Valuing community labor
Ella Baker walking with leaders from the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
I was inspired to create Black Ideas Collaborative after reflecting on my experience addressing issues that impacted my community.
As a preschool teacher earning $36,000 a year working at an expensive and mostly White nature-inspired preschool, I spent hundreds of dollars each month to host a weekend playgroup for Black families at a park in my historically Black and working class neighborhood. That playgroup grew into a nonprofit program that advocated for support and funding for home-based childcare providers serving low-income families as well as resources for the families they served.
As I walked around my community speaking to childcare providers and caregivers, I was so inspired to see others in my community were using the little resources and time they had to better our community. While the nonprofits with name recognition and big budgets were nowhere to be found as I walked the block, I did see grandmothers, aunties and brothers volunteering to mentor, coach, provide meals and childcare for their neighbors. They were creating mentorship programs and violence prevention programs but many of these grassroots leaders struggled to get funding for their work and their personal finances also took a big hit.
For me, it was incredibly hard to get my first grant. Funders continued to ask about my previous funding and last year’s budget even when I explained that I was trying to serve a sector of the childcare community currently not being served.
I was lucky enough to get my first grant because another nonprofit CEO became my mentor and when I asked him for a fiscal sponsorship, he suggested that I start the program as a part of his organization instead. This was incredibly helpful because I could point to that existing organization as I was seeking my first grant.
However, as I was getting funding, I could see grassroots Black leaders in my community not getting that same funding. Even worse, I could clearly see how some funders were willing to “invite me to the table” because I had two degrees from prestigious universities. I found this disturbing and unfair rather than flattering.
I believe Black Ideas Collaborative is an opportunity for the social sector to take advantage of a huge missed opportunity. There are phenomenal changemakers doing powerful work in Black communities around the world! We have the solutions to the challenges our communities face. We know what we need to do. But we have to invest in each other and care for each other - so that we can do what needs to be done. Our GBI pilot is an opportunity to learn and practice, to design a system that allows us to invest in everyday agents of change.
One of our advisors and mentors, Jessica Gordon Nembhard speaks beautifully to the existing community labor that goes undervalued. Her ideas have also been inspired by the work of Nina Banks. Check out the articles below to explore their work further.
Read the full article with Jessica Gordon Nembhard here: https://nonprofitquarterly.org/our-human-energy-redefining-and-reclaiming-our-labor/
Start digging deeper into Nina Banks work here: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/05/business/black-women-economists-nina-banks.html?auth=login-google1tap&login=google1tap
our first fellow yaw asare is already shining at howard
Siblings: Yaw Asare - the Black Ideas Collaborative’s (BIC) inaugural Diaspora Bridge Fund (DBF) fellow - is here! He arrived at Howard University on August 5th and has been making himself known in this new place ever since. Read on for his early reflections on the US and the ways that he is already making his mark:
Reflections from Yaw:
“Yes, I am in Babylon.”
"Greetings all. I pray we are doing well. I am also doing well in Washington D.C still feeling the warm radiation from community. I present to you here some initial reflections from a journal I have been keeping during my time here. This journal is accompanied by some visuals. You can follow the visual journey on instagram: @troddingthrubabylon.”
Recognizing how quickly the most incongruous aspects of the US can become normalized, Yaw is already making a practice of journaling his experiences. A sampling:
“Yes, I am in babylon. A wanderer. A lone one but not really alone. I sit at Sankɔfa Cafe now typing this. The journey here was quite long. But I knocked myself off on the plane with two sleeping pills. I was tired. I was stressed and in need of much rest. I knew if I didn't allow for rest, I would eventually break down. And babylon is not the place for a brother to break down...”
Follow Yaw’s instagram above for alerts about new posts.
Yaw served as a Panelist for Howard University’s Conference Hip-Hop 50: Past Present & Future
On August 11th, less than a week after landing in the US, Yaw had the opportunity to present at Howard University’s hip-hop conference as part of the panel, Black Communities & Black Consciousness. His presentation spoke to hip-hop’s role as a vessel for of Black Consciousness by offering an analysis of two West African rappers whom he is in deep relationship with, Pure Akan and Elom20ce. Yaw offered his analysis via a powerful short film (20min) which you can view in full here.
Black Ideas Collaborative Ignitor, Ericka Ward shared these reflections after viewing: “Hip Hop As A Vessel for Black Consciousness exemplifies why it is so important to invest in each other, in the brilliance we carry as Black people. In our creativity, in our playful use of language, in our spiritual practices and artistic expressions, we carry radical thought, healing strategies and visions of liberation. Through his film, Yaw builds a bridge that connects the audience to the spiritual essence and transformative power being expressed through African voices.”
Twi Classes at DC’s Sankɔfa Cafe Powered by the Black Ideas Collaborative (okay basically Yaw is powering it:)
Starting in the Spring semester of 2024, Yaw has been invited to teach the first credit-bearing Twi language course ever to be offered at Howard University. In the Fall (and hopefully ongoing!), Yaw has partnered with Sankɔfa Cafe - a Shaw neighborhood institution - to bring donation-based Twi classes to the community. Proceeds will continue the virtuous cycle of supporting the Black Ideas Collaborative.