Archive for January, 2009

As part of my training as a new Cleveland Foundation employee I watched a video of former CEO Steve Minter sharing his perspectives and highlights of the history of the foundation.

I knew that Cleveland had the oldest community foundation (95 years old this year), and one of the nation’s largest.  Aside from those foundation facts, I did not have a good grasp of its history.  As I learned more, I became more interested. My history teacher grandfather would be so proud.

I’ve lived in Cleveland since 1997 and had only learned bits and pieces about its history. Minter helped add to the big picture with insights into, for example, the Playhouse Square collaborative rescue in the 1980’s or Cleveland’s place as the eighth largest city back in 1969. Fascinating stuff. Check out Diana Tittle’s great book Rebuilding Cleveland for more history. I will be investigating some other documents (he mentioned the Cleveland Papers and surveys from 1923 as compelling reads) and may blog on those at a later date.

During his presentation, Steve Minter shared four adjectives to describe the Cleveland Foundation: permanent, evolving, hopeful, and fallible.

• Permanent – in that the funds have generally been established and will generate dollars for giving in perpetuity;
• Evolving – the foundation has changed over time, and will continue to change;
• Hopeful – without being blind to challenges, but knowing that times have been bad in the past, and Cleveland made it though;
• Fallible – we try our best but don’t always get everything right. Although I’ve paraphrased his words – the sentiments behind them resonated with me.

I’ve heard a number of other adjectives used to describe both the Cleveland Foundation and Cleveland itself. Personally, I remain tremendously hopeful – there’s just too much great stuff happening in and around Cleveland not to be in my opinion. My contributions to this group blog and the foundation will certainly be evolving, hopeful, and fallible – we’ll see what other adjectives emerge over time.

Know any impressive undergraduates, graduate students, or recent college graduates with an interest in the nonprofit field? Encourage them to apply for our summer internship program. We place some of the area’s best students at local nonprofit organizations for a paid 11-week experience. 

What will the interns do?

They won’t be sitting around making copies and filing papers. Last summer, our interns got the chance to be involved in major programs at their organizations. Planning fundraisers, putting on a neighborhood fesitval - it’s all in a day’s work for these interns. 

Who are we looking for?

• An undergraduate or graduate student in good standing or a recent graduate of a local accredited college or university who resides in the Greater Cleveland area such as Lake, Geauga, and Cuyahoga counties.
• Strong academic record (3.0 gpa or above).
• Strong research, computer, and verbal and written communication skills.
• Interest in the nonprofit or public sector.

The application deadline is February 6, 2009.  The application form and the list of host site organizations can also be accessed through our website. 

Personal interviews with select applicants will be conducted by early March. Interns will be notified of their acceptance into the program on or around April 1. The internship program begins on June 1, 2009 and ends August 14, 2009.

Check out the Summer Internship group on Facebook, where past and present interns meet up to network! 

If you have any questions about the program, contact Nelson Beckford, program officer at 216-615-7259 or nbeckford@clevefdn.org.

Neighborhoods are composed of homes, businesses, schools, people, families, local government, and institutions.  When these components are effectively marshalled, a strong and healthy community is the result.  Lately I have been thinking about the role grassroots community organizing plays in this process of building strong neighborhoods.

Grassroots community organizing is defined as movement driven by the constituents of a community to build power and bring about system change.   The term community organizing conjures up images of picket signs, exposing flaws, challenging injustices in the “system” and heated arguments. Organizing terms tend to be very militaristic, using terms such as targets, tactics, attacks campaigns and direct action. 

Saul Alinsky is recognized as an iconic figure in community organizing. Alinsky created the following the rules based on lessons learned from many successful campaigns where he helped poor people fighting power and privilege. 

 Alinksy’s Rules:

Rule 1: Power is not only what you have, but what an opponent thinks you have.

Rule 2: Never go outside the experience of your people. The result is confusion, fear, and retreat.

Rule 3: Whenever possible, go outside the experience of an opponent. Here you want to cause confusion, fear, and retreat.
Rule 4: Make opponents live up to their own book of rules.
Rule 5: Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It’s hard to counterattack ridicule, and it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage.
Rule 6: A good tactic is one your people enjoy. “If your people aren’t having a ball doing it, there is something very wrong with the tactic.”
Rule 7: A tactic that drags on for too long becomes a drag. Commitment may become ritualistic as people turn to other issues.
Rule 8: Keep the pressure on. Use different tactics and actions and use all events of the period for your purpose.

Rule 9: The threat is more terrifying than the thing itself. When Alinsky leaked word that large numbers of poor people were going to tie up the washrooms of O’Hare Airport, Chicago city authorities quickly agreed to act on a longstanding commitment to the community. They imagined the mayhem as thousands of passengers poured off airplanes to discover every washroom occupied. Then they imagined the international embarrassment and the damage to the city’s reputation.
Rule 10: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.

Rule 11: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it. Don’t try to attack abstract corporations or bureaucracies. Identify a responsible individual. Ignore attempts to shift or spread the blame.

While some of these rules may not apply in these current times, in my mind the principle behind most of them still hold true.  To me, the most relevant are rules 2, 4, 6 and especially 8. 

Take another look Alinksy’s rules.  Think about the challenges and opportunities faced by our community.  Now ask yourself are these rules still relevant?

Click here to hear a few words about the relevance of organizing from a former Chicago organizer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SwwO00aWqM

In 2006, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, the Cuyahoga County Commissioners and Cleveland Metropolitan School District CEO Dr. Eugene Sanders stood up for the health and well-being of kids in our community, ensuring that Cleveland was the first school district in the nation to offer comprehensive, age-appropriate sexuality education to all its students .

Considering rising teenage pregnancy and STDs rates, this responsible sexual behavior program arrived at an essential time.  The curriculum is evidence-based and medically accurate, meaning that students get the right education at the right time, helping them to make smart choices about their personal health.  And while the program is only a few years in, it appears to be making a real difference.

Earlier this week, Mayor Jackson held a press conference to reaffirm the program’s importance.  With representatives from the County, CMSD and the AIDS Funding Collaborative at his side, the Mayor also shared the promising results from an evaluation conducted on the K-12 program by nationally recognized Philliber Research Associates.

The evaluation found that after participating in the program:

• Students in 1st through 3rd grades learned about respecting others and about good touch/bad touch, and what to do if someone tries to touch them inappropriately
• Students were more likely to behave responsibly, stating they would not allow themselves to be coerced into sex
• High school students had significantly better attitudes about protecting themselves and their partners if and when they choose to engage in sexual activity
• Parents and teachers overwhelmingly believed these lessons are important for their children and students.

The Cleveland Foundation, in partnership with the County, City, Gund Foundation and the AIDS Funding Collaborative, is a proud funder of this program, and we are thrilled with its early success. 

Yet as the Mayor noted at this week’s press conference, “We know we are making progress and that we still have a long way to go.”  We couldn’t agree more.  Kudos to the district and our civic leadership for jumpstarting this vital initiative.  We look forward to its continued success. Our children’s well-being depends on it.

For more information on the Responsible Sexual Behavior program and its evaluation, read the full evaluation report and accompanying briefs.

A new year brings hope, the opportunity to start again, the chance to start fresh. 

 But 2009 inherited some rather large baggage from the old year: uncertain economic times, budget cuts, and apprehension that have tempered these beliefs.  Still, it is important to not just react to the fears but to find the balance and work together to ensure the well-being of this region and its residents.

For the community responsive team, this means staying steadfast in its commitment to the nonprofit community and our priorities. It also means asking and answering thoughtful questions, respectfully challenging the ways things have always been done, learning from and building on previous experiences and being open to change. 

It means looking across sectors for ideas and inspiration, sharing information, connecting people and ideas, and listening to elders while giving voice to the younger generations.

All of the members of community responsive team (Nelson Beckford, Kevin McDaniel, Jill Paulsen, and Paul Putman) will be participating in this blog.

It is one way for us to exchange thoughts, share passions and ideas, and pass on resources that have been helpful in our work or made us think differently.   All of us welcome your input as we begin this new year of great challenges but incredible potential together.