Watch your email inbox because we’re getting to a really exciting and educational part of our year. In October, your Member Education Committee will offer several small-group discussion opportunities to learn about gender, systemic racism, and how to have an inclusive conversation.
Next we we move on to Meet the Finalists (a signature event where you learn about this year’s finalists for Impact Awards), voting for Impact Awards, and our signature Awards Celebration. It’ll be a few months of wonderfully engaging activities and opportunities to learn and connect before our winter break (January-February).
Join us for this year’s Discovery Forum, the kickoff of our Member Education programming for 2022!
Each year, ninety-nine girlfriends offers interactive educational programs informed by our annual learning question. This year's question is “How can systems change and advocacy advance racial equity?"
Discovery Forum 2022 features a panel of speakers from local nonprofits sharing their experiences with systems change and advocacy, and the impact those have had on the important issues they are working to address. We will also have an interactive table discussion among members to learn more about systems change and each other.
At our recent event, we began a project we are calling the Pronoun Project. Through this we are asking our members to add their pronouns to their name tags so other Girlfriends know by which pronouns they would like to be referred. This is part of our ongoing effort to be inclusive and to help every single Girlfriend feel a sense of belonging in our community. Read more about the importance of pronouns here and look for the labels at your next in-person event so you can update your name tag too. Your Member Education Committee will be presenting a program on understanding gender that we hope will be of interest to you. Watch for more about that in the fall.
This year, we will take what we learned through our previous learning questions to explore the impact systems change and advocacy can play in advancing racial equity. We will begin the year with Coty Raven Morris presenting Being Human Together in our first quarter. Then, in our second quarter, our Discovery Forum will feature nonprofit representatives from each of our five focus areas, who will share their experiences with systems change and advocacy. We will move on to some small-group collective learning in our third quarter with topics to be announced after member feedback is received through our annual survey.
The African American Ladies of Lake Oswego. and Surrounding Areas, Respond to Racism, L.O. for Love and the Lake Oswego Library team have put together an outstanding program for Black History Month. The activities are available at www.lopl.org/bhm. Download the Black History Passport and find all the new books and activities for every age group and storytime for children. This year they made an extra effort to highlight Black inventors and scientists, using the website founded by Quintard Taylor of Seattle WA: https://www.blackpast.org/?s=Black+inventors
To view the list of Black-owned businesses, go to www.respondtoracism.org. At the bottom of the passport, you will be able to make your suggestions to add for next year. Feel free to share these resources with friends, family, schools and your local libraries.
With fingers and toes crossed, we are hopeful that things will continue to improve in the pandemic and we may be able to offer some in-person events in 2022! Stay tuned to your Member Updates for more info as things develop, and let us know if YOU are interested in joining the Events Team to help us create opportunities for our members to gather in person - in case you forgot, that is part of the magic of ninety-nine girlfriends!
Registration is now open for our first event of the year! Being Human Together with Coty Raven Morris is a collaborative project of your Racial Equity, Membership, and Member Education committees. Coty (who we met at our 2021 Awards Celebration) will help us embark on a conversation about identity and how we can find points of connection that draw us together rather than split us apart.
Work together to build the content for our signature learning events based on our annual learning question. Help organize and implement the programs and engage members in sharing their expertise for the benefit of our collective. Sound like something you’d like to help with? Contact Jayni Kosoff, our Member Education Co-chair, for more details.
We are thrilled to share that, as the result of the work of our ad hoc Racial Equity Team and our work with Stephanie Montgomery, we are sunsetting our Inclusion Team and building our Racial Equity Committee! The committee will help us embed racial equity in all that we do by being integrated with our Coordinating Council and collaborating with all of the other committees to systemically embed practices that encourage equity and inclusion. We are looking for up to five members to help with this impactful work. If you are interested, please read these volunteer expectations and contact Tammy Wilhoite to learn more.
We are seeking a member, ideally with a background or experience in philanthropy, nonprofits and/or adult education, to take an active role in designing and producing educational programs for members for 2022 and 2023 as Co-Chair of the Member Education Committee. The member holding this position also sits on the Coordinating Council.
Contact Member Committee Co-Chair Jayni Kosoff with questions or to express interest in volunteering for this role.
On September 19, come learn more about how we are applying trust-based philanthropy (TBP) in our grant making and about our grantee partners and their work. This is a great opportunity to learn more about things to consider when voting and to hear directly from our current grantee partners about the impact of trust-based philanthropy and our awards.
Our 2021 Discovery Forum provided considerable food for thought, as ninety-nine girlfriends continues our journey to embed racial equity in all that we do. We heard from three philanthropic leaders about three very different approaches that their foundations or giving circles have taken to change grantmaking, investing, and organizational structure and culture. Read on for a summary the video recording.
Join your fellow girlfriends on May 26, 5-6:30 pm for an evening of learning with Stephanie Montgomery, J.D., our Racial Equity and Inclusion Consultant. Register here to attend the Deconstructing Racism event.
For those who wish to serve as facilitators of small group follow-up discussions, Stephanie will offer a training session on May 22, 2-4 pm. Register here for the Facilitating with an Equity Lens training.
Each year ninety-nine girlfriends hosts interactive education programs about a learning question. This year our question is “How Do We Embed Racial Equity in All That We Do?
Check out the speaker line-up for our Discovery Forum event on June 10, featuring other philanthropic organizations sharing the lessons they’ve learned in their own efforts to adapt and adopt ways of working to fulfill their racial equity goals.
In 2020 ninety-nine girlfriends and other collective giving circles participated in a program to explore how our organizations can embed racial equity in our activities, as an extension of our active commitment to diversity within our network. The program invited us to examine ways that our giving circles shape (1) values and shared beliefs, (2) leadership and governance, (3) internal and external language and visuals, (4) membership, (5) meeting style and structure, and (6) partnership processes with grantees and to make changes to become more inclusive.
Our Safe Homes for All Spotlight Study Report focused on a number of specific challenges in trying to reduce houselessness, support people who are living on the streets, and create policy and funding to stem the crisis. What’s happening now in our community based on the passing of the recent bond measures? How might racial equity priorities alter the solutions enacted or proposed? What more can we do to continue making progress?
Event Dates: Tuesdays 6-7:30 pm May 11, May 18 and May 25, 2021
Discussion Guide: Click to Download
Circle Facilitators: Susan Rinker and Leslie Westphal