The Kresge Foundation

The reverberations of tomorrow’s elections will be as varied as they will be powerful. A new administration. A new House. A new Senate. New constitutional provisions and local ballot initiatives. It is not one election – it is scores of elections. And yet, the turmoil we’ve experienced in the lead-up to the federal election promises to pale compared to the unrelenting uncertainty, emotional perturbation, and political atmospherics certain to attend the next cycle of national civic and political life. In whatever directions our new crop of elected officials move, and on whatever topics, some half of America will continue to feel aggrieved, alienated or otherwise disregarded. What a foundation like Kresge can do to smooth the waters in any meaningful way is debatable and complex. But what we can do – live according to our values – is neither debatable nor complex. Stewardship. Respect. Creativity. Opportunity. Partnership. Equity. Words that can appear abstracted, but words that take on profound meaning when tethered to a commitment to action. • Stewardship takes on the importance of using every foundation asset in ways that honor the founder’s aspiration to make the world a better place. • Respect acknowledges the power of seeing the full humanity of all people. • Creativity summons us to take risks, to break from ossified patterns of thought and practice, and to address the issues that most impede human progress. • Opportunity underscores the imperative of breaking down the barriers to full participation by all Americans in this nation’s social, economic, and political life. • Partnership embraces the reality that no contemporary challenge can be tackled by a single actor or sector. • Equity roots all our work in overcoming the deeply entrenched policies, behaviors and attitudes that differentiate based on race, ethnicity or other characteristic of entire groups of people. Nothing in the vicissitudes of the emergent political environment changes our commitment to these values. We will work as we have, understanding full well that we may need to stand our ground in unexpected ways, adapt our full box of tools to meet the particulars of a new reality, and provide our community partners with support different in kind or magnitude from what we’ve provided before now. We’ve faced this situation before, and we understood that the underlying fissures of polarization and division … the persistent attacks on racial equity … the heightened challenges of climate change … the impossibly difficult burdens facing people with few resources and fewer opportunities for economic mobility … all demanded that Kresge do everything in its power to fortify the people and organizations able to start in motion the flywheel of equitable, enduring, systemic change. If you’ve known the Kresge of the past, you’ll recognize the Kresge of the future, regardless of the electoral outcomes. And if you don’t, please get to know us. We are all in this together.

As we edge closer to election day, we know that in the coming weeks, pundits and loved ones alike will share their opinions about why certain results materialized and what that means for our futures. This period of analysis presents an opportunity for the climate justice movement to help people connect the dots between the election results and the “why” of our work before others define it for us. But articulating that message can be tricky given the current political climate. In this article, Rob Sassor and Surili Sutaria Patel from Metropolitan Group, along with Kresge's Kate F. McLaughlin, spoke with three climate justice leaders — Martha Dina Argüello of Physicians for Social Responsibility Los Angeles, Robyn Bussey of Partnership for Southern Equity, and Vernice Miller-Travis of Metropolitan Group — about the messaging advice and insights they have for community organizers and advocates in the current political environment.

Racial equity and DEI programs have suffered tremendous criticism in recent years in environments ranging from college admissions to the corporate world to the court of public opinion. But the need for the work—and the work itself—persists. Where are we now? How do those still committed to improving diversity and racial equity move forward? We heard an inspiring and thought-provoking talk from PolicyLink's Dr. Michael McAfee on this topic and the need to keep doing our "soul work" at the September Our Urban Future gathering of Kresge partners in Detroit. Catch his full 15-minute keynote here and share your reaction in the comments. Video available here as well: https://lnkd.in/g5BE9Pk3

TONIGHT: New York Times best-selling authors Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and adrienne maree brown will discuss what a future world could look like if instead of an increasingly hotter Earth, we “get it right” in addressing the climate crisis. Join Urban Consulate and journalist Orlando Bailey at 7 p.m. at the Garden Theater in Midtown Detroit.

Voting is a fundamental right and participating in elections helps ensure that all voices are heard in the decision-making process. The election is one week away, so now is the time to make your voting plan if you haven't already. • Find out how to register to vote, where your voting location is, how presidential elections work, and more about voting at: https://lnkd.in/e8-D-K34. • Find everything you need to vote in your state at https://www.vote.org/ or https://www.vote411.org/. • You have the right to vote. If anyone tries to stop or intimidate you, call or text the Election Protection Hotline at 1-866-687-8683. #vote #voter #voting

A recent Crain's Detroit Business article describes the shared overarching aspiration to promote regional entrepreneurialism held by the University of Michigan Center for Innovation in Midtown, the Michigan Central and Newlab complex in Southwest Detroit, and Bedrock’s plan for the former Wayne County jail site. Combined with projects at the Henry Ford Health System and the cradle-to-career P-20 educational continuum on the Marygrove Conservancy campus in Northwest Detroit, that brings the number of “innovation hubs” to five. Lying at the heart of all this is the aspiration to create a more interconnected ecology of entrepreneurial energies. That prospect of interconnection is genuinely exciting. The next step – and challenge – is extending that energy into the neighborhoods. 

FREE TICKETS: Authors adrienne maree brown and Ayana Elizabeth Johnson will be hosted by the discussion platform Urban Consulate in an evening of conversation at 7 p.m. ET on Oct. 30 at Detroit's Garden Theater. Johnson is a scientist, podcaster, policy expert and founder of Urban Ocean Lab. A Kresge Arts In Detroit Artist Fellow, brown writes on themes including healing, pleasure and radical imagination. Journalist Orlando Bailey will serve as moderator for the event, which is supported by Kresge's Detroit Program.

A crowd of several hundred gathered in a fallow 14-acre field in Northwest Detroit this week as Detroit Horse Power broke ground on what will become the largest urban equestrian center in the U.S. with stables to accommodate 17 horses for use by students of the Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCP). The center – on the site of the former Paul Robeson/Malcolm X Academy, destroyed in a 2011 fire and purchased from DPSCP –– will serve students through classes, after-school programs and summer camps. When completed, the facility will have: • A 75-by-160 foot indoor riding arena • Outdoor spaces including a 100-by-200 foot outdoor arena and a half-mile bridle path • 7 acres of grazing paddocks • 10,000 square feet of conditioned space for classrooms, nonprofit offices and community gatherings • A high-performance building thermal envelope to reduce energy demands that will be met by renewable solar and geothermal energy production resulting in a net-zero capable building.

TOMORROW: In honor of its 20th anniversary, this webinar will revisit the book "Root Shock: How Tearing Up City Neighborhoods Hurts America, And What We Can Do About It" by Mindy Fullilove, MD, to reckon with the past and reimagine how to support communities facing displacement today. Join Fullilove, Molly Rose Kaufman at the University of Orange, Terri Baltimore at the Hill District and Evelyn Burnett, M.P.A. at ThirdSpace Action Lab at 1 p.m. ET on Oct. 23 in a conversation around how understanding the history of community displacement and its impacts on neighborhoods’ physical, psychological, cultural and economic well-being can help us navigate the pressures that cities are facing across the country and the world. Register: https://lnkd.in/eN-VQbvR

We are honored to be a part of the Opportunity Finance Network #OFN40. If you are attending the conference, be sure to check out: 'Mobilizing Private Capital for GGRF: A Deep Dive' with Opportunity Finance Network's Jessel Amin, Bank of America's Amy Brusiloff, SELF (Solar and Energy Loan Fund)'s Duanne Andrade T, Kresge's Joe Evans, NC Green Bank's Melissa Malkin-Weber Wednesday, Oct. 23, 11:00 a.m. PT https://lnkd.in/e7sNZ2JP 'CDFI Strategies to Boost HBCUs: Anchor Institutions in Community Revitalization' with The Brookings Institution's Andre M. Perry, Hope Credit Union's Bill Bynum, HBCU Brilliance Initiative's Damien Wilson, Dillard University's Edward Patrick Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2:30 p.m. PT https://lnkd.in/ecgZE3DH