The Kresge Foundation

Following the tragic events in New Orleans on New Year's Day, the Greater New Orleans Foundation has established a fund to assist the victims and their families. “Through the New Orleans New Year’s Day Tragedy Fund, we are raising money to help the families of the victims and survivors start to heal and recover from this heartbreaking tragedy. We are utilizing the tried-and-true avenues we use when responding to other disasters in our region,” said Andy Kopplin, President & CEO of the Greater New Orleans Foundation. “Everyone has a job in times of disaster, and ours is raising money and deploying it to the most in need.”

To commemorate the anniversary of his growing company, Sebastian S. Kresge established The Kresge Foundation in 1924 on the bold premise that this new charitable organization would “promote human progress.” One hundred years later, we stand proudly as one of the nation’s most enduring and innovative national philanthropies. The Kresge Foundation has built on that simple but powerful mandate by investing in the people and systems that hold the promise of expanding equity and opportunity in America’s cities. And we have sought to do that by developing both an ethos grounded in unalterable values of servant leadership and a method of working that calls on the full range of tools available to a private philanthropy.  Our centennial year served as a substantive reflection on what we believe we have contributed and learned over the last century … on our accomplishments and milestones … on how we have chosen to focus our current work… and on what the future might hold for us, our grantees, and the cities in which we work. It also afforded the opportunity to honor the ways in which our history has been intertwined with the history of Detroit, the city with which Kresge has grown and evolved. From hosting President Obama to organizing high-impact convenings … from publishing an illuminating and innovative annual report and other commemorative communications materials to contributing to the creation of a museum exhibition . . . Kresge sought to honor its historical legacy in thoughtful and unexpected ways. To see the full range of what we accomplished this year, you can look to an impact report that details our centennial-related achievements and celebrations: https://lnkd.in/g4WSsF_T Put simply, 2024 was a seminal year in Kresge’s long and storied history. As we draw this year’s events to a close and anticipate the uncertainties and opportunities of 2025 and beyond, I want to restate and underscore our commitment to our organization’s shared values: Stewardship. Respect. Creativity. Opportunity. Partnership. Equity. Each becomes more than a platitude and indeed assumes profound meaning when tethered to a commitment to action, which is our promise to you. We recognize and embrace that our work – our commitment to creating a new urban future – will prove ever-more vital in the years ahead. On behalf of the entire foundation, I want to wish you a joyful holiday season. We look forward to working alongside you as we build a brighter future together.

Longtime immigration advocate and Kresge Board Chair Cecilia Muñoz joins the Pod Save America podcast to talk about the issue of #immigration — what led her to immigration advocacy, the politics of immigration, enforcement and policy solutions, and how to win back voters' trust on the issue. Listen to the interview (which begins around the 47 minute mark):

An excellent new piece in the Stanford Social Innovation Review from David Fukuzawa, Nancy Andrews and Rebecca Steinitz: The traditional model of community development finance is limited by market conservatism and a focus on scale, rather than local control. We need a new paradigm that prioritizes impact over scale, emphasizes flexible and creative financing strategies, and empowers community voice. https://lnkd.in/eaYGbpgk

We're hiring summer interns, including for our Arts & Culture Program! Please share with the graduate students in your life.

If it feels harder today to accomplish community development goals, there's a reason for it, says the Urban Institute's Brett Theodos. Theodos presented data on the rate at which various cities across the U.S. have attracted investment dollars at Kresge's Our Urban Future convening this fall. In a follow-up Q&A, he shares that one factor at play is that majority Black cities see lower levels of investment compared to other regions. "There’s a stark difference in how investment is distributed," he says.

Artspace’s extraordinary influence on the fields of both arts and culture and community development speaks to the remarkable qualities of humility, vision, and servant leadership of its founder, Kelley Lindquist. Last week, I had the pleasure of speaking at a retirement dinner in honor of Kelley in Minneapolis. Artspace Projects, Inc. has been a long-time partner to The Kresge Foundation in developing artist live-work housing across the country. It was an extraordinary first mover some 40 years ago, and remains to this day a powerfully innovative and impactful force in providing affordable housing in communities with low wealth – and frequently accomplishing that through deep commitment to historic preservation. Think for a moment of the reimagination of New Orleans’ abandoned Bell School into a thriving six-building, cultural center that perpetuates the indigenous history of Tremé through affordable live/work space for creatives and commercial space for arts-friendly businesses and nonprofit organizations. Or the Shubert Theater in Minneapolis, one of the truly phenomenal stories of vision and persistence in the annals of placemaking. Kelley dedicated more than a decade to making it a reality – rescuing it from life-support on at least seventeen occasions. I’ll never forget the sight of that colossus rolling inch-by-inch down Hennepin Avenue to anchor not only the mid-section of the theater district, but the soul of the dance community with the creation of the Cowles Center for Dance & the Performing Arts. You can’t conceive of projects like this – to say nothing of bringing them to life – without a profound faith in the stealth power of the arts: forging that transformative alchemy that emerges when artists are living and working in proximity to one another and to resident leaders and community-based organizations, helping make every block of a place feel like a complete community. Thank you for all your amazing work! Photos: Bell Artspace Campus, Cowles Center for Dance & the Performing Arts, Elder Street Artist Lofts in Houston

Applications for the 2025 summer internships at The Kresge Foundation are now open. The foundation is offering summer internship opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students interested in learning more about philanthropy and joining in our mission of expanding equity and opportunities in America’s cities. While at Kresge, summer interns are integrated into departments and work closely with foundation staff to experience what it is like to work in philanthropy as a grantmaker or an operational team member. The application deadline is Jan. 5, 2025, for the following internships: • American Cities Program Graduate Summer Intern • Communications & External Affairs Undergraduate Summer Intern • Detroit Program Undergraduate Summer Intern • Education Program Graduate Summer Intern Learn more: https://lnkd.in/dhePV8M #internships #summerinternships #interns

What role do health institutions play in community change efforts? In an upcoming webinar, Louisiana leaders will discuss how community institutions in New Orleans are working to transform and address regional health outcomes and what other cities can learn from their efforts. Hear from: • Shelina Davis, MPH MSW, CEO, Louisiana Public Health Institute • Michael G. Griffin, MSPH, DSc, FACHC, President & CEO, DePaul Community Health Centers • Kathy Laborde, President, Gulf Coast Housing Partnership, Inc. • Jacquelynn Y. Orr, DrPH, FACHE, Health Senior Program Officer, The Kresge Foundation Register: https://lnkd.in/e9XyXZEi

Charisma Holly, a young person from Detroit, helped kick off this fall's Detroit Homecoming with a beautiful and moving essay about what she hoped the future of 25 years hence would look like in Detroit. Charisma Holly is a senior at the Detroit Edison Public School Academy - High School and is part of the InsideOut Literary Arts Citywide Poets after-school program. As we look ahead to the new year, I can’t imagine a better vision for our city’s future. Thanks to Charisma!