So I have been waiting to actually say these words for a while because I wasn’t sure if it would be possible to make all the details, odds and ends, etc work out. I am still not sure how smoothly they can all be worked out or how quickly, but I am sure that I feel really committed to this idea. So, without any further vagueness, here is an excerpt to an essay I wrote for the Philanthropy Journal and a link to the rest of the piece. I do hope you’ll share your thoughts and ideas with me and that you’ll be interested in joining the effort when the time comes…
A NEW GIVING CIRCLE WILL SUPPORT LATINA TEENS
A year ago, I was completing a book on Latina body image, overwhelmed by what I had learned about the many challenges that young Latinas face in pursuing education.
As a former teacher, I know all my students faced many challenges, and I certainly do not mean to suggest one group’s challenges are more important than another’s.
What I have seen in the research and in my travels across the country to promote Hijas Americanas, however, is that Latinas are falling the furthest behind.
The numbers and stories have stayed with me, and I want to do something about it.
So what to do? As a writer about social justice and philanthropy issues, as a former collegiate director of community services, as a first generation Latina and a first generation college student who worried endlessly about paying for my education, there was bound to be a synergistic blending of my experiences in the solution that I envisioned.
Ultimately, I focused on one of the hot trends in philanthropy — giving circles.
Throughout history, women have gathered together — in homes and churches, town squares and bodegas — to heal their communities.
Galvanizing our inherent sisterhood, we bring children to life, nurture the sick or weak, and love in unrelenting measure.
We change the world despite, or perhaps because of, our understanding that the world has sometimes ostracized us.
Perhaps it is no coincidence that when we gather as women, we gather in a circle. We sit or stand, palm to palm, shoulder to shoulder, each of us equal and able to see not just the eyes of those across from us but into the soul for which those eyes serve as doorways.
It is how we come together, certainly, and it is how we heal. It is how we stay strong.
It is in that circle that we collect ourselves, each other, our stories, and our purpose. It is in that circle that we nourish, encourage, and empower. It is in that circle that we celebrate and grow.
And so it is only fitting when the news of the day is not good, when it steals our breath like a dimming force, that we issue the call to the circle, return to the space that holds, heals and helps, and use that space as a tool to change the news. More…
Giving circles can be a great way to build community, increase the impact of your donation, and meet people in your community. There are some great resources on starting and managing giving circles at the Giving Circle Knowledge Center.
I’ve used the Giving Circle Knowledge Center at givingforums.org a lot in my research and highly recommend it!
Rosie,
You have given me many reasons to be proud of you but never more than of what you are doing here.
OXOX
Haddy
Rosie: As Executive Director of the Giving Circles Network, a non profit supporting Giving Circles throughout the U.S. and internationally, I wholeheartedly support this cause and effort! Also, while a U.S. Citizen now, I was born in the Dominican Republic and so of course am already familiar with your work and book, and have been discussing it with my sisters and girlfriends. We have been giving the book to Latina teens who are our friends, daughters and nieces. Both your book and this new Giving Circle are such an inspiration! Please let us know what we can do to support you! (Appreciate your email so we can directly correspond if possible!) Looking forward to hearing more about your Giving Circle.
I felt very touched by what I read in Calling the Circle.
Thanks for writing about Latinas.
I invite you to visit our site http://www.EducacionAlternativa.org
Please feel free to share any comments/ ideas with us.
Looking forward here from you.
Regards,
Mari Luce Fernández
Founder
EducacionAlternativa.org