Topic: Equity and inclusion

Atlanta Showcases Homeownership Solutions that Help Close the Racial Wealth Gap 

Posted on by Syd Goin

Innovative homeownership partnerships led by local governments can empower communities to overcome systemic barriers to generational wealth.

Home is not just where the heart is: homeownership is proven to build wealth for you and your family. Typically, individuals and families who own their homes accumulate more assets over time, and according to the Federal Reserve (2022), the median net worth of homeowners is nearly 40 times greater than that of renters. 

Unfortunately, rates of homeownership in the US are in lockstep with deep-rooted racial and economic disparities, creating a generation-over-generation racial wealth gap that negatively impacts BIPOC families. Rates of homeownership for white Americans are over 30% higher than for Black Americans, and rates among those in the highest income bracket are nearly double those in the lowest income bracket. 

Affordable housing and homeownership can support every community member’s quest for financial security, but producing more housing units is only part of the solution. Local leaders must tackle interconnected issues simultaneously, offer holistic support, and involve cross-sector partnerships and collaboration to ensure homeownership is equitable. 

Mayor Dickens of Atlanta understands this complexity and has set an ambitious goal to build or preserve 20,000 units of affordable housing in eight years. “We know that increasing the amount of safe, stable, and affordable housing will provide significant benefits throughout our community: increased economic mobility, a reduction in crime, better health outcomes, higher educational achievement. Our city cannot meet its fullest potential if our people do not have stable places to live and to lay their heads at night,” said the Mayor recently. In response to the challenge, the Mayor has established a new office dedicated to realizing the necessary affordable housing and addressing the root causes of the socioeconomic gap.

To shed more light on this solution, we spoke with Wesley Myrick, a former Fuse Executive Fellow, who serves on the Mayor’s Office Policy Team, Special Projects Division. We asked Myrick about the work involved in building safe and secure affordable housing, as well as the strategies his team is using to prioritize homeownership solutions that uplift diversity and legacy communities, rather than allowing gentrification and disenfranchisement.

NationSwell: Wesley, it is great to speak with you today and learn more about innovative approaches to homeownership. Let’s start with your role on the Mayor’s Office Policy Team, Special Projects Division.  What does it involve?

Wesley Myrick: I serve on the housing team which has three divisions: Special Projects, Innovation Lab, and General Housing Policy. I joined the Director of Special Projects, who manages large-scale displacement initiatives like Forest Cove. That property was condemned due to the state of disrepair it was in, so the city stepped up to relocate families, acting as a champion for them and the larger community. 

We also work on the Rapid Housing Initiative, which is focused on the quick delivery of highly dignified, comfortable homes for those experiencing chronic homelessness. One example of this is an apartment project called, The Melody, which opened in January of this year and consists of 40 units of permanent, supportive housing.

NS: Obviously safety and shelter are essential for everybody. But tell us more about why affordable housing is a key component when thinking about supporting thriving communities? 

WM: First and foremost, what are thriving communities composed of? It’s people. It’s families. It’s diversity. Affordable housing enables the creation of diverse communities, where residents include not just high-income or low-income earners, but a genuinely mixed and inclusive population. That’s significant because corporations, supportive services, and other general services need the full gambit of individuals in a community. 

Affordability at every income stream allows people to live wherever they want to live within the city. This matters because it means every community has people who are invested in being there and not just relegated to that neighborhood because it’s all they can afford. This leads to higher instances of pride and of people building community because they want to be there, which attracts businesses and developments of other things people want in a community. In Georgia, the roughly 40,000 stable, high-quality affordable housing units produced through the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program between 2001 and 2019 boosted the state’s economy by $12 billion and created 4,284 new jobs annually, and led to increased property tax revenue for local governments. 

This all starts with housing. When communities have affordable housing that is accessible to a mix of people who want to live and invest there , industry is attracted, amenities arrive,  and people stay. Then, fifteen years go by and families have raised kids in a home, in a place they feel connected to that just 20 years ago may not have been a great place to be.

NS: Feeling pride and invested in a place is so important! Plus, affordable housing can be a path towards home ownership which encourages equitable economic mobility.  Does this factor into the strategies that you all are putting in place when it comes to housing?

WM: This is a perfect example of why our department is structured the way it is. The Office of the Chief Policy Officer has five different divisions working in tandem. We have a housing team, strategic partnerships and strategic initiatives, a youth and education team, a neighborhood economic development team, and an ombuds team. Each team is tasked with ensuring Atlanta is the best place in the nation to raise a family. 

The housing team works on housing unit production and preservation. We have a safe and secure housing program that examines why legacy residents are housing insecure and aligns city processes so that more people remain housed in their family homes without it being overly burdensome to do so. This ensures that regardless of your zip code, you can stay in the city and helps households of more modest means retain control of generational assets.

For the neighborhoods team, this means making significant financial and infrastructure investments into historically diverse communities to attract industry and jobs. For the strategic partnership and initiatives teams, this means convening our corporate and philanthropic communities to make investments into programs and communities that help stabilize and propel communities across the city. For our youth team, this means ensuring that youth have the best possible programs to help support their educational goals and workforce readiness through the summer jobs program and Year of the Youth. Lastly, our Umbuds team helps to catalog recurring shortfalls of government policy or practice as delivered directly from the electorate so that we can better produce what communities need to thrive.

NS: I’m glad you mentioned the different sectors. What do you see as the role of the private or philanthropic sectors when it comes to this work? Can you give an example of  a successful partnership?

WM: There are limits on what public funds can be used for and how we can disperse them, whereas private money is much more flexible. We launched a $200 million fund last year in partnership with the Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta, supporting the production of affordable housing units. While that amount of money is a significant investment it’s, unfortunately, still not enough. We need the philanthropic community to make those investments in housing where the government can’t. 

NS: Atlanta is growing as an economic and cultural hub. What are some of your key policy recommendations for establishing a secure future for Atlanta residents, especially legacy communities who are at risk of displacement?  

WM: A cornerstone of our work has been building trust with communities, which is why we not only work across departments but also have dedicated personnel who work on these things. We currently have an anti-displacement grant that partially helps support Owner-Occupied Rehab Programs, which we are able to connect residents with and has been valuable for our senior community members who need our support to ensure ordinances are not violated. Oftentimes, properties fall into disrepair, not because there are bad actors, but because there’s simply a lack of resources. Mitigating these barriers when we can is something we’re very proud of and want to keep doing more of.

NS: You wrote an excellent piece on the City of Atlanta’s  Faith-Based Development Initiative, which encourages faith-based communities to grant use of their underutilized land to affordable housing developments. What were some of your biggest takeaways from this initiative?

WM: I’ve learned that there are opportunities to create various housing types across the city at every level. For example, one house of worship has been rehabbing and renting single-family units using community development block grants and home funds, with the objective of providing them at affordable rents for those who need them. Simultaneously, they are working on a vision for a small multi-family community. 

We’ve been fortunate that in addition to houses of worship, other city, state, and private-sector organizations have answered our call. We launched the Faith-Based Development Initiative in partnership with Enterprise Community Partners, a national leader in faith-based development, and a CDFI, so they fund affordable housing across the country. The other lesson is that community building doesn’t mean building buildings – it’s really about building hearts and minds around what’s possible and helping execute that. 

NS: Land acquisition is one of the most costly elements of development, so efficient use of vacant publicly-owned land for housing development is key in increasing the availability of affordable housing. How have you tackled that in Atlanta?

WM: We chartered an organization called The Atlanta Urban Development Corporation (AUD), specifically tasked with managing the redevelopment of public land through the issuance of Request for Proposals (RFPs) to solicit, review, and select a development partner. They issue the RFPs, review them, figure out how to finance and fund them, and co-develop them with the organizations that respond to the RFPs. Thomasville Heights is their most recent RFP, focusing on mixed-income housing developments. Since they’re new and small, they’re also more nimble to move on projects. An important policy consideration is how you can expedite some of this public plan work. Create a mechanism by which you can successfully develop your project, and the developers will respond because the process is laborious – we found a way to make it less laborious with the AUD. 

We have some good examples of how the government is doing all it can in collaboration  with private partners to fill gaps while ensuring the work is community-owned and community-driven. For instance, the Midtown Fire Station, a vacant two-story firehouse that sits in Midtown Atlanta, is considered one of the most valuable plots of land in the country. The plan is to rehab the station and develop 20 to 30 housing units above it, which will be majority affordable in a part of town that’s not easy to afford. Adding one more unit makes a difference because that’s one more family that’s housed. For policymakers we have to remember that the units are important not because they are units but because they house people. 

Pathways to affordable housing are key to unlocking equitable homeownership, and social mobility, and a step toward combating the historic causes of the ever-present and widening socioeconomic divide across the country. Bringing affordable housing projects and initiatives to fruition, as evidenced by leaders in Atlanta, Georgia, will require a blend of innovative, strategic cross-sector partnerships and a revamping of local government offices and functions. FUSE offers a unique model for cross-sector collaboration to address a wide range of issues affecting growing towns and cities across the US. Learn more about their past and current initiatives by visiting https://fuse.org/.

Making corporate DEIB more durable

Making corporate DEIB more durable

EXECUTIVE BRIEFING
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Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) professionals are facing heightened political and legal opposition to their day-to-day work. At times, it’s challenging to truly know if and how companies, and DEIB leaders themselves, are shifting their commitments or approaches. 

The reality is that some businesses are pausing or re-evaluating their DEIB strategies. A number of companies are reducing investments in DEIB or choosing to proceed more quietly. But the pendulum is swinging in both directions. There is evidence that the material work of DEIB has endured and will continue to endure. 

Based on interviews with chief diversity officers and other DEIB executives, this report is intended to support leaders and organizations in confidently charting a path forward at a moment of heightened scrutiny.

The resource teaches the four components of a resilient approach to corporate DEIB and includes tactical guidance, real-world examples, and implementation tools.

The four components:

  • Leverage data as the backbone of your commitment
  • Cultivate and activate accountable champions at all levels of the organization
  • Center transparency, honor progress, and strive for continuous improvement
  • Get intentional about future-proofing DEIB
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Fresh Perspectives Unlock Creative Wealth-Building Solutions in Cities Across America

Posted on by Syd Goin

Most Americans live in cities; in fact, almost 90% of us will be city residents by 2050. Yet, every community is different and requires locally relevant solutions to the challenges and opportunities they face due to geography, history, industry, and many other place-based factors. City leaders with a local focus and lived experience in the communities they serve have never been more vital and influential in helping communities thrive across the U.S. 

Mayor Quinton Lucas of Kansas City, for example, has led the way on free public transportation and the creation of a Housing Trust Fund that has so far allocated about $19 million to support affordable housing projects and create nearly 1,000 affordable units, in a city where he grew up and experienced homelessness. But, resources in these public sector teams are stretched, capacity is limited, and space for creativity to solve systemic issues is hard to come by. 

The danger of never making space for creative thinking in local government or empowering city leaders to try new approaches is that inertia is inevitable. If neighborhoods in cities across America are to break out of cycles of inequality and build resiliency and generational wealth, we must embrace new ideas that challenge the status quo. 

In that vein, innovative impact leaders are creating ways to overcome capacity hurdles and support the important role that city government plays as a change agent. FUSE is a national nonprofit with a mission to increase the effectiveness of local governments in building more equitable communities. They have a unique method of empowering public sector teams to be the source of creative, community-led solutions for wealth-building among underserved populations. 

The FUSE Executive Fellowship Program hires diverse private-sector professionals and embeds them in government agencies on a full-time basis. These fellows bring new ideas, research, and action, all in service of advancing racial equity and addressing pressing challenges facing city communities. This allows FUSE to pursue creative approaches and public-private partnerships. Many fellows continue working in the public sector after their projects are complete, creating a unique pathway for private-sector professionals to make career moves and fulfill their desire to achieve greater impact in the communities where they work and live. 

The interventions by the FUSE Executive Fellows always begin with deep community listening, which is the genesis of fresh ideas: from the community, for the community. They integrate insights with data and human-centered design to help address seemingly intractable problems. For example: How can you preserve affordable housing and promote climate resilience in Durham, NC? How can you ensure everyone has access to fresh food in Birmingham, AL? How can local government use data and analytics to reduce reliance on incarceration and drive criminal justice reforms throughout LA County? How can county leadership help bridge the digital equity divide in Central Texas? And — in many places — how do you shift a workforce into a new era of needs and opportunities, post-pandemic?

Washington, D.C., witnessed a tremendous loss of jobs during the pandemic, particularly within the hospitality and leisure industries. The District’s Workforce Investment Council partnered with Karla Yoder, FUSE Executive Fellow to create a strategic plan to create a more resilient local ecosystem, for workers and employers. Yoder’s work not only highlighted how workers earning low wages were bearing the brunt of job losses but also noted accelerated shifts in the workforce landscape, with demand surging for workers in healthcare and technology. These factors underscored the need for employers to embrace skills-based hiring in order to service new and growing needs. In response, Yoder designed recovery initiatives tailored to D.C.’s workforce, including career coaching for unemployed residents and fostering partnerships between employers and skill-training providers.

FUSE Executive Fellow Daniel Han’s work with the City of Long Beach is another great example of innovative solutions supporting those at the highest risk of economic disruption. He helped the City connect nontraditional, community-based lenders to small business owners of color who were struggling to access capital. “The one thing that remains consistent is the critical leadership role that local government has in being a social innovator, change agent, and advocate for creating an inclusive platform for small businesses to thrive in the community,” said Han.

Just recently, FUSE Executive Fellow Kay West embedded with the City of Fort Worth to help revitalize their Economic Development Department’s “Business Assistance Center” to better support small businesses and entrepreneurs. West’s engagement with the community led to changes that made the Center more accessible, responsive, and fortified — including streamlined processes, more flexible opening hours, a more user-friendly “one-stop shop” web experience; and community convenings to foster inclusivity. “It brings me much joy to serve as a community quarterback to propel impact and bring national resources to my city,” said West, who continues to help communities and economic development organizations advance small enterprise initiatives and build capacity for equitable entrepreneurship programs.

The FUSE Executive Fellowship is one of a variety of exciting new localized wealth-building and social innovation models that are emerging. These programs show how fresh perspectives and an injection of creative capacity can make significant changes in large systems. Other models include building strength through networks that share insights and support between cities, like the Strong Cities Network that exists to help leaders address all forms of hate and polarization; or lifting up the voices of the unheard across a state in order to drive policy change, as demonstrated by End Poverty In California, which was founded by the Michael Tubbs, former Mayor of Stockton, California. 

We need this variety of solutions and an upswell of energy behind local government action to address a holistic issue like wealth building in underserved communities. Housing, education, workforce development, financial inclusion, small business support, digital equity, social cohesion, place-making, culture building — all of these elements and more are part of empowering a community to define its own future and build economic and social resilience. Funders and impact partners often struggle with how to help drive this type of cohesive community impact, when they are focused on one or two issues. 

The FUSE Executive Fellow model offers inspiration for one way forward: harnessing the power of creative individuals to integrate local knowledge, skills from the private sector, and collaborative coalition-building to turn the vision of community wealth-building into concrete policies and initiatives. From helping the City of Houston to create a comprehensive digital inclusion strategy that prioritizes those marginalized households that lack broadband access, to partnering with Cincinnati to help create 4,000 quality green jobs as part of a just transition to the green economy, to empowering Mayor Dickens in Atlanta to launch the Faith Based Development Initiative to create thousands of affordable housing units, the FUSE approach is effectively fast-tracking local government innovation across America. 

In a year when national elections will be held in at least 64 countries around the world, it is vital to remember that change starts at home—and local leaders are the ones whose decisions will have the greatest impact on daily lives. In this context, it’s energizing to see impact leaders like FUSE rally behind local government teams and innovate to allow creative, community-driven approaches to wealth building to flourish in cities across the U.S.

Visit fuse.org to learn more about their Executive Fellowship program.

What Makes a Joyful Community?

Posted on by Alesha Washington

This question stays top of mind for me. A joyful community is at the core of Seattle Foundation’s vision as we strive for shared prosperity, belonging and justice in the region.

I’ve also been reflecting on a joyful community due to an experience hosted by NationSwell. In March, I joined a gathering of corporate and philanthropy leaders in Montgomery, Alabama to reflect on the civil rights movement and the journey towards justice in the United States.

I have history with the south, as a part of my family has roots in Mississippi. Walking around Montgomery somehow felt like being home again with people and a culture so familiar to me. It also brought me proximate to the places – like the Bricklayers Hall which served as the headquarters for the Montgomery bus boycott – that were important meeting grounds for the civil rights and social justice gains that we are fighting to protect today.

While in Montgomery, we toured the Legacy Museum, created by Bryan Stevenson and the Equal Justice Initiative. As I walked through the exhibits, I reflected on the lasting impact of the institution of slavery in this country – Jim Crow laws, school segregation, redlining, the criminal justice system, and so on. As I exited, there was a quote that summed up the museum’s purpose and commitment to justice – that the children’s children of those who endured these times, could one day live unburdened by the legacy of slavery.

That struck me – to live unburdened by the legacy of slavery. My time in Montgomery invited reflection on that legacy in my own life.

My paternal grandfather came to Cleveland from St. Louis when he was a young man. He and my grandmother settled in the City of East Cleveland, a predominantly Black community, and invested in real estate to ensure no one in the family would ever go without a home. Not too long ago, out of curiosity, I asked my aunt what prompted my grandfather’s move to Cleveland. Her response – a group of white men threatened to kill him. He was fleeing for his life.

My maternal grandfather was a farmer in a small town in Mississippi. It’s where my mom was born, raised, and learned to work on a farm. I remember spending a few summers on that land. I was also aware that my grandparents likely did not own the land on which they lived and raised their children and some grandchildren. And discussing why was not a conversation that the elders in my family openly had.

In 1989 when I was six years old, my mom married an incredible guy who became my bonus dad. His name was Eddie. He was funny and quirky. He was also white. In three states in this country from the 1980s, 1990s, and as late as 2000, my parents could have been jailed because of the illegal nature of their interracial relationship.

At 41 years old, I hold this history and memory in my body that is defined by the impacts of slavery, white supremacy, and institutional racism. What would it feel like to be unburdened by this?

I believe it would feel like joy.

Joy has been at the center of my work for some time now because it is a way to bring people together. Regardless of lived experience or status, joy evokes a certain feeling, even a sound. Through joy, we find warmth, laughter and belonging. For some, joy is rooted deeply in faith; and in it, we find strength. Joy is something that no one can take away from us. For others, joy is an act of resistance (as first coined by poet Toi Derricote), and liberation. We have the right to exist and to be free.

We all deserve access to a safe home, connection and belonging, and resources to live our best lives. We also deserve to live in communities unburdened by racism, othering, discrimination, and violence. These are all building blocks to a joyful community.

So, how do we get there?

A part of the solution is for all of us to do better in valuing and honoring the humanity of our neighbors who are different from us. The other part – and this is critical – is meaningful, equitable, and sustained policy and systems change. The burden and legacy of slavery is clearly found in systems and policies that were designed for only some to succeed. To realize a joyful community of shared prosperity and belonging, we must change that.

Seattle Foundation recently completed a strategic plan outlining the work we will do over the next three years to move towards making the vision of a joyful community a reality. We will make bold moves in innovative financing for affordable housing production, climate justice, and increased access to make childcare more equitable. Throughout our grantmaking and advocacy, we will remain committed to racial equity and justice, community organizing, and policy reform. We’ll remain steadfast on this journey until every individual has true agency and power over the direction of their lives and systems are not barriers to their success.

The path ahead will be difficult but I will not be deterred because I know what I’m after – joy. Not just for me, but for generations to come. Generations of babies that will one day grow and thrive as adults whose experiences are not altered by the impacts of systems that have failed to serve them. Future adults who will be able to move through this world without fear, with true freedom, and full of joy.

Investing in employee well-being: innovative policies and benefits

Investing in employee well-being: innovative policies and benefits

CURATED COLLECTION
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The COVID-19 pandemic served as catalyst for employers to invest more deeply and creatively in employee wellbeing, driven by fundamental changes to workplaces (e.g. remote work), implications for healthcare, family and childcare support, financial outlook, and more. Simultaneously, increased focus on racial justice and equity has heightened private sector commitments to inclusive workplace policies for marginalized communities. More recently, policy changes in the U.S. –  including the overturn of Roe v. Wade and the “childcare cliff” – have escalated the need for employers to increase benefits that supplement lack of government supports. 

Employees and companies alike are placing workplace wellbeing higher on their priority lists. 91% of employees find that their job plays a role in determining their wellbeing, and 57% report seriously considering quitting for a more supportive workplace. 76% of U.S. executives feel that expectations about workforce wellbeing are higher than in previous years, and 87% say that workforce wellbeing gives their company a competitive advantage. In addition to productivity and retention advantages, companies with higher employee wellbeing scores fare better financially, showing a superior return on assets, higher profits, and higher valuations.

When balanced with other core aspects of employee experience (including leadership behaviors and job design), inclusive employee policies and benefits can play a significant role in supporting holistic wellbeing. This Curated Collection provides the business rationale for and innovative examples of private sector wellbeing policies and benefits across five key areas: reproductive health, family care, paid leave, financial wellbeing, and mental health.

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Employee Impact

ESG Next: An Interview With Pivotal Ventures’ Renee Wittemyer

Posted on by Anthony Smith

At a moment of unprecedented attention, investment, and opportunity for the emerging field of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), leaders are asking: Who is best preparing their organization for the society of the future? Who is innovating today to meet decades-long environmental and social goals? Who is setting standards that catalyze their industry’s change for the better? Who is defining what bold and aspirational look like — and how best to advance that work in practice?

Enter NationSwell’s ESG Next, an exemplary group of investors, executives, authors, philanthropists, social sector leaders, academics, and field builders who are helping to shape business as a force for social and environmental progress, advancing — and even pioneering — the most forward-thinking and effective programs, initiatives, technologies, methodologies, practices, and approaches.

For this installment, NationSwell interviewed Renee Wittemyer, Senior Director of Program Strategy at Pivotal Ventures, about the power of thinking big, the unique outcomes of a targeted universalist approach to impact, and why the internal work that leaders do on themselves matters as much as the external.

Greg Behrman, CEO + Founder, NationSwell: Can you tell us how your professional and personal journey led you to the work you’re leading today?

Renee Wittemyer, Senior Director of Program Strategy, Pivotal Ventures: My journey to this work wasn’t the result of one big, defining moment; it was a series of moments that led me to where I am today. My parents are immigrants from India. I spent my childhood going to India every two years, so even from a young age, I was able to see stark economic disparities with my own two eyes. It was a formative backdrop for my experience of the world. After college, I spent several years in East Africa. I lived in northern Kenya and I worked with a group of women in Samburu, and I became very immersed in the challenges they face on a day-to-day basis: lack of power, an inability to negotiate with the men of their village, the way gender roles within their cultural norms dictated how they show up and what they’re able to achieve. I was there on 9/11, and I remember so vividly that they came up to me and asked me what had just happened in my country, because the men in their village were withholding that knowledge from them.

It was such a stark moment: I realized they were relying on me, an outsider, as their entire access to important knowledge, as a link to the outside world. I began to think about how I can create opportunities for women to access power and information, and how technology can help enable equity and agency. My time with them gave me the passion and the lens I have for international development, for women’s groups, small business, entrepreneurship, and technology — and the intersections between those passions. I found my way to Pivotal Ventures, building a strategy inspired by Melinda French Gates, focused on supporting women’s leadership in tech and innovation, and I’ve been here ever since.  Currently, I lead the philanthropic efforts of Pivotal, weaving in my knowledge of what it takes to advance social progress in the U.S. across all our areas of focus.

Behrman: How would you define this moment for philanthropy and social impact work? Where are we, how did we get here, and where are we going?

Wittemyer, Pivotal Ventures: One of the biggest ways that philanthropy has changed in recent years is that we now do a better job of using the inputs of communities most impacted and having leaders with diverse lived experiences at the table to inform decision making.  The field has also become more diverse, with new leaders coming into philanthropy with different backgrounds that shape their points of view.  These changes have happened because leaders have been intentional about inclusion – in making funding decisions and building their teams.  We have made a big step in the right direction.

Looking to the future, I think it will be important for leaders in philanthropy to learn from the different promising approaches to philanthropy and embrace the fully diversity of strategies that are out there and reflect the needs of different communities, rather than holding onto one relatively narrow approach as the future of our field.

Behrman: What’s unique about the strategies, initiatives, and approaches you and your team are leading at Pivotal?

Wittemyer, Pivotal Ventures: When I had my interview at Pivotal, one of the questions a hiring director asked me was, “Can you think big enough?”

Thinking big is core to us at Pivotal Ventures. We’re focused on expanding opportunity and equality in the United States, and we advance that work through high-impact investments, partnerships, and advocacy. When I started, artificial intelligence (AI) was one of the fastest growing fields with potential for disruption . Women are underrepresented in tech more broadly, but when we looked at the emerging field of AI, the disparity was even more stark. So we thought big: we looked at what was coming, and we started laying out the building blocks  of a strategy so that women are represented in AI and have seats at the decision making tables. 

Thinking big here also means finding great partners who are looking at the root causes and pulling strategic levers in innovative ways. I’m thinking about Pivotal’s partnership with Judy Spitz, the head of Breakthrough Tech AI, an incredible program focused on supporting young women in undergraduate degrees. Her research showed that women who graduated from school with the relevant skills for AI often got slotted into generic roles in the tech industry — getting a job in AI is hard when you’ve just graduated, and even harder if you’re a woman. This program helps women gain practical experience in AI through internships and portfolio-building projects with companies , so they have the skills and experience needed to get AI jobs.

Another area we’re thinking big is around expanding access to mental health supports for young people. Since 2018, Pivotal has worked to address really urgent issues of mental wellbeing among young Americans. That work has taken a lot of forms: we’ve partnered with Harvard’s Center for Digital Thriving. This center aims to provide mental health resources for use in schools, homes, and clinical settings. With the increase in mental health needs and the shortage of professionals and therapists, providing educators and parents with effective tools is critical. As a parent of teenagers myself, I understand the importance of guiding our youth to thrive in our technology-saturated world.

I’d also hold up our partnership with Surgo Health and MTV on a youth mental health tracker that will combine surveys, contextual data, social media insights, and personal narratives to enhance our understanding of the mental health landscape for young people and drive equitable changes.

These approaches emphasize timely and accessible mental health support, with a focus on BIPOC and LGBTQ+ youths. It’s part of our belief in what we call a targeted universalist approach: meaning that if you help the subsets of a population that are the most disproportionately affected by a problem, then you’ve actually created a solution that helps everyone.

Behrman, NationSwell: Which leadership qualities do you actively practice, and how do they contribute to your efficacy?

Wittemyer, Pivotal Ventures: I want to say to other leaders that the internal work you do matters. It helps you understand how you show up, and why you show up at all. For me, I am a social scientist, which means I am always asking questions and reflecting on my leadership and role in the world. I’ve spent many years listening to people’s stories. I’ve lived with entrepreneurs in Bangladesh, I’ve ridden on buses in Tanzania, all just to get a sense of the little nuances that make up people’s lives, the small things that come together to build a culture. My hope is that these moments give me insight into how people from these communities are feeling, even if they’re not articulating it.

I take this passion for listening to people seriously: it’s core to who I am. It’s as important to the communities in which you operate as it is to the teams you manage: how are your people feeling, what does team culture look like, and how can you encourage other leaders to be more curious about it?

Behrman, NationSwell: Who are the leaders that inspire your leadership?

Wittemyer, Pivotal Ventures: One of the leaders who inspires me is Ai-jen Poo, the co-founder and president of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and Caring Across Generations, is an unwavering advocate for both paid and unpaid caregivers. At Pivotal, where we view caregiving as an impediment to women’s advancement in the U.S., Ai-jen has significantly raised awareness of America’s flawed caregiving system. Her push for solutions like paid leave, a core priority of ours, is truly inspiring. 

I am also inspired by Dr. Alfiee Breland-Noble, the founder and president of the AAKOMA Project. Since the inception of our adolescent mental health strategy, she has been an invaluable partner, bringing critical awareness to the mental health challenges faced by young people of color. Her team’s groundbreaking report on the mental health state of these youths—highlighting the impact of racial trauma and cultural stigma—has been a catalyst for change.

Promise Phelon, founder and managing partner of Growth Warrior Capital also inspires me. Her firm’s commitment to changing our work dynamics and wealth-building opportunities aligns with our values, making them a key partner. Promise is revolutionizing the venture capital (VC) world with her AI-powered platform, which streamlines the creation of essential materials for founders seeking VC funding. Her work is paving the way for a diverse range of entrepreneurs.

These three women are linked by their relentless drive and the common challenges they face as leaders in their fields. As they gain power and influence, they not only excel in their roles but also pave the way for others, embodying the very essence of leadership.

Behrman, NationSwell: What are you reading that inspires your leadership?

Wittemyer, Pivotal Ventures: I’m also inspired by an upcoming book by Dr. Fei-Fei Li. As a computer science professor at Stanford with a tenure at Google, Fei-Fei brings a wealth of knowledge from both academia and the tech industry. Her book, “The Worlds I See,” promises to offer profound insights. Also, she is the founder and chairperson of the nonprofit AI for All, an organization we’ve been partnering with since my arrival at Pivotal.

Fei-Fei was one of the first people I connected with here. Her vision for diversifying the AI field is something I deeply resonate with, especially the necessity for greater female representation. This is crucial not just for reducing bias in technology but also for fostering innovation and economic growth. The absence of women in these conversations has significant drawbacks.

Her book is especially poignant as it delves into her personal journey as an immigrant, detailing how she rose to become a preeminent AI leader. It’s a narrative that’s both emotionally charged and intimately tied to her professional achievements.

To learn more about how our ESG Next honorees are shaping business as a force for social and environmental good, visit the series hub. To learn more about NationSwell’s community of our country’s leading social impact and sustainability practitioners, visit our site.

ESG Next: An Interview With Steelcase’s Kim Dabbs

Posted on by Anthony Smith

At a moment of unprecedented attention, investment, and opportunity for the emerging field of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), leaders are asking: Who is best preparing their organization for the society of the future? Who is innovating today to meet decades-long environmental and social goals? Who is setting standards that catalyze their industry’s change for the better? Who is defining what bold and aspirational look like — and how best to advance that work in practice?

Enter NationSwell’s ESG Next, an exemplary group of investors, executives, authors, philanthropists, social sector leaders, academics, and field builders who are helping to shape business as a force for social and environmental progress, advancing — and even pioneering — the most forward-thinking and effective programs, initiatives, technologies, methodologies, practices, and approaches.

For this installment, NationSwell interviewed Kim Dabbs, Global Vice President of ESG and Social Innovation at Steelcase and author of the upcoming book, You Belong Here on the importance of building a global learning community, the power of inclusive design, and the importance of centering the wellbeing of your teams and of other leaders.

Greg Behrman, CEO + Founder, NationSwell: Can you tell us about your professional and personal journey to this field?

Kim Dabbs, Global Vice President of ESG and Social Innovation, Steelcase: Belonging has been my North Star in the work that I do, both in the nonprofit sector and the corporate sector. I believe that everyone has a role to play in this, and part of my journey has been trying to figure out what each individual’s role is, and how to build safe spaces where everyone can be seen, heard and valued in the world.

That’s a journey that began in high school. I remember that early on, during the late ’80s and early ’90s, the AIDS crisis was devastating entire communities. I started volunteering with the AIDS Resource Center when I was a teenager, and through that, I discovered the power of collective action in effecting change.

When I was really young, I took a trip with the AIDS Resource Center to see the NAMES Project in Washington, DC. It was the last time the AIDS quilt was displayed in its entirety; it spanned the entire mall, showcasing art being used for activism and the power of collective impact. When people are confronted with issues in ways that they cannot look away from, that’s when real change happens. That experience truly kickstarted my journey.

Following that, I worked extensively in the nonprofit sector, focusing on arts, culture, and creativity, and the significant roles they play in the world. This path led me through endeavors into equity in education, and now into the work I do at Steelcase.

Behrman, NationSwell: How do you make sense of this moment in ESG? What is the potential and the promise, and where are the pitfalls?

Dabbs, Steelcase: We’re seeing before us the promise of collective action. Right now, I genuinely feel that a movement has been built. Everyone wants to make a difference, and how that difference is manifested varies from person to person, depending on the distinct capabilities or resources they bring to the table. But the task at hand is to align everyone towards the same direction. If we can build a global learning community centered around progress, that’s when real action can ensue. We have to approach this through a lens of abundance, not scarcity; through endless possibility, not fear. 

Yet, we all face resistance at some point in this journey. I see criticism as a good thing. I believe it always propels progress forward, and if you have criticism, it usually means you have a diverse range of people and perspectives at the table. But criticism can get unproductive when it comes at the expense of supporting one another. If we can center that support in our collective success when we make our criticism, I believe we can make a substantial difference in our lifetime. 

That’s easier said than done, and it’s important to remember that this is ongoing work. No matter the difference you and I make in our lifetime, there will always be another generation with their own set of challenges, and a generational workload ahead. Keeping this perspective in mind is crucial too.

Behrman, NationSwell: What’s unique about the work you’re leading at Steelcase?

Dabbs, Steelcase: We know that leaders at large organizations grapple with the questions of how to get better at actually sharing insights so what happens in Hong Kong can inform what’s happening in New York, which can in turn inform what’s happening in Mexico. The work that we’re doing here at Steelcase is about building a global learning community, about building the infrastructure for these conversations to happen. We focus on finding ways we can invite more people to the table, and finding more ways we can share insights, thought leadership, and best practices. The lab is really that community where we come together and say, “we’re going to learn from each other and with each other.”

That’s why we launched our Better Futures Community. Both our internal and external partners, as well as our clients and community partners, are involved because no single organization, industry, or sector has all the answers. The more we can come together and understand, the better. 

We do this through our Better Futures Lab, which is really about radically open innovation. We do this through the Better Futures Fund, which supports promising, new ideas in the areas of equity, education, and the environment, hoping to bring them to a point where we can design proof of concept together and then share it and embed it back into people’s value streams. And finally, we have the Better Futures Fellowship, which is an accelerator and incubator for bold new ideas around equity, education, and the environment. The last fellowship we had was around well-being and education, and the one before that focused on equity and education. We cover different topics every year.

A little bit of everyone’s involved in Better Futures at Steelcase: from our clients to nonprofit partners to architecture and design firms. A good example of this is our Better Futures work with G3ict. Together, we worked on understanding what inclusive design means for the world of work. We conducted a study with them last year to really build the blueprint for the inclusive workplaces of the future.

Because of that research, Better Futures helped support our own inclusive design practice here at Steelcase. As a result, we’re joining coalitions like the Valuable 500 to make inclusive design core to our strategy at Steelcase, and core to how we help create workplaces in the world. It’s really about understanding where that shared value lies, and where we have a chance to actually make a difference, impacting not just the lives of our employees, but the lives of all our clients as well when we bring these concepts into action.

We’re in it for the long haul. People talk about long-term value. For us, it’s always about understanding that change won’t be instant. This is long-term iteration, partnering side-by-side to say, “hey, let’s try to move the needle. Some things are going to work, some things aren’t, but we’re really committed to it.” And if we learn things along the way, we have to share it with others to shorten their innovation time concerning what works and what doesn’t. So, we’re constantly publishing, sharing, and using public forums to help people see and understand. 

With the launch of the lab, part of it is understanding that nonprofit organizations are often focused on the local level, which they should be, but they’re not often plugged into that global community. So, we’re trying to figure out how we use our global scale to help them see different perspectives, get to know each other, and understand new approaches.

Behrman, NationSwell: What would be valuable for other leaders in the field to know about what you and your team have learned?

Dabbs, Steelcase: Last year, our community was dealing with the trauma of the police-involved shooting death of Patrick Lyoya. In that moment, the first thing that we did was reach out to our community partners and give wellbeing dollars to the leaders of the organizations that were on the ground doing community response work, because we knew that there was nothing more essential than supporting people on the frontlines. I remember telling them, “You decide how you spend that wellbeing money, just do something to take care of you. Whatever it takes; you get to decide. But just know that we’re here to support you in your journey as a leader and that your wellbeing matters just as much as the people that you’re serving.”

The people on your teams are the people who are in this work, professionally and personally. We’ve learned that wellbeing is critical. How leaders take care of their teams, how leaders take care of other leaders — all of that matters. 

At our team, we start every team meeting with our team norms. And just the repetition of those norms on a weekly basis keeps everyone focused on the same things, helps everyone understand why we’re doing this work. Little rituals like that that are not to be underestimated in this really deep, heavy, forever work.

Behrman, NationSwell: To which of your leadership practices do you attribute your efficacy?

Dabbs, Steelcase: If you’re going to be a leader in this space and be successful in your leadership, you have to be radical and revolutionary. You have to act with bravery. You are delivering hard news to systems that don’t want to change. So in order to do this work, you need to have the resilience to be able to do that. 

We have to challenge the way things are. And if you’re willing to interrogate systems, if you’re willing to act with bravery, if you’re willing to speak truth to power, those are the things that are going to change the world. And those are things that I try to do every single day.

If a table isn’t set for equity and justice, I’m not going to pull up a chair to that table. I’ll build my own. 

Behrman, NationSwell: Who are the fellow leaders who inspire your leadership?

Dabbs, Steelcase: I think everyone’s doing tough work, right? The majority of people that I find incredibly inspiring are the people on the ground doing the work. I used to be a single parent, going to college, working two jobs, living on the streets. I’ve experienced homelessness. And to me, the people that I look at, it’s really, truly the people that I serve. 

When I look at the adversity that people have to overcome with systems that are difficult, those are the people we should really hold up as leaders. So there are people and organizations that obviously are making a difference, whether that be Acumen, Ashoka or others, that are building these powerful, beautiful networks to make impact happen. But at the end of the day, the people that continuously inspire me are the people that have the most to lose.

Mapping the LER Ecosystem to Drive Equity

Mapping the LER Ecosystem to Drive Equity

CASE STUDIES
Posted on
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Learning and employment records (LERs) are a vital solution to accelerating the uptake of skills-based hiring while empowering learners and earners to be recognized for their full set of skills from work, education, credentialing, service and life experiences. However, widespread use of LERs is often hindered by a lack of clarity and collaboration amongst the many necessary stakeholders, including employers, credential providers, learners and earners, and policy makers.

Therefore, Walmart brought NationSwell on to work with a Steering Committee of experts in the education, credentialing, equity and hiring space, to create an LER Ecosystem Map that would help people connect the dots across the ecosystem and more easily see how they can take action to drive equity through LERs.

Organizations in the LER Ecosystem Map Steering Committee:

  • AACRAO
  • Competency-Based Education Network
  • Digital Credentials Consortium
  • Digital Promise
  • JFFLabs
  • National Association of Workforce Boards
  • National Governors Association
  • SHRM Foundation
  • T3 Innovation Network
  • U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation

NationSwell worked closely with the Steering Committee to undertake thorough research to establish the goals and needs for the LER Ecosystem Map.

Through desk research, in-depth interviews, a diverse focus group, workshops, and months of cross-team collaboration, content drafting, design work and data visualization, our teams engaged 50+ individuals to help develop an interactive digital experience, accessible to stakeholders across the ecosystem, that clearly demonstrates opportunities for engagement, collaboration and action.

Through our three workstreams — establishing a hypothesis, research and development — the team discovered learnings, opportunities to drive adoption, and insights gaps that informed how the LER Ecosystem Map should come to life. The map launched at a pivotal point in LER development, providing many large and small players in the space with vital clarity on how to take action.

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