Brandon Nicholson

Attention #California Social studies educators! 🌟 Does your school district provide a pathway for students to achieve the State Seal of Civic Engagement? Recognizing student leadership and excellence in civic engagement is crucial. If you're seeking a education partner to assist your school district's local implementation team, I'm here to help. Interested in introducing project-based learning to help your students earn the CA State Civic Seal? Reach out to learn more. Generation Citizen #CaliforniaEducators #CivicEngagement #ProjectBasedLearning 🎓🌱

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LEVEL UP YOUR NONPROFIT MANAGEMENT SKILLS! Fall 2024 semester of the Nonprofit Management Certificate course at Sonoma State University is now open for enrollment. Join live on Wednesday evenings, Sept. 11-Nov. 13, 2024. Fast-paced live-streamed course on fundamental concepts, best practices & hands-on skills-building, taught by diverse instructors and enriched by students’ experiences. Topics include: * Nonprofit Program Development * Legal Issues * Finance & Accounting * Fundraising (I teach the session on grantwriting) * Board Governance * Leadership -- & more! When you complete the course, you receive a Certificate of Nonprofit Management. https://lnkd.in/ggdECCGv Students rave about the course: * I was offered a higher starting salary after I told the hiring manager I’d just completed this course. * Thank you for leading an inspirational program for nonprofit leaders. It elevated my understanding of working in a nonprofit organization. * Having different instructors each week is refreshing and potent. * Great class for the fundamentals of nonprofit management.

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When we are talking about student centered community schools, we necessarily are talking about language: it’s the core of what makes us human and brings us together in community. However, we often treat language like a hardship or a commodity to acquire — the framing of course often depending on your skin color, income level, or immigration status. Community schools are about connection and mattering. Not just services, not just “engaging community.” And language is at the heart. Anya Hurwitz and I love talking and writing about this stuff… but it requires us to ACT and SUPPORT and PERSIST. Some LEAs are seizing the current grant funding in CA to ACT; others aren’t. Potato potahto. It ain’t about the grant y’all. It’s about the intention and commitment to create the learning environments so students thrive. Take a read. 😁

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Universal free school meals are suddenly in the spotlight nationally for policy discussion. This is a bit of a surprise, but a welcome one. California has universal free school meals now and it was in jeopardy with our budget crisis this year. I was fortunate enough to get to be the last person to testify at a hearing about it. I had noticed that those who were objecting were objecting on the basis that families who can afford the meals should have to pay for them, so I tailored my comment to address that concern. In effect, I noted that means testing creates costly administrative burdens that wastes money that could have gone to food, inevitably keeps some families who need the assistance from receiving it, and depresses the number of students getting food at school. That last point is important because the schools get efficiencies from operating nutrition programs at a larger scale. But more importantly, I shared that when I was a kid, all the kids could observe which students were getting free meals and learned to think of those kids as poor, which sometimes led to teasing, bullying, and general alienation. The kids who needed free meals were less likely to take advantage of them when this was happening. In contrast, my kids are at a school with universal free meals and they routinely eat school meals with their peers. They have no concept that they could judge their classmates by their lunches or that they could be judged for their meals themselves. It's a beautiful thing that breaks down barriers to eating together as friends.

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Leeze’s new blog is on system solutions to support minors experiencing homelessness and housing instability. Hint: they are all cross-system and/or multidisciplinary approaches that put the power back in the hands of youth themselves. These approaches all also accept referrals/clients under ALL definitions of homelessness including at risk and unstably housed populations. You can’t effectively serve minors if you’re excluding unstably housed youth and youth at risk of imminently losing their housing. We get asked all the time how to best support minors. Check it out 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 2, 2024 Cara McClure [email protected] Faith & Works gearing up to #FreeBlackMamas in time for Mother’s Day Ahead of Mother’s Day, Faith & Works Collective has joined a coalition of racial and criminal justice organizations across the country to bail out Black folks who would otherwise spend Mother’s Day in a cell because they are unable to afford bail. Since 2017, Faith & Works has freed 20 Black Mamas and caregivers from cages, providing services ranging from assistance with groceries to gaining their cars from impound and more. In the past few months, across the nation, our elected leaders are fanning the flames of fear, baselessly claiming that bail reform poses a threat to safety. Instead of addressing the root causes, we’re seeing an attack on community bail funds and an increase in pretrial detention populations. If we removed pretrial detention and money bail, it would create a fairer and more just system that doesn’t punish people for their poverty. Black women are jailed at twice the rate of white women, and many are the sole caretakers and providers for their families. When Black Mamas cannot afford to make their bail, they sit in cages, many lose their jobs, housing and even their children only to be found innocent. The cost to the children Black women and caregivers nurture, the partners they love and the communities they hold is incalculable. In the face of this, we stand united, knowing precisely what keeps our communities safe. It is not fear-mongering but a collective commitment to solutions. Through May 12, Faith & Works will reunite as many Black Mamas and caregivers with their families as possible so they can be home safely in time for Mother’s Day. Across Alabama, there are almost 47,000 people in cages, and nearly 1,000 of those held in the Jefferson County jail have not been convicted and are presumed innocent. Most people are in cages because they are poor, Black, and in a time of crisis, whether it is a mental health crisis, an addiction crisis, an economic crisis, or an accumulation of crises. Instead of treating people with dignity and addressing the underlying cause of the crisis, our government responds to Black people in crisis by criminalizing and incarcerating them. What if jails across Jefferson County were a little less crowded this Mother’s Day? Let’s work together to make that happen. #FreeBlackMamas. Help us bailout as many Black Mamas as possible this Mother’s Day by giving at www.freeblackmamasbham.com ####

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 2, 2024 Cara McClure [email protected] Faith & Works gearing up to #FreeBlackMamas in time for Mother’s Day Ahead of Mother’s Day, Faith & Works Collective has joined a coalition of racial and criminal justice organizations across the country to bail out Black folks who would otherwise spend Mother’s Day in a cell because they are unable to afford bail. Since 2017, Faith & Works has freed 20 Black Mamas and caregivers from cages, providing services ranging from assistance with groceries to gaining their cars from impound and more. In the past few months, across the nation, our elected leaders are fanning the flames of fear, baselessly claiming that bail reform poses a threat to safety. Instead of addressing the root causes, we’re seeing an attack on community bail funds and an increase in pretrial detention populations. If we removed pretrial detention and money bail, it would create a fairer and more just system that doesn’t punish people for their poverty. Black women are jailed at twice the rate of white women, and many are the sole caretakers and providers for their families. When Black Mamas cannot afford to make their bail, they sit in cages, many lose their jobs, housing and even their children only to be found innocent. The cost to the children Black women and caregivers nurture, the partners they love, and the communities they hold is incalculable. In the face of this, we stand united, knowing precisely what keeps our communities safe. It is not fear-mongering but a collective commitment to solutions. Through May 12, Faith & Works will reunite as many Black Mamas and caregivers with their families as possible so they can be home safely in time for Mother’s Day. Across Alabama, there are almost 47,000 people in cages, and nearly 1,000 of those held in the Jefferson County jail have not been convicted and are presumed innocent. Most people are in cages because they are poor, Black, and in a time of crisis, whether it is a mental health crisis, an addiction crisis, an economic crisis, or an accumulation of crises. Instead of treating people with dignity and addressing the underlying cause of the crisis, our government responds to Black people in crisis by criminalizing and incarcerating them. What if jails across Jefferson County were a little less crowded this Mother’s Day? Let’s work together to make that happen. #FreeBlackMamas. Help us bailout as many Black Mamas as possible this Mother’s Day by giving at www.freeblackmamasbham.com ####

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Who is the boss? Board governance and serving at Black women-led organizations: I am so deeply proud to serve on the Board of Directors of the Transgender District in San Francisco. I am humbled and in awe of the leadership and work the District does in the Tenderloin, San Francisco broadly, and nationally in trans advocacy. I am deeply grateful for the invaluable lessons in healthy and grounded board governance that I have learned from my mentors, particularly Armilito J. Pangilinan, CPA, MBA. Guided by policy governance and generative models of running boards, I firmly believe in the transformative power of a healthy board in advancing a mission. As a board member, I place my trust in the wisdom and expertise of the co-executive directors. I have recently come across a toxic narrative that the board is the “boss” of the executive director. While I understand the basis of this conclusion, let’s not get it twisted: I am not anyone’s boss except for the place that pays me to supervise people. As a board, our collective vote guides the executive's actions, and we provide advice on performance, strategic planning, finances, and mission. But this is advice. The true boss is our policy, our collective vote, and the organization’s mission and vision. We are here to support and guide, not to dictate. It is critically important to examine power and assumptions about power, especially when, as with the District, we are working with Black women in executive roles. I am a volunteer; if I fail, I walk away without much impact on my person, but if we fail the executives, it impacts their livelihood, careers, and employees' well-being. They are the leaders of this organization.  Earlier, I mentioned feeling humbled, but Breonna McCree teaches me far more with her leadership than I provide. Alongside her co-executive, Carlo Gómez Arteaga, we learn together. They have an in-depth understanding of their employees, the organization, and their community. It is beneficial to view policy as the guiding force and to support our policy to be more equitable and effective. We, as a board and executive team, collaborate to hold our guiding force (our collective boss)  accountable, ensuring that our actions align with the organization's mission and vision. https://lnkd.in/gZw9U4GD

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Day 2 of 15: highlighting lessons from Urban Institute's Youth Apprenticeship Intermediary project. How Registration Agencies Can Promote Youth Apprenticeship (https://lnkd.in/eTE-6X_6), by John Marotta Jr. and I, is part of a series of resources featuring lessons for different types of key stakeholders in youth apprenticeship. State and federal apprenticeship registration agencies have taken different approaches to the registration of youth apprenticeship programs, with some states proactively seeking to expand them and others approach youth apprenticeship with more caution. This has contributed to a wide variation in the scale of youth apprenticeship opportunities across states. To support youth apprenticeship expansion, registration agencies can: - Remove barriers to simplify and expedite the process for registering youth apprenticeship programs, as well as proactively add incentives, such as funding for sponsors to launch or expand programs. - Create a clear process for intermediaries and other national apprenticeship stakeholders to coordinate with the registration agency and each other when they come to a new state, so that organizations are not accidentally overlapping in their efforts and instead collaborating smoothly. - Establish clear parameters for registering youth apprenticeship programs so that sponsors know what to expect from state to state. OA could facilitate this process by issuing standard guidance required for all states so that youth apprenticeships are approved through a consistent review process. - Use youth apprenticeship to bolster apprenticeship in nontraditional occupations, which is a goal for many registration agencies. Based on our YAI project, a larger share of youth apprentices enter nontraditional occupations than apprentices in the registered apprenticeship system overall.

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I have been fortunate to spend most of my career serving social impact -- as a healthcare worker, as a teacher, as a nonprofit leader. I also have formal business training and I live under capitalism and recognize its influence in all things. In any business venture, for profit or nonprofit, it's necessary to understand who else is already doing the thing. They are competitors and collaborators, and often they are both. What I appreciate about social impact business is the emphasis on collaboration. I love what Cameron Dearlove wrote about nonprofit duplication this week. I hear this all the time, and if you are in nonprofit work I'm sure you have as well. The thing that I would add to Cameron's thoughtful take on this, is the importance of collaboration and support in a system that is underserved. I see a trend that funders--from government to foundations--are looking to support coalitions instead of single entities. To Cameron's point, variety and niche service at the grassroots level is a good thing. This is a targeted universalism approach. Smaller grassroots organizations provide a zoomed-in view of specific community need. Coalition building zooms out, elevates the collaborative message, allows for sharing of resources, and moves everyone together towards the same universal goal. Lovely. Thank you for sharing, Cameron. #agefriendlydesign #targeteduniversalism #collaboration #innovation #nonprofitleadership

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#Eval24 is 1 week away! Will you be there? In this month's newsletter we make it easy for you to see where the Social Finance TIG will be and when, and how to stay connected while you're at the conference. #AEASFTIG

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I'm doing the most minimal of funder / foundation research. I'm looking at funders that have racial equity and democracy funding portfolios. The number of foundations that don't accept unsolicited proposals is mind blowing. Of the 17 foundations I looked at so far today, seven do not accept incoming requests for funding. Can we talk about how inequitable this is? [Update: I looked at 34 foundations. Fourteen do not accept unsolicited proposals. That's around 41%. If we assume this applies to Foundations writ large, this is ... not great]. Foundation staff know a lot in their specific area, but there's no way they can know every single organization nationally, let alone internationally. Also, this begs the question of how relationships impact funding strategies and implementation. This all seems a bit suspect, and imbalanced to follow white supremacist giving practices. [Yes, I get that staff capacity plays into this system. But, that is not a good enough reason to have such a system. Esp. if you claim you use a racial equity lens for your grant making]. #responsiblephilanthropy #racialequity

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Tobacco use is one of the only identified risk factors that is a contraindication to every element of health. Its unfortunately correlated with many of Ohioans’ health risk factors. Check out this session for insight on some of the reasons why tobacco products are so prevalent. #HealthLiteracy

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I may sound like a broken record, but I strongly believe that a key role the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP Global) plays is connecting nonprofit organizations with funders. Kudos to the Inland Empire Chapter for hosting the latest one. I asked the funders how they viewed system change vs filling in gaps from direct service providers and really like the response given to me by Greg Bradbard, Chief Executive Officer, IEHP Foundation (paraphrasing): “I isn’t an either / or situation. In fact, I think it’s critical that the organizations who don’t think of themselves as advocacy-oriented get involved. It shouldn’t have to be a huge load, but their voice is so important.” Other nuggets of wisdom from the panelists (also paraphrasing): Jason Cordova, Senior Program Officer, The James Irvine Foundation I’m all in favor in paying the full cost of the grant – even beyond what the grantee requested. I think that sometimes nonprofits try to squeeze their budgets so that they fit with what they think the funder wants vs what will actually be the most impactful. (So, so true) Danielle Oehlman, Director, Stater Bros. Markets Charities “A trend we are seeing is to fund unrestricted grants. Especially post-Covid, we’ve started to recognize that the needs in our community are great, so we’re trying to be responsive to those needs.” Kimberly Starrs, MBA, CFRE, Inland SoCal United Way “We’re moving away from the traditional United Way model, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t going to keep supporting the nonprofit organizations in our community.” Katie Truong, VP & Deputy CRA Officer, Citizens Business Bank “If you want to understand the direction that banks are going, pay special attention to the CRA Peer Assessment. It’s a critical tool that will sway the direction of their philanthropic dollars.” Lisa Wright, CFRE, President & CEO, Riverside Community Health Foundation “Pay attention to the funder collaboratives. When we pool resources we’re stronger together.” Great job moderating David Mix and Alyssa Cotter, MPA on behalf of the AFP Inland Empire! Image Description: Six professionally dressed panelists sitting at long tables facing a row of attendees inside of a conference room.

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Calling all OC nonprofit leaders! Please REPOST & SHARE! We’re excited to share the launch of the 2024 Orange County Nonprofit Capacity and Needs Survey! Your participation in this quick, 15-minute survey is essential in shaping the future of the nonprofit landscape in Orange County. Why Your Voice Matters: Charitable Ventures, with support from UC Irvine School of Social Ecology and the Bridgespan Group, has initiated the 2024 OC Nonprofit Capacity and Needs Assessment to gather insights into the strengths, capacity, and needs of nonprofits in Orange County. By sharing your experiences, you’ll help us build a collective understanding of the state of our sector and guide meaningful strategies to support its growth and impact. This effort is underwritten by the Samueli Foundation in partnership with the Orange County Community Foundation. Survey findings will be shared with participants, funders, and stakeholders across the region, and all responses will be confidential. Grant Opportunity: As a thank you for your time, participating organizations will be entered into a drawing to win one of 15 mini-grants of $1,000! Act Now! We encourage you and your team to take the survey today to ensure your organization’s perspectives are heard. The survey closes on September 27, 2024, at 5:00 PM. https://lnkd.in/gG7zahYy What’s Next: We’ll soon be hosting focus group sessions (virtually and in-person) as part of our qualitative research, and we’re excited to dive even deeper into this initiative! Thank you for your time, your insights, and your commitment to making our community stronger. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to [email protected]. #NonprofitLeaders #OrangeCountyNonprofits #CapacityBuilding #OCNonprofitSurvey #CommunityImpact #Philanthropy

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I’m thrilled to be presenting at the ICMA - International City/County Management Association Equity Summit today alongside my colleagues from the City of Morgan Hill. Rebecca Garcia, Michelle Bigelow, and I will delve into the critical role of belonging in municipal DEI efforts. As many governments have discovered, inclusion alone isn't sufficient; a genuine sense of belonging is key to building community and sustaining long-term equity. When individuals feel they belong, they gain access to social capital and experience psychological safety, fostering a deeper commitment to their community and driving future DEI initiatives. Join us as we explore how both Morgan Hill and Sunnyvale, California, have successfully nurtured a culture of belonging among staff and residents by sharing individual stories to bridge gaps and strengthen relationships. We'll cover strategies for fostering belonging with limited resources, taking an asset-based approach, and ensuring these efforts are self-sustaining. Morgan Hill’s initiative, "Diverse Voices on Affordable Housing," brings together local residents to discuss the crucial link between affordable housing and community vitality. These discussions aim to address housing challenges, promote economic mobility, and ensure that all residents feel a sense of belonging. Sunnyvale's key initiatives—Allyship Learning Club, Unveiling Our Talent, and the Growing Forward Newsletter—are designed to enhance workplace belonging and allyship. Over the past 11 months, data has shown these programs to be effective, and our plan is to use these insights to refine our DEI Action Plan, continually advancing our commitment to an inclusive and supportive work environment. https://lnkd.in/gq5snXAB

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