Is Convening More Than a Buzz Word? How Funders and Nonprofits Attack Workforce Disparities

Source: Giving Forum Summer 2011 07/19/2011

As grantmakers seek avenues to achieve greater impact, the role of “convener” has become prevalent. Undoubtedly, convenings generate initial energy boosts for an issue, but is this sustained? Can convenings launch change?

Consider the ripple effects of a convening titled Uneven Pain: More than 200 Minnesota funders and nonprofits walked into a meeting room last summer connected by a common interest in supporting workforce development programs. They left a few hours later determined to achieve the massive systems change needed to not just get more people into jobs, but to close the shocking gap between the unemployment rates of whites and blacks.

HIRE Minnesota, a coalition of diverse organizations working to life people out of poverty and reduce racial disparities rallies for public investments in infrastructure and renewable energy to translate to the hiring of women and people of color.

“Everyone at the convening was sobered that research had proven an insidious discriminatory barrier to employment for African Americans in the Twin Cities. We realized that this is not just about funding the best training programs,” recalls Joel Luedtke, senior program officer with The Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation of Minnesota. “There’s a huge cultural shift that we need to try to affect. This has galvanized us as a group and given our workforce development efforts a sense of focus and purpose.”

Uneven Pain, the launching point for the fortified efforts that Luedtke references, was a joint convening of grantmakers and nonprofits in September 2010 coordinated by the Minnesota Council on Foundations (MCF) and the Alliance for Metropolitan Stability. It was sponsored by Greater Twin Cities United Way (United Way), The McKnight Foundation, The Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation of Minnesota and Wells Fargo Foundation.

Highlighting the program was a presentation by Dr. Algernon Austin, author of Uneven Pain: Unemployment by Metropolitan Area and Race, published in June 2010 by the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank. The report cites Minneapolis-St. Paul for having the highest unemployment disparity between whites and blacks in the country, even when educational profiles are the same.

“The convening was powerful. Even though most participants had heard hints of the bad news, it was devastating to learn the realities of the disparities from the report’s author,” notes Stephanie Jacobs, MCF’s director of member services. “It was important for nonprofits to hear from grantmakers that it is no longer acceptable for these disparities to continue. And grantmakers heard perspectives from nonprofits on the ground.” This, she says, reinforced that significant issues such as workforce disparities can’t be solved in isolation with funders only talking to funders and nonprofits with nonprofits.

The Tangible Outcomes of Uneven Pain

The momentum after the Uneven Pain convening has not subsided, Luedtke says.

The multi-sector commitment to tackle disparities led MCF’s Workforce Funders Group of grantmakers to have follow-up meetings with the Alliance for Metro Stability, Jobs NOW and the Organizing Apprenticeship Project, some of the nonprofits that attended Uneven Pain. “Nonprofits are living the disparities every day. Having them at the table as we look to impact the issue prevents us funders from going back to our comfortable places and only occasionally reflecting on this. The nonprofits we’re involved with expect follow up, and we’re accountable for delivering,” Luedtke underscores.

Specifically at the Phillips Foundation, Luedtke says Dr. Austin’s work, combined with other economic disparities research, commanded the foundation’s attention as it crafted 2011 funding priorities. “It reinforced our intention to support advocacy and community organizing along with direct services, and it influenced some of our strategy and grantee choices. We’re watching carefully to see if our new employment grants yield racially equitable outcomes.”

Within a few weeks of the Uneven Pain convening, United Way began participating in Ramsey County’s Blue Ribbon Commission, looking at government practices that could help decrease disparities, such as job training and education assistance. This is similar to the work of the City of Minneapolis’ Equity for Employment, which United Way has participated in for three years.

Beginning in June 2011, United Way changed the demographic information it collects for job training grants. “We used to collect data on all participants served through our programs,” explains Brian Paulson, United Way program manager. “But now we’re focusing on the demographics of people placed in employment, realizing that certain populations have greater challenges in accessing employment even after participating in job training programs.”

The Uneven Pain convening also drove home the revelation that funders and nonprofits can’t go about their work the same way and expect different results in addressing disparities. “This is an opportunity for innovation,” says Shawn Lewis, advisory board member with the Pan African Community Endowment, a fund of The Saint Paul Foundation. “Part of that innovation means having different players at the table.” In particular, Lewis thinks insight from individuals directly experiencing the disparities – African Americans with high school, college and advanced degrees who have strong resumes and work histories but have been unable to find jobs – will help funders and nonprofits dig deeper.

Lewis sees an opportunity for the Pan African Endowment to garner these personal perspectives. “I’d like the endowment’s board to consider expanding our disparities work by getting more and different voices into the conversation and search for solutions.” This would be a valuable next step to augment the endowment’s ongoing work of engaging local and state officials, funders and nonprofits in conversations about addressing the high unemployment rate of black men in the Twin Cities, an issue the endowment has been concerned with for years.

Uneven Pain continues to serve as the impetus for stronger work. “This convening impressed upon me that a problem this huge and intractable needs a collaborative response,” Luedtke reflects. “This was an effective way to gather people in to that collaboration and to re-energize those who are already working together. I’m looking forward to future convenings to further focus and align the range of work now underway to combat racial employment disparities.” GF