Engaging in Process over Product with Software for Social Change

In the last week, I experienced two completely opposite reactions, from two different partner organizations, to what was nearly the same discussion about how to proceed with the research and design of a mobile solution for a real-world human rights and internet freedom context. I wanted to reflect on these here, as I prepare to head west to Non-Profit Technology Conference in San Francisco to accept the 2012 Antonio Pizzigati Prize for Software in the Public Interest. I wish I had the chance to know Tony Pizzigati, but in lieu of that, I’ll do my best to represent the spirit in which his family honors him through this award. I also think that we would have gotten a long well, both as precocious kids hacking on neat problems at an early age, and as young adults eager to make an impact on the world.

Dispatches from the Field | Silicon Valley, Meet Silicon Savannah

For the past week, I have participated on a learning journey in Kenya organized by London-based Leaders’ Quest on behalf of the Rockefeller Foundation. Twenty leaders from around the world joined the Quest to explore opportunities for impact investing in Africa. Participants include such diverse individuals as the domestic investment manager of China’s sovereign wealth fund, the Chairman of UK-based Sustainability, the CFO of the Rockefeller Foundation, the CEO of Bangalore-based Rural Shores, and many more.

Impact Investments in Women

We talk a lot about how impact investments help people move out of poverty. But impact investments are not just about providing a job and an income; impact investments provide dignity, self confidence, and the ability to stand on your own feet. When that investment is in women, the impact is even more profound.

Mi Fortuna: Extreme Philanthropy on the Streets of Ciudad Juarez

Part 3. The following is a personal dispatch from a site visit tour by the
 Angelica Foundation and its program partners in the spring of 2011.
 Since then, the violence in Mexico has spread - exploding in some areas
 while leaving others untouched. Social movements throughout the country 
are gathering strength, but still face daunting adversaries. This
 account is intended to mobilize and inform fellow progressive
 grant-makers. The Angelica Foundation's Mexico Border Fund for Human 
Rights and Drug Policy Reform is now entering its second year.

Mi Fortuna: Extreme Philanthropy on the Streets of Ciudad Juarez

Part 2: The following is a personal dispatch from a site visit tour by the
 Angelica Foundation and its program partners in the spring of 2011.
 Since then, the violence in Mexico has spread - exploding in some areas
 while leaving others untouched. Social movements throughout the country 
are gathering strength, but still face daunting adversaries. This
 account is intended to mobilize and inform fellow progressive
 grant-makers. The Angelica Foundation's Mexico Border Fund for Human 
Rights and Drug Policy Reform is now entering its second year.

Super Poderosas: Powerpuff Women

Whenever I hear about “self-deportation” among conservative debaters, I wonder if they really know what that means. After my father’s sudden passing when my mother was just 24, she decided to emigrate from the Dominican Republic to the United States, in search of a more promising future – for both of us.

Mi Fortuna: Extreme Philanthropy on the Streets of Ciudad Juarez

The following is a personal dispatch from a site visit tour by the
 Angelica Foundation and its program partners in the spring of 2011.
 Since then, the violence in Mexico has spread - exploding in some areas
 while leaving others untouched. Social movements throughout the country 
are gathering strength, but still face daunting adversaries.  This
 account is intended to mobilize and inform fellow progressive
 grant-makers.  The Angelica Foundation's Mexico Border Fund for Human 
Rights and Drug Policy Reform is now entering its second year.

How to Celebrate Int'l Women's Day

Much has been made, and appropriately so, of Rush Limbaugh’s recent attack on a Georgetown student who was advocating that contraception be covered by health insurance plans. After calling her a “slut,” a “prostitute,” and suggesting that she post images of herself engaged in sexual acts online for others’ viewing pleasure (including his), calls for companies to pull their advertising from Limbaugh’s show have escalated. As well they should. But the truth is that this most recent birth control battle is just the most visible reminder of the ways in which women’s equality is still being contested and is far from complete.

In Memoriam: Kimo Campbell

Sadly, we have lost one of our own. James Kimo Campbell, long-time activist and leader of the  Pohaku Fund , a donor advised fund supporting environment protection, civil rights and Hawaiian sovereignty housed here at Tides since 1987, passed away on February 16th from complications due to Lou Gehrig’s disease. Kimo was a fighter, an activist who surprised people due to his fiscal responsibility. Known for not only his passion in righting what he believed to be wrong, Kimo shared his intelligence, fairness and his canny ability to work through complicated issues to insure successful solutions.

Why Is Black History Month Important To Tides?

My grandfather was the first, and only, black man to own a small gas station in Elkton, Maryland.  His business development strategy involved hiring a young white man from the community to play the role of “boss” while he worked in the gas station as “the mechanic.”  My cousin was the first black judge in Wilmington, Delaware.  His image was burned in effigy in the town square during the 1960s.  And then there is cousin Grace, devoted mother, wife, and deaconess at the oldest Baptist church in the city. She rose through the ranks of the state correctional system to become one of the first senior level African American wardens in the state. I am proud of my family, and the many “firsts” they accomplished throughout their lives. Their stories are a part of my black history.