and dying under worse conditions than almost everybody else,” says Goodman, “then we need to change the way we generally go about business at the Opportunity Fund. Otherwise, we are tacitly accepting that status quo.”
This growing awareness of the impact of white supremacy culture is taking place within philanthropy citywide. Foundations in Pittsburgh are taking steps—discreetly and collectively—to heal the harms often perpetrated by a system that intends to do good. Although the Opportunity Fund was already funding Black-led movement work at that time, its board and staff wanted to go deeper. The organization identified multiple ways it would “let this moment change us,” vowing that 2020 would be the last year the Opportunity Fund would be entirely white-led, naming racial justice as the focus over all of its justice funding, and allocating $50,000 in initial seed money to establish a fund designed by Black people for Black people.
For some, the uprisings for racial justice in the summer of 2020 came and went. But for the Opportunity Fund and its Executive Director, Jake Goodman, the energy of that time offered “a precious moment of potential.” This moment “revealed the anti-Blackness that is baked into American life, which results in an ever-evolving and systematic devaluation of Black life that is designed to protect and grow the standing of white people. Once exposed, it is vulnerable.”
A subsequent evolution occurred within the Opportunity Fund, beginning with a recognition that, every grant cycle, proposals flow in to address problems existing within systems: housing, transportation, human services, criminal justice, social services. The vast majority of applicants report that these systems create the very worst outcomes for Black people. “If we truly do not accept the current status quo of many Black people living and dying under worse conditions than almost everybody else,” says Goodman, “then we need to change the way we generally go about business at the Opportunity Fund. Otherwise, we are tacitly accepting that status quo.”
This growing awareness of the impact of white supremacy culture is taking place within philanthropy citywide. Foundations in Pittsburgh are taking steps—discreetly and collectively—to heal the harms often perpetrated by a system that intends to do good. Although the Opportunity Fund was already funding Black-led movement work at that time, its board and staff wanted to go deeper. The organization identified multiple ways it would “let this moment change us,” vowing that 2020 would be the last year the Opportunity Fund would be entirely white-led, naming racial justice as the focus over all of its justice funding, and allocating $50,000 in initial seed money to establish a fund designed by Black people for Black people.
The organization contracted with yvette shipman (lowercase), a justice and transformative change consultant, to look at systems-change with a lens toward reparations. shipman accepted the challenge and assembled the Opportunity Fund Innovation Venture (OFIV) Community Advisors: a discipline-broad, experience-rich, intergenerational team of Black contributors. These advisors from Pittsburgh and beyond brought expertise in engineering, art, education and health, as well as lived experiences in Kenya, Turkey, South Africa, Ghana, Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh.
They devoted three months in collaboration and affirmed “the rich diversity of our Blackness; intersectional, transformative justice; our creative, spiritual, entrepreneurial, social, and civic intellect; Black health and wellness, including rest as a corrective, restorative, human right; and Black cultural and spiritual presence in shaping America.” Says shipman, “Some funders say to give everybody a little bit of money, often making it more challenging to achieve goals. We want to give people what they need so they can do what needs to be done.”
Lessons learned and shared by the OFIV Community Advisors challenge the traditional grant funding process to expand both its processes and its imagination. Recommended innovations include: a process for channeling funds toward groups and individuals who exist outside of the in-network of social justice folks; collective decision-making to ensure the presence and participation of those from the community who have the most to gain or lose by what gets funded; and shorter applications that allow folks to present themselves in a manner truer to who they are, whether by phone, video, or front porch conversations.
In a letter to the board and staff of the Opportunity Fund, OFIV Community Advisors expressed appreciation for “supporting and entrusting us to think through, shape, and recommend strategic initiatives designed to nurture and support Black creative intellect in Pittsburgh” and called the Opportunity Fund’s selection of yvette shipman to curate their group of artists, scholars, activists, engineers, elders, and community members to independently craft such a project “a gesture of goodwill and faith often avoided by many of Pittsburgh’s foundations.”
The only thing the Opportunity Fund knew when they began this process was that the decisions about the fund would be made without foundation oversight—unless requested. “In terms of systems change, one thing we could easily do was not be in the room while the OFIV Community Advisors engaged in the process,” recalls Goodman. As recommended by the Community Advisors, the Opportunity Fund will directly support two of the creative projects the group proposed. Atasa Solar (via Land Art Generator) partners with the Maasai in Kenya and the African diaspora to uplift Indigenous women’s design and technology and create a model for culturally relevant, renewable energy to provide energy justice for the community.
Remember, Re-member, Reclaim, Repair (via Riverbends), an ancestry and genealogy exploration for Black and African American residents in Pittsburgh and the South, is an ode to creating wholeness in the presence of literal disconnection from place of origin, and includes a pledge by participants to build an older, Black or African American family tree.
“It is important to see ourselves reflected in solutions and answers to problems of injustice,” says Tereneh Idia, who leads Atasa Solar.
In a broader context, the Opportunity Fund views OFIV as a first explicit foray into the work of reparations, and acknowledges the deep learning underway and on the path ahead. As part of that work, shipman—who has since accepted the role of Program Officer/Repair at the foundation—reflects on the gifts of this process: “Black people discern the most direct and impactful route to transform what it is we need for ourselves. Philanthropy’s role is to clear any obstacles to this transformation.”
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