... how long you've been doing this.

Sure.

We opened our doors August 1st, 2021.

A great deal of planning went into that moment.

We did the strategic planning.

We created operational plans, the whole nine.

Um, we engaged what I love to call a kitchen cabinet of women from diverse perspectives that helped to develop the mission, vision, values.

Yeah.

Wh- what did you hear ab- that landed so hard about that? What did it tell you?

I heard that specifically when we first went to Mississippi and gathered potential grantees in Mississippi.

What they shared with us was multiple things.

One, having to have their work justified or verified or validated by larger white, uh, mainstream organizations, that philanthropy would not invest in them directly for whatever reason, and that often they were named in proposals submitted by larger or white organizations.

They were included in those proposals as demonstration that those groups were either grounded in commu- community or had community partners, and then at the end of the day, they didn't see the resources.

They also talked about foundations who would come and do listening sessions or learning tours.

They would contort themselves to take funders around, to introduce them to community, to show them the work, the work at, you know, live and as it was happening, to really just orient them to their communities.

What would be the first thing you'd tell those nonprofit leaders to stop doing?