It’s natural at this time of year to reflect back on work completed and to plan for the year to come.  This year, we particularly sought to understand the progress we’ve made against our strategic commitment to advance racial equity through our practices and...

The Fund for our Economic Future (“the Fund”) has been actively leading, championing, and pursuing economic development in Northeast Ohio for 17 years.  Like the Deaconess Foundation, any stakeholders in economic development – foundations, non-profits, universities,...

At the Deaconess Foundation, taking deliberate actions which advance equity for Black and Latinx individuals is a major thrust of our strategic plan.  One of the areas we recently decided to further explore is the way we use our investment assets, and their...

Back in April, I wrote a blog indicating the Deaconess Foundation was commissioning a report from our partner, The Center for Community Solutions, about the flow of public and philanthropic funds into the Cuyahoga County workforce development system. The objective of...

I find the idea of “systems change” annoyingly difficult to define and understand.  As I’ve tried to educate myself in search of a clear and simple way to explain it, I’ve run into many articles which have helped me, but provide only the most conceptual of...