Hope Always Rises

Many of us sit with countless emotions after a major election. We are preparing for new elected leaders and policies that will impact our lives and communities, yet there are still issues within the long and hard fight for equity and justice that need our attention. We are witnessing growing and calculated efforts across the country to dismantle our civil and democratic rights that are not showing signs of going away any time soon. All of this can be daunting and leave us with a sense of hopelessness about how anything can change.

How do we move forward in times like these? One foot in front of the other.

At Seattle Foundation, we are committed to investing in conditions that enable a joyful, thriving community. We hold this as our vision because we truly believe that all of us deserve access to a safe home, connection and belonging, and resources to live our best lives.  We have the right to live in communities unburdened by racism, othering, discrimination, and violence. And we need transformative policy and system change informed and led by community to get us there.

This systemic and communal work is deep, patient, and long-term. It exists beyond election cycles and as funders, we must be committed to the long game. This is not the time for philanthropy to back away from the hard stuff within the communities we serve. The people we exist to serve cannot afford for us to retreat.

It is why we will remain committed to investing in year-round community organizing and power building because the people that live in our communities are full of creativity and solutions for the problems we are trying to solve. We have not lost faith in funding voter education and outreach efforts because people deserve fair and balanced information about what is on the ballot, and we should not be afraid to use our voice and hold our elected officials accountable to serving our collective interests and needs. And we still believe in funding journalism because in an age of growing misinformation and disinformation, we need a healthy news infrastructure as a foundation to our democracy.

So, stand with us as a partner to BIPOC-led and serving organizations and communities who tend to be the least resourced but often fight the hardest for issues and policies that benefit us all. As funders and donors, let’s continue to center trust and listen generously. Let’s continue to provide multi-year general operating support to nonprofits doing important advocacy and community organizing that will lead to long-term change. And we must invest in the care, rest, and well-being of those who fight with deep conviction for all of us – from rural to urban communities – to live in a just world.

Above all else, we cannot lose the ability to hope, dream, and find joy. While the times feel dire and the work, at times, unbearable, we need to support and be guided by the artists, creators, visionaries, and futurists with radical imaginations who see a better world for us and are working to make it a reality.

As Akaya Windwood and Rajasvini Bhansali wrote in Leading with Joy, we cannot afford the privilege of despair. The coming weeks and months will not be easy, but we stand committed to investing in those who are on the front lines of community change and maintain faith and hope in what is possible. We stand with them as we push not just for the dream of a joyful community and future but the reality of it – for all of us.

In our despair that justice is slow

we sit with heads bowed

wondering

how

even whether

we will ever be healed.

But hope is on the way.

Hope rises, She always does…

-excerpts from Hope is a Woman who Has Lost Her Fear by Alice Walker