Civic Engagement
One Nation partners with community foundations in cities across America to create locally focused civic engagement programs that connect Americans of all backgrounds to build and strengthen their communities together.
America has a proud and storied tradition of concerned individuals organizing and rising to meet challenges of common concern. The collaborative process of Americans coming together around shared values to pursue common goals creates opportunities for learning and bridge-building.
One Nation believes that when American Muslims join their neighbors and members of their broader society to invest in the collective success of all (through better schools, job creation, accessible healthcare, healthier environments), prejudicial attitudes fuelled by misperceptions dissipate while trust and goodwill grow.
Two Strategic Aims
1. Leveraging established national organizations to build upon their work and reach to increase service learning through civic engagement
MODEL | “Under One Roof” Interfaith Home Building
One Nation is working with Habitat for Humanity to leverage the organization’s convening platform of building homes for low-income families and extensive volunteer networks. This model seeks to 1) Expand interfaith cooperation and service learning through home building, 2) Construct environmentally sustainable homes and 3) Build homes in clusters to create neighborhoods inhabited by diverse families that work collaboratively for the common good.
2. Local collaboration through civic engagement to increase respect, cooperation and understanding among diverse communities using Community Foundations
Community Foundation Models
One Nation’s $3.5 Million Challenge
CHICAGO, IL: One Chicago, One Nation (Pilot Model)
Lead Institutions: The Chicago Community Trust, Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN), Link TV
Point of Contact: Bob Eichinger, Director of Donor Services, The Chicago Community Trust, bobe@cct.org
Fundraising: $200,000 grant from The Chicago Community Trust
Program’s Goal: To bring together Chicagoans of diverse faiths and cultures, with an emphasis on Muslim participation, to get to know each other through addressing local needs.
Programs: Film Contest & Community Ambassadors
In late 2009, the One Chicago, One Nation film contest was launched, which received over 150 submissions of 5-minutes or less films about how Chicago’s diversity was being positively leveraged to strengthen Chicago as a whole. While that contest was occurring, community organizations trained low-income residents and provided them with tools to create films that met the contest’s criteria.
After the film contest, 100 Community Ambassadors were selected to be representatives of their respective communities. They were trained to build bridges between local communities throughout Chicago. To connect communities, Community Ambassadors organized Community Conversations that brought local residents together to identify shared challenges and potential solutions, which were supported by Community Solution Grants.
In 2010, the film contest was not repeated, but IFYC and IMAN each recruited 30 Community Ambassadors to lead service projects that addressed community issues each organization focused on.
NEW YORK, NY: One NYC, One Nation
Lead Institutions: The New York Community Trust & NYC Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (Public-Private Partnership)
POC: Joyce Bove, Senior Vice President for Grants and Special Projects, The New York Community Trust, pas@nyct-‐cfi.org
Fundraising: $500,000
Funding Partners: The New York Community Trust, American Express, Con Edison, Open Society Foundations, Revson Foundation and Citibank
Program’s Goal: Provide financial and logistical support for programs and activities that encourage New Yorkers to interact with each other, learn from each other, and work together at the neighborhood level to make their community more than the sum of its parts. To be eligible for funding from the One NYC One Nation Fund, proposals must:
- Help immigrant communities integrate more thoroughly into the city’s civic, economic, social & cultural life;
- Help low and moderate income immigrant families build assets and make the most of their financial resources through training and education;
- Build bridges of communication, understanding and respect among all New Yorkers;
- Strengthen bonds between diverse communities;
- Provide immigrant community leaders with the skills and tools to confidently connect with and integrate into the City’s civic life.
Programs Funded:
- Coro New York Leadership Center – To support a six-month training program for 15 young leaders from immigrant communities throughout New York City in community organizing, community bridge-building and social entrepreneurship.
- Prepare New York for the 10th Anniversary of 9/11 – To support a coalition of New York City’ six largest interfaith institutions hold service and educational programs across the City to prepare New Yorkers for the difficult conversations and emotions associated with the anniversary, and mitigate potential polarization of communities leading up to, during and after the anniversary.
- Citizens Committee for New York City – To support Neighborhood Leadership Institutes in all five City boroughs that train immigrant leaders in political engagement, civic participation and community bridge-building at the neighborhood level.
- StoryCorps – To support the recording of 46 immigrant stories during NYC’s Immigrant Heritage Week.
- New York Immigration Coalition – To support the New York Immigration Coalition’s Consular ID program, which provides government-recognized ID cards to immigrants, through their respective consulates, in order for them to access city services and enter city institutions, including public schools.
- Boy Scouts of America – To support outreach to American Muslim communities and encourage greater American Muslim participation in Boy Scouts programs.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA BAY AREA: One Nation — Bay Area
Lead Institutions: Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF), San Francisco Foundation (SFF), Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP), Marin Community Foundation (MCF)
Point of Contact: Manuel Santamaria, Director of Grantmaking, Silicon Valley Community Foundation mjsantamaria@siliconvalleycf.org; Tessa Rouverol Callejo, FAITHS Program & Civic Engagement Officer, trc@sff.org
Fundraising: $500,000
Program Proposal: This Program builds on the Bay area Foundations’ past investments and seeks to change misperceptions and reduce prejudicial attitudes towards American Muslims by bringing together diverse Bay Area residents to develop and implement community solutions that address issues of common concern. The One Nation – Bay Area program complements the community foundation’s Bridging the Cultural Gap grantmaking sub-strategy, which has been working to put a human face on complex immigration and cultural issues through video, art, technology and other media. One Nation’s proposed partnership would be an opportunity to scale our Immigrant Integration grantmaking portfolio and partner strategically with Muslim serving organizations as both our efforts rely on digital storytelling, dialogue circles and leadership development for long-term change and community decision-making. Similarly, the One Nation-Bay Area program complements the work of The San Francisco Foundation’s FAITHS Program and Immigrant Integration Fund portfolio, AAPIP’s Civic Engagement Fund and MCF’s Arts, Social Justice and Interfaith Understanding portfolio.
This program will also provide Bay area Community Foundations and partners opportunities to: a) deepen their collective understanding of the American Muslim communities and b) identify key opportunities to bridge the social capital between Muslims and non-Muslims; while helping sustain investments in these communities.
Program Goals:
- Create welcoming, safe spaces that build trust and strengthen relationships among American Muslims, non-Muslim partners, and their neighbors while creating opportunities for them to partner with each other on common community concerns.
- Generate and use quantitative and qualitative data about American Muslims in the Bay Area to drive sustainable action by philanthropy, public agencies, and the private sector.
- Increase the civic participation of American Muslims by supporting inclusive, accessible and culturally informed collaborative processes.
ST. PAUL, MN: One Minnesota Challenge — Saint Paul, MN
Lead Institutions: St. Paul Foundation & Minnesota Community Foundation
Point of Contact: Kari Ruth, Interactive Media Strategist, Kari L. Ruth - Kari.Ruth@mnpartners.org
Fundraising: $500,000
Program Proposal: The One Nation Challenge presents an exciting opportunity to leverage three strong programs of our two partner Foundations – Minnesota Community Foundation and The Saint Paul Foundation – for a proposed “One Minnesota
Challenge” Our Facing Race program, the Facing Race We’re All in This Together® anti-racism initiative, and Multicultural Endowment bring experience addressing racism and disparities, and promoting social justice and cross-cultural understanding in Minnesota. The Minnesota Idea Open aims to stimulate conversation and action around pressing issues in the state. Integrated under the banner of the Idea Open, we believe that this powerful combination of our programs will allow us to engage everyday Minnesotans in providing innovative ideas to build connections between cultures and faiths, with a special emphasis on building better understanding of the Muslim community in Minnesota.
The One Minnesota Challenge: This Challenge would take on the issue of building connections between cultures and faiths, with a special emphasis on building bridges with the Muslim community in Minnesota. By leveraging the Idea Open brand and its outstanding partnerships, we envision a Challenge with broad participation across Minnesota that builds long-lasting relationships in and between communities around this important topic: “How would you use $15,000 to help your community build connections between cultures and/or faiths?”
The Habitat for Humanity/Idea Open Interfaith Build will feature 8 homebuyer families representing diverse cultural and faith traditions. The majority of families buying these homes are from Ethiopia; many are Christian and some are Muslim. The project will run over several weeks and involve hundreds of individuals and key organizations from diverse faiths and cultures, engaging them in the spirit of the Idea Open Challenge.
SANTA BARBARA, CA: Westside Children’s Project
Lead Institutions: Santa Barbara Foundation & Just Communities
Point of Contact: Martha Harmon, Senior Vice President of Community Investments, Santa Barbara Foundation - mharmon@sbfoundation.org
Fundraising: $250,000
Program Proposal: A neighborhood engagement and development process that builds trust among the diverse people throughout the Westside of Santa Barbara; builds positive, respectful and caring relations among these neighbors, business owners, educators, nonprofits, and other community stakeholders; helps these stakeholders identify their community’s needs, assets and opportunities for development; helps neighbors identify common values, develops a shared vision of what their neighborhood could be, and create concrete action plans to make their vision a reality; develops a core group of neighborhood leaders capable of sustaining neighborhood efforts over time.
LOS ANGELES, CA: One LA, One Nation
Lead Institution: California Community Foundation
Point of Contact: Maria Blanco, Vice President of Civic Engagement, mblanco@calfund.org
Fundraising: $500,000
Program Proposal: The aim of this collaboration is to support greater and long-term Muslim American participation in civic engagement across Los Angeles County.
Phase I will begin by establishing relationships and collaboration with the Muslim American community to broaden understanding of issues faced by them.
Phase 2 will help build the capacity of the local Muslim American community via a series of technical support workshops and trainings in various topics such as board development, staff training, budgeting, access to technology; developing internal strategies for effective programs and services; and increased capacity of organizations to seek funding. This will incorporate and connect the Muslim American community into the Foundation’s existing civic engagement and philanthropic efforts.
Phase 3 will involve funding education outreach, advocacy and policy projects for the local American Muslim Community.
TACOMA, WA - “ONE NATION - BE THE SPARK”
Lead Institution: The Greater Tacoma Community Foundation
Point of Contact: Sherrana Kildun, Director of Community Programs - sherrana@gtcf.org
Fundraising: $115,000
Program Proposal:
- The One Nation initiative will be incorporated into their “Be the Spark” initiative and will focus on grass-root/young adult communities. GTCF already has several facilitators trained and plan to organize “Train the Trainer” sessions
- GTCF will email us documents to establish the One Nation Fund
- GTCF Board has agreed to deposit $50,000 into the One Nation Fund in February – this amount will be matched by One Nation
- There will be an additional $50,000 deposited into this account in July – this amount will be matched by One Nation
- GTCG’s total contribution in 2012 toward this initiative will be $115,000
- ON and GTCF will jointly develop mini grant application criteria
- Mini grants to encourage “be the spark” activities - “bridge-building” programs across ethnic, religious and cultural divides
- A grants review committee will make decisions (possibly the Youth Grant Advisory Board of GTCF)
ATLANTA, GA - One Atlanta, One Nation
Lead Institution: The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta
Point of Contact: Lesley Grady, Senior Vice President - LGrady@cfgreateratlanta.org
Fundraising: $400,000 (estimated)
Program is in planning stages.
BALTIMORE, MD and WASHINGTON, DC- One Nation
Lead Institution: The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region
Point of Contact: Angela Jones-Hackley, Vice President, Community Investment - ajoneshackley@cfncr.org
Fundraising: $400,000 (estimated)
Program is in planning stages.
