The Hewlett Foundation has named Amber Miller as its new president. The selection of Dr Miller is a paradigm-changing move; she will be the first woman and the first scientist to hold the position, and she represents a new generation of leadership for the foundation. She will take up her responsibilities at the beginning of September.
Dr Miller is an astrophysicist who is currently Dean of The Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences at the University of Southern California. In her role, Dr Miller oversees a staff of over 2,000 faculty who teach a wide variety of subjects. In addition, she previously served as Dean of Arts and Sciences at Columbia University.
“At a time when the world faces so many critical challenges that depend on bridging divides and advancing human knowledge will build on the foundation’s long tradition of bringing intellectual rigor to our mission, while adding the insights of a cutting-edge scientist,” said the foundation’s board chair, Mariano-Florentino (Tino) Cuéllar. “Hewlett presidents are meant to be creative but also deliberative and collaborative.”
“The board cast a wide net and met with a broad range of candidates with diverse backgrounds and expertise,” said Hewlett Foundation board member Alecia DeCoudreaux, President Emerita of the former Mills College, now Mills College at Northeastern University, who chaired the board’s search committee. “The first scientist and the first woman to lead Hewlett, Dr. Miller is a pioneering leader in her field and stood out for her executive leadership, which blends strategic vision and a collaborative approach.”
“From addressing the climate emergency to improving the future of democratic and economic systems to supporting education and equity, the Hewlett Foundation is tackling the most important issues facing society — and ones that I care about deeply,” Miller said. “I am honored by the opportunity to lead this foundation…at this crucial moment when the creativity and flexibility of philanthropy is urgently needed.”
A California native, Miller received her B.A. in astronomy and physics from the University of California, Berkeley, and her Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University. She has been recognized with a long list of awards.
For the full press release, see the link below:
Press Release, Chronicle of Philanthropy
To read more about the Hewlett Foundation, follow this link to the website:
One: Some Good News: Arizona Pension Funds Used To Advance ‘Racial Equity,’ Climate Initiatives, Report Finds
A story on the MSN website reports that Arizona’s pension funds have repeatedly been directed to advance racial and climate-related resolutions at publicly traded companies. This information was provided by the conservative watchdog group American Accountability Foundation (AAF).
AAF was very unhappy to report their findings on the ways the Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS). A similar finding was published in February on the AAF website about the Nevada pension system. In both cases the pension funds financially supported a “woke” agenda that included environmental, social and governance (ESG) shareholder resolutions on issues including race, gender, climate and politics, according to documents AAF obtained through a public records request.
The ASRS covers more than 500,000 Arizona public employees. This number includes both state employees and personnel from schools in all 15 counties of Arizona according to the ASRS website. The system manages investments consisting of nearly $12 billion in U.S. stocks, according to documents it sent to AAF.
AAF claims there were 183 instances of ASRS supporting what the watchdog refers to as “woke” shareholder proposals. Some of these efforts are “racial equity audits, gender pay gap reports, efforts to defund conservative candidates and pro-business trade associations, radical climate policy, and pro-abortion initiatives,” AAF asserts.
As one example, ASRS voted to support a resolution for a “third-party, independent racial equity audit analyzing Walmart’s adverse impacts on Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities.”
“The Arizona State Retirement System acts in the best interests of the members and beneficiaries of the retirement system,” explained ASRS public affairs and media relations manager David Cannella.
To read the full article, follow this link:
Two: The Impact of LNG Plants Unveiled on New Season of Sea Change
One of the most immediate effects of climate change is rising sea levels. Large areas of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the US are already experiencing a degree and frequency of flooding unprecedented in history. Anyone living on the coast is now living on the front lines of our rapidly changing world.
To document this comes the second season of the podcast Sea Change, the 2024 iHeart Podcast Awards nominee for “Best Green” Podcast. Sea Change is a co-production of WWNO New Orleans Public Radio and WRKF Baton Rouge Public Radio . Each of these stations are part of the NPR Podcast Network and distributed by PRX.
Each episode of Sea Change focuses on the environmental issues faced by coastal communities, with emphasis on the Gulf Coast of the US. The episodes are certainly informative and occasionally makes the viewer angry–perhaps angry enough to take concrete action.
Highlights from season two include:
- The first episode examines the expansion of Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) facilities in Cameron Parish, LA. This is a local issue with global implications, featuring the perspectives and experiences of individuals affected by the expansion of LNG plants in the Cameron Parish area.
- Why the EPA dropped a civil rights investigation about whether Louisiana officials discriminated against Black residents when allowing petrochemical plants to pollute neighborhoods. As happens so often, communities of color take the brunt of environmental degradation, and women in particular have to deal with the consequences.
- Exploring what is threatening the US wild shrimp industry as the traditional coastal industry is on the brink of extinction.
Sea Change recently ran a special 3-part series with the Pulitzer Center’s nationwide Connected Coastlines, featuring reporting from Louisiana, Germany, and Japan.
The show is hosted by WWNO journalists Carlyle Calhoun and Halle Parker.
Episodes of Sea Change are available bi-weekly on Tuesdays on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
For a list of episodes, please follow the link below:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sea-change/id1676690009
More information about Sea Change is available here. You can listen to the show here.
Three: Pregnant Workers Fairness Act Takes Effect June 18, 2024
While the act was signed into law on June 26, 2023, the final piece takes effect on June 18, 2024, making the law fully operative. This final step comes 60 days after the closure of the time allotted for public comment. Over 100,000 comments were received.
In short, the law is intended to protect pregnant workers, or pregnant women seeking employment from discrimination due to their temporary status of being pregnant. It applies to all government and private-sector entities with fifteen or more employees.
The law covers any employee or applicant who can perform the essential functions of the job, and requires that employers make “reasonable accommodations” to allow the employee to perform those functions. The “reasonable accommodation” could be something as simple as providing a chair or stool to allow the employee to carry out the essential functions of her job, or allowing an extra bathroom break.
Please note that the need to clarify such basic protections in the law indicate just how unreasonable some employers may be regarding a pregnant worker.
The law also prevents an employer from requiring to take a lesser position due to her temporary condition of pregnancy. Below is a list of other prohibited actions as provided by the US Government website:
An employee must not:
- Fail to make a reasonable accommodation for the known limitations of an employee or applicant, unless the accommodation would cause an undue hardship;
- Require an employee to accept an accommodation other than a reasonable accommodation arrived at through the interactive process;
- Deny a job or other employment opportunities to a qualified employee or applicant based on the person’s need for a reasonable accommodation;
- Punish or retaliate against an employee or applicant for requesting or using a reasonable accommodation for a known limitation under the PWFA, reporting or opposing unlawful discrimination under the PWFA, or participating in a PWFA proceeding (such as an investigation);
- Coerce individuals who are exercising their rights or helping others exercise their rights under the PWFA.
Our thanks to the Equal Rights Advocates for making us aware of the law.
About Equal Rights Advocates
Equal Rights Advocates fights for gender justice in workplaces and schools across the country. Since 1974, they have been fighting on the front lines of social justice to protect and advance rights and opportunities for women, girls, and people of all gender identities through groundbreaking legal cases and bold legislation that sets the stage for the rest of the nation.
These US Government websites have more information regarding the law:
https://www.eeoc.gov/newsroom/eeoc-issues-final-regulation-pregnant-workers-fairness-act
https://www.eeoc.gov/wysk/what-you-should-know-about-pregnant-workers-fairness-act
Four: Roosevelt Institute, AAOKOMA, Among New Grantees of Melinda French Gates
The world is fortunate to have two strong women who have the insight, the desire, and the money to help us reach a world of social justice, inclusion, and a more equitable distribution of resources.
Mackenzie Scott and Melinda French Gates have the resources to lead this movement.
Scott has been working through her Mackenzie Scott Foundation in an effort to give her money away as fast as possible. And now French Gates revealed in a New York Times essay that her first project after leaving the foundation she co-founded with her ex, Bill Gates, would focus on advancing women’s rights around the world.
Pivotal Ventures was founded by Melinda French Gates. Recently, Pivotal announced a $1 billion commitment to advance women’s power globally.
Given the rollback of women’s rights and systemic barriers that block social progress nationally and globally, French Gates believes that the time has come to provide capital to people and organizations who are fighting to protect and further equality and remove the barriers that hold women back.
Two Groups named as recipients of funding are The AAKOMA project and the Roosevelt Institute.
The AAKOMA Project will receive $240 million as part of this commitment. Founded by Dr. Alfiee M. Breland-Noble, who uses the professional name of Dr Alfiee, is a pioneering psychologist, scientist, and author. The vision of the AAKOMA project is a focus on the role of mental health as a means to raise the consciousness of Youth and Young Adults of Color (YYAC).
Dr Alfiee and the AAKOMA ProjectWe believes that every child, teen, and young adult (inclusive of all points of diversity) feels free to live authentically as who they are within a supportive environment that allows them to rise and thrive. A crucial aspect of their approach is to overcome the stigma attached to mental health issues and help individuals who have been pushed out of the mainstream via racism, sexism, homophobia, and other identity-based trauma.
The impact of this donation goes well beyond funding. It represents a redirection of philanthropic leadership, to an organization led by a Black woman that will make an indelible impact.
The Roosevelt Institute also received a grant under the Pivotal initiative. Roosevelt Institute works to advance ideas that rebalance power in our economy and democracy.
The Roosevelt Institute is a leader in the movement to tear down those barriers by advocating for equitable policies and governance, working to shift power to consumers, workers, and families.
“At the heart of our work is a critical examination of who the status quo serves so we can imagine a future where the economy serves the many,” said Felicia Wong, president and CEO of the Roosevelt Institute. “This grant from Pivotal supports our work to rewrite the rules for a political economy that works for people who have been excluded—women, immigrants, and people of color.”
Below are links to the websites of the two featured groups.
https://rooseveltinstitute.org
Five: Excerpt from Op-ed by Grantmakers for Girls of Color
Last week, Philanthropy Women ran an op-ed piece written by Dr Monique Couvson. Dr Couvson shared some very incisive thoughts about the current status of grantmaking for women and girls of color. The topics she addressed are critically important, so below is an excerpt from the full article.
According to her website, Dr Couvson is …an award-winning author and social justice scholar with three decades of experience in the areas of education, civil rights, juvenile and criminal justice. Her research intersects race, gender, education and justice to explore the ways in which Black communities, and other communities of color, are uniquely affected by social policies.
First and foremost, we are facing a “pivotal moment” in the battle for civil rights. As we have reported, there is an organized and concerted effort from the right both to undercut funding for women and girls of color, but we are also seeing rollbacks to civil rights, gender justice, and social progress, an attempt to circumvent or overturn actual civil rights laws that have been on the books for decades. However, she also puts this in the context that we are in the midst of a generational transfer of wealth that will significantly increase the economic power of women and allow them to put capital into the hands of other women.
While recognizing that women are coming into a position that allows women to make positive decisions, Dr Couvson reminds us that the most marginalized populations also have the fewest resources. Today, less than 2% of philanthropic giving, or $8.8 billion, goes to women in this country (according to Women’s Philanthropy Institute). The situation is even worse for women of Color, who receive less than one-half of one percent of grant-funded dollars.
However, Couvson warns that, even beyond the challenges faced by women in general, and Women of Color in particular, girls under the age of 18 continue to be overlooked. When people see the headlines about money being invested in women, the assumption is that these funds are going to trickle down to girls, but the assumption may not be justified. Around the world girls of Color receive one-tenth of one percent of foundation giving.
Even beyond that, given the enduring grip of the gender pay gap that afflicts girls and young women at the outset and will follow them through their careers without strong action to correct the inequalities. Dr Couvson recognizes UKG’s Close The Gap Initiative as one example of such action. They collaborated with Grantmakers for Girls of Color (G4GC) , which provides resources explicitly directed to girls.
In closing, Dr Couvson admonishes us to remember that “Investing in girls and young people is necessary –and not just because it is the right approach, but also because we are relying on their labor, their activism, and their impact across every aspect of our society now.”
