Webinar Series

Brooklyn Community Foundation Presents / Change Starts Here: A Webinar Series

The Spring 2021 Change Starts Here webinar series builds on the work of organizations and communities supported through Brooklyn Community Foundation’s Brooklyn COVID-19 Response Fund.

Change Starts Here: Brooklyn Insights 2020

In Fall 2020 we launched Phase 2 of our Brooklyn COVID-19 Response Fund, beginning with Brooklyn Insights 2020, an extensive community engagement process to inform an additional $3M in grants. Join Executive Director of viBe Theater Experience Toya Lillard, Brooklyn Elders Fund Advisory Council Member Samuel Manning, our Brooklyn Insights 2020 Community Engagement Consultant Renee K. Smith, and our VP of Programs and Partnerships Marcella Tillett as we share the findings of these community discussions, including community-led solutions to barriers of systemic inequity.

Change Starts Here: Immigration & Biden's First 100 Days

By the end of April 2020, the Biden administration will reach its 100 day milestone—a traditional benchmark in the path of a presidential administration. Join us for a conversation with Murad Awawdeh, Executive Director of New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), Abraham Paulos, Deputy Director at Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), and Mazin Sidahmed, Co-Executive Director at Documented as we discuss the most pressing issues facing immigrant communities right now—both on the local and national level—in the context of the new White House administration.

Change Starts Here: COVID-19 Healthcare Equity and Trust

As Brooklyn Community Foundation announces $250,000 in new grants from the Brooklyn COVID-19 Response Fund for vaccine outreach, education, and navigation in Brooklyn communities of color, Dr. Oni Blackstock, Founder and Executive Director at Health Justice, Dr. Torian Easterling, First Deputy Commissioner & Chief Equity Officer at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and local nonprofit leader Jairo Guzman of the Mexican Coalition discuss persistent inequities in both treatment and vaccination during the pandemic—and the steps that need to be taken now to repair harm, build trust, and ensure self-determination in care.

Change Starts Here: Fighting AAPI Hate

Local community-based organizations have been mobilizing to combat racism and violence against Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities as xenophobic attacks have risen in the past weeks and months. Join us for a conversation with WABC-TV New York Reporter CeFaan Kim, Chief of Staff at Chinese-American Planning Council Alice Wong, Executive Director of Asian American Federation Jo-Ann Yoo, and Executive Director of Homecrest Community Services Karen Zhou as they discuss what has been missing from the greater conversation and how communities can unite in solidarity to effectively disrupt and repair the harm caused by anti-AAPI discrimination and racism.

FALL 2020 WEBINAR SERIES

Brooklyn Community Foundation Presents / Spark Change for Justice: Critical Conversations for Community-led Change

The Fall 2020 Spark Change for Justice: Critical Conversations for Community-Led Change webinar series focused on racial justice, how the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated oppressive systems that harm communities of color, and critical work that has been happening right here in Brooklyn by Foundation grantees.

Spark Change: Power, Not Politics

COVID-19 has laid bare the deep racial injustice that has long existed in our city and nation. The disproportionate impacts of the pandemic on communities of color have made one thing clear: political representation matters more than ever in moments of crisis. Join us for a conversation with Brooklyn Congressman Hakeem Jeffries (NY-8) and CNN and MSNBC Political Commentator Aisha C. Mills on the 2020 election, Black political leadership, and how we can achieve long-term structural change.

Spark Change: Restorative Justice for Racially Just Schools

Join us for a discussion on how we can use the principles and practices of restorative justice to create racially just schools that care for, develop, and respect every student in the classroom despite the challenges of remote learning. The conversation will center lessons learned from the Brookly n Restorative Justice Project—a four-year initiative led by Brooklyn Community Foundation in partnership with the NYC Department of Education (NYC DOE), the Mayor’s Leadership Team on School Climate and Discipline, and a small cohort of Brooklyn middle and high schools, to develop a sustainable and effective model for school discipline reform and to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline.

This panel discussion includes Brooklyn Restorative Justice Project Evaluator Dr. Anne Gregory (Rutgers University), Kenyatte Reid (NYC DOE Executive Director, Office of Safety and Youth Development), Ashley Ellis (Co-Founder of Breathe Circles and former Restorative Justice Director at the School for Democracy and Leadership), and Anthony Soto (graduate of the School for Democracy and Leadership).

Spark Change: Solidarity, Not Charity

The relationship between philanthropy and social change is often charged, with inherently contradictory dynamics: wealthy, powerful institutions funding movements led by grassroots organizations. Recognizing this imbalance is not enough: philanthropic organizations must build their work around the ethos of solidarity, rather than charity.

Join us for this discussion with Abigail E. Disney, philanthropist and social activist, and Edgar Villanueva, author of Decolonizing Wealth.

Spark Change: #SayHerName

Join us for a discussion on the intersection of racial, social, and gender justice, centering the experience of Black cisgender and transgender women, girls, and gender expansive youth. Guest speakers Dr. Monique W. Morris, award-winning author and social justice scholar, and Joanne N. Smith, founding President and CEO of Foundation grantee Girls for Gender Equity (GGE), will discuss the impacts of misogynoir on the ongoing fight to achieve gender justice, equity, and liberation for Black women.

The #SayHerName campaign, launched by the African American Policy Forum (AAPF) and Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies (CISPS), brings awareness to the often invisible names and stories of Black women and girls who have been victimized by racist police violence, and provides support to their families.