Music: Tom Strode, our piano virtuoso played the national anthem to begin the meeting.

Inspiration:  Ryan Peterson asked us to put one word in the chat that we love about Ann Arbor. We live in a great community but our current reality makes it hard to have community. The power of community is so important and he wants to inspire us to be the community of the people we need.

Singing:  The music selection by Rick Ingram was Peter Yarrow performing “We Weave Sunshine” a wonderful, uplifting song.

Updates from President, Susan:

• Golf and Tennis Outing has attracted a Presenting Sponsorship ($10,000) from Norma and Dick Sarns and other important support. There is still openings for golf and also for auction items and dinner.
• The members survey has been extended to Aug 15 with the intent of gaining 50% attendance. Those who have not responded will be nudged to respond.
• Birthdays

• 

  Program information: Scott Nelson, with extraordinary environmental credentials including the butterfly garden at Gallup Park, presented to encourage us to participate in a challenge—the Global 30 Day Plant Rich Diet Challenge. This is designed to encourage everyone to focus on reducing the livestock and fish we eat in favor of a plant based diet. Globally livestock and livestock feed growth are profoundly intensive and also creates greenhouse gases.  Global Challenge starts Oct 1 with recipes, cooking demos and other presentations.  The focus:  Eat Plants, Plant Trees

Program Committee with Yolanda Whitten as chair, is encouraging everyone to nominated speakers—local, regional, national, international. Speaker selection is vetted by the committee but all of us are encouraged to nominate specific speakers or topics we would like to learn more about. She demonstrated the process on the website:  go to membership resources/fill out the form and it automatically goes to the committee.

Speaker Presentation:  On behalf of AntiRacism Committee, Bev Seiford presented Neel Hajra, CEO of the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation. He has a degree in Physics and a JD from the UM.  His “side hustle” is as a lecturer at the Ford School of Public Policy, and he has brought strong management and direction to the foundation.

Supporting under resourced, at risk communities and making a difference is the goal of programming/funding for the foundation. Equity is the major focus with an emphasis on data and then action based on that data. Inequity is ease to not see……and people in Washtenaw County and, in particular, Ann Arbor, are somewhat oblivious to it.

Equity is define as providing different levels of support base on an individual’s or groups need to achieve fair outcomes and to help people achieve their fullest potential. This is a well-established definition nationally by major funding organizations.

The United Way data using ALICE, an acronym for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, provided the data from which the foundation worked to plan programs.

We have barriers in our community that keeps people from attaining stability and success.

• 36% of individual workers / 26% of households did not earn enough to meet basic family needs (2019)
• 8^th percentile nationally for economic mobility for children in poverty (2015)
• 9-year life expectancy disparity between zip codes in Washtenaw County (2018)
• 10-year life expectancy disparity between White and Black residents of Washtenaw County (2015)

Data includes hearing from Community Voices and the following links are provided so readers can gain further information.

• United Way of Washtenaw County ALICE report
• Washtenaw County Opportunity Index
• Washtenaw County Public Health Department Health for All Data Portal
• AAACF research
• Washtenaw County Seniors & Caregivers: Findings from a Qualitative Study
• Washtenaw County Older Adults Survey: Assessing Quality of Life and Social Connectedness
• Washtenaw County Capital Research Report

Leveraging the expertise of those we’re purporting to help has been essential. Some of the activities included:

• 2015: Neighborhood health conversations partnering with Washtenaw County Public Health Department
• 2017: Conversations with older adults and their caregivers (see report and performance) partnering with Eastern Michigan University
• 2018: Neighborhood arts conversations (see blog post) partnering with Eastern Michigan University
• 2020: Conversations with young Black men (see story) partnering with Washtenaw My Brother’s Keeper
• Biannual youth needs assessment (see report) conducted by AAACF’s Youth Council

The foundation’s actions include grants, scholarships and impact investing in the through various mechanisms:

Grants for Older Adults are awarded through the Anna Botsford Bach Fund, Glacier and the Glacier Hills Legacy Fund

AAACF is the largest grant maker for older adults needs among 60 Michigan community foundations

Community Scholarship Programs is based in the data that shows that education makes a major difference in success in other parts of ones life.

• Focus on students of color, first generation students, and students from low-income family through:
  • Financial Support ($1 million in awards since 2016)
  • College Success Coaching (Two full time coaches)
  • Emergency Aid
• Public-Private coalition (AAACF, Washtenaw ISD, WCC, Knight Foundation)
• Ongoing independent evaluation by EMU

Community Scholars are graduating at twice the rate predicted for their backgrounds.

Neel made the point that collaboration is critical to success. With it, funders avoid overlapping funds and provide different aspects of support. For example, if a donor wants to give to one organization, they can do that directly. If they want to support shorter term projects and community needs, the United Way is an excellent means. The community foundation by investing and growing funds is a longer term focus based on change environments and data and needs that evolve over time.

Notes by Marsha Chamberlin

Photography by Fred Beutler