By: Oliver Ha, BA 2016
[Editor’s Note: This post was authored on Wednesday, leading into our Thursday board meeting, but a system glitch prevented this post from publishing until today.]
We began with sixty names, sixty non-profits, sixty ways of doing good and sixty means of giving well. Mysterious as they were to us then, the organizations we have researched and the narratives we have heard from CEOs and Directors alike are now woven into our own stories; I’m sure many of us would be able to recite nine different mission statements from memory, with various names, dates and financial figures to go along with them. After our first board meeting yesterday, the pool of possible grantees will narrow to a mere two dozen. Tomorrow, we will collectively vote on the twenty-four organizations that have inspired us with their causes and who we have grown—myself included—perhaps more than a little emotionally attached to.
My group presented first, the sector of Children Youth and Education, and we spoke to a common thread that ran throughout each of our organizations: early childhood development and the importance of long-term mentoring relationships. We were followed by Hunger and Homelessness, which gave a wide-ranging account of the many ways in which food pantries, transitional homes, and collective research initiatives are all working to address a pressing Waco need. It came to light as a shock, at least to my ears, that 1 in 4 children in Waco are food insecure. The team in charge of Culture, Arts and the Environment spoke next, and pointed to an often overlooked reality. Though we often view beatification projects or arts districts as nice add-ons for cities, they are more often than not one of the greatest drivers of economic growth and do much of the work of attracting prospective Wacoans to pick up their roots (wherever they may be) and plant them in our city.
After a short break, which consisted of hushed excited whispering as to possible future projects from the three sectors that had already presented, we heard from the cohort overseeing the Human Services and Civil Rights organizations. As with many of the institutions represented by other sector areas, a wide variety of services were rendered by these nonprofits, from legal advocacy to job training to provision of immediate needs. Though we may have assumed our different organizations to be varied and distinct, the Health and Wellness group dispelled such a notion as the missions of their organizations sought to remedy the symptoms (i.e. addiction, illness, malnourishment) that have their roots in poverty, food insecurity, and inequality in allocation of resources. So interconnected were our organizations, that as the Community Development group spoke on their research, they realized that a partnership opportunity between one of their nonprofits and another from a different sector was possible—that our class might be able to give to two different organizations to achieve a common end. All of which to say, as Dr. Hogue concluded the meeting, that this entire class is a project—a lesson—in cooperation rather than competition. Good is done not by means of an isolated transaction, but rather through communal transformation.
In short, as our first major decision looms along the horizon, I am given comfort by the fact that though we are limited in our scope and in our resources, we are not limited by our vision or by our pride. It will doubtless be, however, a bittersweet meeting.