Veatch Grantees in the News 

In the last week alone, representatives from three different Veatch grantees — Southerners on New Ground, the Public Religion Research Institute, and United We Dream — were prominently featured in the pages of the New York Times.

This is not, as it turns out, unusual — nor is it by accident. Veatch grantees have been working for years to build the political clout necessary to have their voices included in powerful, mainstream publications like the New York Times. And Veatch has been a steady partner to these groups as they have worked to develop this capacity.

Our long-term and general operating support has helped lift the perspectives and work of our grantees within the national political conversation in critically important ways—helping to foster the socioeconomic transformation our country so badly needs. Below, enjoy just several of the opinion articles, new reviews, podcasts and videos that have featured the work of our grantees in recent weeks.

I want to conclude by acknowledging some incredibly challenging conditions facing many of our grantees in cities across the country. In the past few days — in addition to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, soaring unemployment, and protests in support of racial justice currently gripping the national — we've also witnessed: another police shooting of an unarmed Black man, Jacob Blake, in Wisconsin; the worst forest fires on record in multiple parts of California; and catastrophic storm surges in the Gulf Coast. Veatch supports organizations on the ground in each of these areas, all of which are working to combat the root causes of these racial, economic and environmental injustices. Our hearts are with them, and we will bring more updates about their work as events unfold. 

Joan Minieri
Executive Director

This week, Mary Hooks, co-director of Southerns on New Ground (SONG) — a Veatch grantee organizing in Black and Brown LGBTQ communities in the Southern United States — co-wrote an op-ed with Jocelyn Simonson, a law professor, in the New York Times titled, "The Power of Community Bail Funds." In the piece, Mary powerfully illustrates how bail funds are used to keep people’s lives from being ruined by exorbitant bail — a system that disproportionately impacts low-income people and women, many of whom are mothers. 

Mary writes: "Bail funds promote public safety, in small, non-sensationalist ways: They free people from the violence of jail, and allow them to fight their cases while keeping their families, homes and jobs. They build collective power by living out the ways in which the state should be supporting people in need rather than imprisoning them. Over time, this adds up to less violence and more security."

Read the full op-ed here. 

This past weekend, the New York Times Book Review included a write up of “White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity." The book was written by Robert Jones, Director of the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), a Veatch grantee that conducts independent research into religion. In the book, Robert calls on his fellow white Christians to extricate themselves from the notion — which he contends is deeply embedded in the practice of Christianity — of the superiority of white people. 

As the review, written by Jemar Tisby, says: "Jones builds his case with evidence, drawing on an eclectic blend of history, theology, sociology and memoir. His use of autobiography works especially well. Before the cascade of data can turn his narrative into a detached analyst’s clinical dissection of the problem, Jones gets personal, writing about his family’s slave-owning ancestors or his own teenage years sporting the Confederate battle flag on his car’s license plate."

Read the full review here. 

LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter Fund — a Veatch grantee whose work we fund to increase civic participation in Black communities — has been featured on several major media outlets in recent weeks.

This past week, she was a guest on the popular podcast, "Pod Save America." During the podcast, LaTosha talks about the historic nature of the Democratic ticket in 2020. With Joe Biden's selection of Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate, the country now has its first Black and Indian-American woman on a major presidential ticket. LaTosha gave voice to the incredible work of advocates and activists that helped make this selection happen. 

As LaTosha said on the show, "I felt such an overwhelming sense of gratefulness to all the women who had been disenfranchised, who have been marginalized and overlooked, yet they still persisted — that this moment was their moment, not the Democratic Party's moment, not just the candidate's moment, this was our collective moment.  Every emotion you can feel, I have felt in the course of the last week." Listen to the podcast here. (Starting at the 1:05:09 mark)

LaTosha was also recently featured on PBS's Amanpour & Company speaking about how progressive groups are adapting to the coronavirus era to fight voter suppression. "We've had to get creative, expand our digital footprint, and use technology in ways we haven't had to before," she said. 

Finally, LaTosha was a guest on Democracy Now — a Veatch grantee and media company committed to independent reporting and showcasing a diversity of voices — discussing the current President's recent Tweet suggesting he may try to delay the election.

"We have a president who is probably the most fascist president that we've ever had in this country," said LaTosha. "He is hellbent on pushing the boundaries, whatever he needs to do, to undermine and undercut democracy." View the entire video below.

José Garza, co-director of the Worker's Defense Project — a Veatch grantee working with low-income workers to fight for fair employment, education, and direct services — was featured on the CNN program, "United Shades of America," hosted by W. Kamau Bell. On the show, José — who is currently running for Travis County District Attorney in Texas — and members of the Worker's Defense Project discussed  the construction industry, and recent attempts to chip away at labor victories by misclassifying workers and denying rights won by the labor movement.

Watch the full video segment here.