20+ SV2 Partners participated in our Economic Inclusion Grant Round, learned more about community strengths and aspirations, what economic inclusion means, and selected these two community rooted and impactful organizations to each receive $75,000 in multi-year unrestricted funding, beyond-the-dollars support as helpful, and friendship!
Founded in 2015, Code Tenderloin removes barriers that keep people from securing long-term employment such as finances, legal, soft skills, childcare, transportation, and education. Based in the Tenderloin neighborhood in San Francisco, Code Tenderloin prepares participants to succeed in the workplace, and connects local businesses, major tech companies, and nonprofits with the right candidates for long-term job placement.
Founded in 1998, Puente de la Costa Sur promotes and advocates for equitable access to education, health, and economic security among those in Pescadero, La Honda, Loma Mar, and San Gregorio. They focus on creating equitable opportunities for: farmworkers, low-income households, students and parents in the local school district, first generation college students, children 0 to 5 years old, and seniors.
We started off the Grant Round grounding ourselves in community insights about what economic inclusion means, we learned it means:
- Having the means to get a well paying job
- A fair work environment
- Supporting oneself and families with dignity
- A voice in the workplace
- Creating a culture of collective care for workers
- Equitable opportunities for advancement and leadership
- A seat at the decision and policy-making table
- It’s transformative and can be hard work over a longer period of time with different kinds of qualitative and quantitative impact, not a linear path or set framework!
Based on feedback and SV2’s evolved tenets, including broadening voices of those involved and equity as a central throughline of our work, we did some important re-design of our grantmaking process, key changes we continued or newly made include:
- Having two parts overall – Part 1: Community Outreach, Learning, and Grantmaking and Part 2: Getting Proximate (connecting with community members directly) and Relationship building, we just finished Part 1!
- Offering two multi-year unrestricted grants in an effort to make our process more collaborative than competitive
- Curating insights about what economic inclusion means
- Sourcing almost 100 organizations from community nominations, self-nominations, and research
- Engaging a Partner research team to shortlist organizations per SV2’s grantmaking and match criteria
- Hosting a kickoff session “Economic Inclusion: The Underestimated in our Communities Reclaiming Power and Advancing their Goals” that engaged strong community leaders and experts | Our accomplished Speakers were:
- Uma Viswanathan, Executive Director, New Pluralists Collaborative
- Amelia Post, Director of Learning and Leadership Development, SOMOS Mayfair, SV2 Alumni Community Partner / Grantee
- Angelica Flores, Eastside San José Community Leader and Resident, Co-Founder and Worker Owner of De Colores Cooperative
- Ari Morales, Director of Programs, Working Partnerships USA, SV2 Alumni Community Partner / Grantee
- Dianna Tremblay, Chief Program Officer, ICA, SV2 Community Partner / Grantee
- Encouraging Partners to research the organizations based on what’s already publicly available
- Streamlining the learning and diligence process for both the participating organizations and Partners
- Replacing applications and ED presentations with virtual “coffee chats”, more relational opportunities to connect and go deeper in learning about community strengths, aspirations, opportunities, what the organizations do, what growth looks like, team dynamics, etc.
We’re getting some great feedback and will keep evolving and improving.
Thanks to all who participated, and special kudos to Mark Wilson and Sneha Challa, Partner Co-Leaders of the Grant Round for their thoughtful re-design, community grounding, and dynamic facilitation, all as volunteers of this massive effort!