View Photos, Notes and Video from the Conference
Speakers and Workshop Leaders
Despite rain, mudslides and highway closures, close to 200 donors, grant partners and community leaders joined us in Santa Cruz for Connecting California 2010 this January 21-22. Many thanks to everyone who participated despite these odds and who contributed to our ongoing discussions on how to strengthen the social justice movement in California.
We met in informal workshops and in the halls to discuss topics ranging from social media to financial management (thanks in part to our fantastic community organizers who led these sessions).
We were also joined by the nation's leading women organizers and advocates to discuss the most pressing issues facing not only California, but the nation.
Jean Ross of the California Budget Project, Kim Klein of the Building Movement Project and Rocio Cordoba of California Latinas for Reproductive Justice talked in grim detail about the impact of hard-hitting budget cuts on California’s communities. (See notes from their remarks on our wiki.) Non-profit organizations cannot afford to ignore the impact of tax policy. We must work for tax reform as one of our main strategies for mobilizing resources. A stable source of tax revenue provides income for society’s key institutions: from roads to clean water, from comprehensive, accessible education to reliable health care. It is critically important for all of us to articulate how the shared benefits of taxes contribute to healthy, prosperous communities.
We must be bridge-builders and develop and deepening respectful connections with a variety of communities – even when it’s uncomfortable. Jean Hardisty, president emerita of Political Research Associates, asked us to recruit those who are different from us, as did Sissy Trinh who gave examples of how the Southeast Asian Community Alliance builds relationships with unlikely allies during tough campaigns. Linda Burnham, former executive director of the Women of Color Resource Center, called upon us to look at the gains we’ve made. At the same time, we have to take a hard look at the economic context in which those gains occurred. In many cases, there has been an underpaid, low wage workforce that has provided care and support to families, while women have become higher earners in the workplace.
In our closing session Linda Tarr-Whelan, former ambassador to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women and author of Women Lead the Way asked us to envision a nation with a "30 percent solution—when women make up at least 30 percent of governance bodies, whether parliaments, boards, community organizations."
We are honored to have hosted such an inspiring gathering. During the conference, we asked two questions of our participants:
What change would you like to see in the state of California over the next 10 years?
What do we need to do to get there?
View some of the responses to these questions, which were captured in a video produced by Story4.
View Photos and Notes from the Conference:
Information presented in workshop sessions and lectures at Connecting California 2010 can be downloaded from our Wiki page. Pictures from the conference can be accessed from our Shutterfly public album. For an overview on the workshops and keynote addresses, download our conference brochure.
To request a list of participants or additional information, please email info@womensfoundca.org.
Thank you to all of our participants for making this event a success!
Speakers and Workshop Leaders:
Nancy Berlin, director of California Partnership
Linda Burnham, former executive director of the Women of Color Resource Center
Carol Cantwell, financial management consultant
Margi Clarke, board chair of the Windcall Institute
Rocio Cordoba, executive director of California Latinas for Reproductive Justice
Lisa Fu, coordinator for the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative
Tracy Gary, founder of Inspired Legacies
Jean Hardisty, president emerita of Political Research Associates
Beth Kanter, author of Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media
Kim Klein, fundraising trainer and consultant
Jan Masaoka, director and editor-in-chief of Blue Avocado
Nayantara Mehta, attorney trainer with Alliance for Justice
Suely Ngouy, executive director of Khmer Girls in Action
Marj Plumb, lead consultant for the Foundation's Women's Policy Institute
Jean Ross, founding executive director of the California Budget Project
Elizabeth Seja Min, leadership coach
Eveline Shen, executive director of Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice
Whitney Smith, founder and CEO of Girls for a Change
Maya Thornell-Sandifor, senior program officer of the Women's Foundation of California
Linda Tarr-Whelan, demos distinguished senior fellow
