Member Education & Resources

Exciting New Learning Resource and a Friendly Invitation

Your Racial Equity Committee is excited to begin our second year working together and we welcome Girlfriends interested in this work to join us as we continue our journey of embedding racial equity in all that we do. We meet virtually on the first Monday of the month for 60-90 minutes. If you are interested in learning more, please contact Barbara Hilyer.

We are pleased to share a compilation of Racial Equity Resources that we have curated for you on our website under the Education tab and linked here. We hope you find this material interesting and valuable. This offers great information at your fingertips, including the Reducing Racial Disparities Spotlight Report which is focused on our local community.

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Oregon Women's Investment Network Political Action Committee (WINPAC)

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We were asked recently by a board member of Oregon WINPAC to share with you the work they are doing and we were happy to do so because it dovetails nicely with our learning question about the impact of systems change and advocacy on racial equity.

Let’s Learn More Together

Your Member Education Committee has been at work putting together the first two of a series of three members-only, in-person, small-group discussions to learn about the top three subjects you voted for through the last member survey.

We are currently offering Let’s Learn More about Having Difficult Conversations and Let’s Learn More about Gender. Meanwhile Let’s Learn More about Systemic Racism is in the planning stages.

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Intersectionality Works: Building Feminist Analysis for All

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From the PSU Center for Women’s Leadership

Wednesdays 10:00 am-12:00 pm Pacific Time from October 12 through November 9.

The many crises that Oregonians face today—soaring rents, unaffordable childcare, the rollback of rights—require bold leadership. Different leadership. We believe this moment calls for intersectional feminist leadership.

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What Is Trust-Based Philanthropy (TBP)?

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In preparation for the coming months of our grantmaking process, we encourage you to learn more about how ninety-nine girlfriends’ grantmaking is grounded in trust.

The giving circle model is built on large amounts of trust: trust between members, trust between grantees, trust in collective giving.

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Activities Are Ramping Up!

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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).

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Register for Discovery Forum 2022 by Sunday, June 5th

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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.

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Pronoun Project Begins

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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.

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2022: HOW CAN SYSTEMS CHANGE AND ADVOCACY ADVANCE RACIAL EQUITY?

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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.

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Learn More About Black History

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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.

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ninety-nine girlfriends Plans In-person Events for 2022

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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!

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Let’s Be Human Together - While We Wait to Be Able to Gather Together

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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.

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Join Our Member Education Committee and Plan for a Year of Learning Together

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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.

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TBP + Grantee Partner Convening Inspires!

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Sunday's event was a success! A panel of Grants Steering Committee members shared how we are evolving to include more and more tenets of trust-based philanthropy (tbp) and grantee partners discussed their experiences with this more equitable form of funding in three facilitated breakout rooms.

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Embedding Racial Equity in All That We Do: The Racial Equity Committee

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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.

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Co-Chair the Member Education Committee - FULFILLED

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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.

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Join Our TBP + Grantee Partner Convening

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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.

Register