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Walking on Eggshells—Teachers' Responses to Classroom Limitations on Race- or Gender-Related Topics: Findings from the 2022 American Instructional Resources

January 25, 2023

In this report, drawing on the spring 2022 American Instructional Resources Survey, the authors examine teachers' awareness of and responses to limitations on how they can address race- or gender-related topics in their instruction. Teachers experienced limitations that infringed on their instructional autonomy, which included their choice of curriculum materials and topics for classroom discussion. These limitations originated from a variety of sources, including state, school, and district leaders and family and community members, and encompassed a wide span of topics, including, but not limited to race- or gender-related topics. The multifaceted nature of these limitations highlights how teachers exist in an increasingly complex policy environment in which they must consider and weigh not only their own perspectives but also the perspectives of multiple stakeholders, along with numerous messages and directives from a variety of sources about what and how to teach. In this complex environment, the authors found that teachers' responses to restrictions on their classroom instruction ranged broadly from compliance with to resistance against these restrictions; teachers also engaged in numerous strategies to navigate the existence of these restrictions. Moreover, limitations placed on how teachers can address contentious topics may be leading to consequences for teachers' working conditions and for student learning. Teachers perceived that teaching students under these limitations has become more difficult and that these limitations make it more difficult to engage students in learning, support students' critical thinking skills, and develop students' ability to engage in perspective taking and empathy building.

Racial Equity – Informed Philanthropy: A Funder Resource from A Jewish Perspective

November 23, 2022

In 2022, Slingshot partnered with the Jews of Color Initiative to create "Racial Equity Informed Philanthropy: A Funder Resource from A Jewish Perspective". Our hope is for this resource to spark critical conversations and transformative change at the intersection of philanthropy, racial equity, and Jewish values. As we strive to advance the field of Jewish philanthropy as a whole, this new resource can begin to equip funders with the tools they need to integrate a racial equity-based analysis into their philanthropic practice.

Foundations Respond to Crisis: Lasting Change?

November 29, 2021

Philanthropic and nonprofit leaders have called for changes in foundation practice for decades, asking funders to, for example, provide more flexible and unrestricted funding; streamline and simplify processes; listen to, trust, and support their grantees; and pursue racial equity and racial justice.But there had been little evidence of change until the spring of 2020, when many foundations shifted their practices as the scale of the COVID-19 crisis became clear. In a series of three reports released late last year by CEP, we found that foundations made many changes to their practices, such as providing more unrestricted support and streamlining processes. In addition, many foundations reported providing new support to lower-income, Black, or Latino communities, and to organizations created and led by people from the communities most affected by systemic inequities.Since then, CEP has collected new survey and interview data from foundation and nonprofit leaders to examine whether these changes continued into 2021 and whether they will continue in the future.

A New Paradigm for Justice and Democracy: Moving beyond the Twin Failures of Neoliberalism and Racial Liberalism

November 3, 2021

Our democracy is in crisis—from weaponized partisanship to an economy that has not produced shared equality for decades. Much of how we got here is due to the twin failures of neoliberalism and racial liberalism, which upheld a racial capitalism that subjugated people of color with racist rules while exacerbating existing inequalities. Together, these old paradigms have excluded and divided. They have limited our politics and institutions, and they have hindered the policies and narratives that could advance racial equity and justice. But a new worldview is possible.In this report, Kyle Strickland and Felicia Wong argue that to fulfill the promise of a 21st century multiracial democracy and economy that work for everyone, we need a new paradigm for racial justice.The report contends that this new paradigm must be rooted in the values of today's racial justice movement: repair and redress; material equity; and freedom and liberation. Moreover, it must center the role of race in our economic policy debates and in our broader politics.

Advancing Racial Equity in Emergency Rental Assistance Programs

March 1, 2021

The NYU Furman Center, together with the Housing Initiative at Penn and the National Low Income Housing Coalition, recently co-authored a report describing these "first-generation" COVID rental assistance programs, based on a survey of 220 programs across the country. This brief draws upon the analysis from that survey, along with additional document review and interviews with selected program administrators. Based on these sources, the brief highlights several lessons about strategies states and localities can use to design and implement more equitable emergency rental assistance programs.

Foundations Respond to Crisis: Toward Equity?

December 9, 2020

The disproportionate public health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on certain communities, along with nationwide protests against police violence and racial injustice, have intensified the calls for foundations to focus on equity and reckon with anti-Black racism in a deeper way than they had before. To what extent have staffed foundations changed their practices in 2020 in response to this push for substantial shifts in how philanthropy approaches its work?CEP surveyed and interviewed foundation leaders to find out. Foundations Respond to Crisis: Toward Equity? reveals that almost all foundations participating in CEP's study report placing new, or more, focus on supporting Black, Latino, and lower-income communities; and most foundation leaders say they are reckoning with racism and paying greater attention to racial equity in their work. However, there remains still significant room for further progress, and it remains to be seen how deep and sustained this new focus will be.

Foundations Respond to Crisis: Toward Greater Flexibility and Responsiveness?

December 1, 2020

Nonprofits and funders alike have long called on foundations to be more flexible and responsive, to provide more unrestricted funding, to reduce what they ask of grantees, and to build more trusting relationships. In 2020, these calls for change only intensified in a time of immense challenge for nonprofits and the people and communities they serve.Have foundations responded to these calls with newfound urgency? And if so, is that response merely a momentary adjustment? Or will the crises of 2020 spur substantive, long-term change in how funders approach their work?CEP surveyed and interviewed foundation leaders to find out. Foundations Respond to Crisis: Toward Greater Flexibility and Responsiveness? reveals that foundations say they are loosening grant restrictions, providing more unrestricted funding, and reducing what they ask of grantees. Many plan to continue these practices in the future, though to a lesser degree than during their pandemic response.Findings in this report are based on survey data gathered from 236 foundations — 170 of which signed the pledge hosted by the Council on Foundations to act urgently in response to COVID-19, and 66 of which had not — as well as in-depth interviews with leaders of 41 foundations that signed the pledge. All data was collected between June and August 2020.This study is the final in a series of three reports from CEP examining the extent to which staffed foundations have changed their practices in response to calls for change to meet the unprecedented challenges of 2020.

Signs Along the Way: A Funder Collaborative Assesses Its Influence

June 16, 2020

When the Funder Collaborative committed to documenting its processes and productsover the course of its multi-year investment, it was taking a stand on behalf of building the field of teen engagement through shared learning. It was also taking a risk. Would the field be built upon shared successes along with shared failures? Would it honor the hard work of all its grantee partners? Would transparency prompt commitment to this work beyond the 10 communities or would it prove too daunting to undertake? This risk taking ethos and a commitment to sharing its learning has remained a constant, and this case study is a tangible result. Since 2015, there have been two case studies documenting this work (Informing Change, 2015; Rosov Consulting, 2017). The trajectory of these cases loosely follows the phases of a Funder Collaborative—Discovery, Action, Impact—as described in Harnessing Collaborative Technologies: Helping Funders Work Together Better, issued by the Monitor Institute and the Foundation Center in 2013 (see top of page 6 for a graphic depiction).This case study is being prepared for publication as much of the world is still grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic. The story we tell here captures a time before each of the communities pivoted to ensure that their work on behalf of teens can continue to be meaningful even as the usual tools for connection are having to be reimagined. The Funder Collaborative communities are finding that their relationship-building work on the ground to date has been critical.

MIRRORS FOR LATINX STUDENTS: Attracting and Retaining Latinx Teachers in Massachusetts

January 30, 2020

From national test scores to graduation rates, we have reason to be proud of the progress we have made over the past decade.1 During that same time, it has become clear that Latinos have played, and will continue to play, a larger role in the Commonwealth's future. Latinos are expected to comprise 15 percent of the population of Massachusetts by 2035 – growth fueled primarily by in-state births rather than immigration.2 It is critical, then, that Massachusetts' workforce, at every level, reflect our population. This work begins now, in the classroom. Investing in a strong education system that meets the needs of Latinos and other students of color, as well as students from low-income backgrounds, is an investment in the workforce of the future.

CEO Succession: Case Study of Excellence from the Jewish Nonprofit Sector

October 16, 2019

AJWS' board pulled off a successful transition involving a long-serving executive, Ruth Messinger, and her faithful deputy, Robert Bank. It was a high stakes, high emotion realignment requiring each stakeholder to take deliberate, courageous steps to help move the process along.

CEO Succession: Case Study of Excellence from the Jewish Nonprofit Sector - Bend the Arc

October 16, 2019

As the long-tenured executive vice president at Bend the Arc, Stosh Cotler was told by the board that it wished to consider her for the role of CEO, a position that had recently opened up. The only problem was that Cotler didn't see herself as CEO material.

CEO Succession: Case Study of Excellence from the Jewish Nonprofit Sector - Tufts Hillel

October 16, 2019

How do you fill the shoes of a beloved executive director whose shoes seem too big to fill? In 2017, TUFTS Hillel faced this challenge with its 1st CEO transition in a generation. As the process evolved, one thing became clear to the board: its new CEO needed the same gravitas and stature.