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PRESS
Bi-national Initiative for Border Giving Comes to Brownsville
For immediate release
Contact: Michelle Jaramillo (619) 234-6620
BROWNSVILLE – As passionate immigration debates swirl in Washington, leaders representing 22 border communities continue to learn and collaborate on building homegrown philanthropic giving and improving quality of life in the border region, thanks to a renewed financial commitment by several of the country’s most prestigious philanthropic organizations.
The VII US-Mexico Border Philanthropy Partnership (BPP) Learning Community at the Rancho Viejo Resort June 27-29 brings together representatives from community foundations stretching all the way from Brownsville and Matamoros, to San Diego and Tijuana. Backed by grants from the Ford Foundation, Houston Endowment and 10 other national, regional and international funders, participants at the conference will have the opportunity to learn, network and expand their ability to run organizations that improve the lives of families and communities from both sides of the line.
The conference comes as part of a successful $15 million BPP initiative, which first began in 2002 to strengthen mostly low-income communities along the U.S.-Mexico border. In that first phase, six new community foundations were created, and 13 made stronger in the U.S. and Mexico. Through their local grant-making, community leadership and donor services, stronger border community foundations increased resources, opportunities and access to education, health and services for local residents. Last summer, BPP funders pledged an additional three years of support to the BPP and what are now 22 border community foundation members.
In a generous “plus” for Texas, the Houston Endowment committed $2.5 million to jump-start community foundations and local giving in the Texas border region. Foundations in Brownsville, Edinburg, Laredo and El Paso already are making progress toward a goal of raising $250,000 each in permanent endowments, inspired by the promise of $250,000 matching grants from the Houston Endowment. Grant money also is available to rent offices, hire staff and purchase necessary office equipment and supplies.
JPMorgan Chase, a global financial services firm, recently became the BPP’s first corporate donor, with a pledge of $240,000 toward the border community foundations’ family asset-building work. JPMorgan Chase is also the official corporate sponsor of the BPP conference in Brownsville.
BPP funders support community foundations because of their unique attributes: These organizations are LOCAL, and create a PERMANENT pool of money and talent to respond quickly and effectively to changing local needs. They are governed by a board reflective of the local community and use income from invested donations to provide financial and technical support to the local non-profit community. Using their native community knowledge and professional expertise, they help local donors fulfill their philanthropic goals by connecting them to the causes about which they feel most passionate.
Community foundations are especially distinctive in their ability to provide leadership on critical local issues. Most recently, supported by JPMorgan Chase and the Annie E. Casey Foundation, US border community foundations have become leading voices for asset accumulation of low-income families. In 2004, their work in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas helped generate more than 5,000 tax returns for low-income families, amounting to an estimated $11-$12 million dollars in earned income tax credits claimed.
Border community foundations are part of a “global movement” to develop local foundations to address challenges identified by and within the local community. The BPP stands out within that global movement with its bi-national approach, and its recognition that communities are not always defined by lines on a map. Along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border, communities are separated by vast contrasts in living standards and social institutions, yet bound together by culture, language and a shared history.
One emerging partner in the BPP is the Brownsville Community Foundation, host for the BPP learning conference. Since 1997, the BCF has awarded grants for several important local projects, including after-school tutorials for children in one of Brownsville’s poorest colonias, and specialized pediatric equipment for a non-profit clinic serving hundreds of local children with cerebral palsy and developmental disorders.
Another emerging partner is the Fundación Comunitaria de Matamoros, which has rallied more than 70 private and public donors in support of local organizations aiding youth and families, health care and cultural enrichment. Through the foundation’s work, local pediatricians are providing low-cost treatment for children with Down’s syndrome, and a new clinic project is underway to fight tuberculosis.
Donors and families alike appreciate what community foundations can do in their communities:
“We have seen changes you can not imagine,” says Alicia Gomez, who receives a community foundation grant for her after-school tutorial program in Brownsville’s Cameron Park neighborhood. “The children come in absolutely lost; they can’t pass the tests in school. They have so little, but with this program, they’re getting to a level where they can compete with the children who have everything. It raises their self-esteem.”
Brownsville accountant Richard Burton – a longtime supporter of adult literacy – says the Brownsville Community Foundation provides him with both flexibility in giving, and professional oversight.
“A community foundation allows donors with very different interests to target their favorite causes, or to join in helping the community in a much broader sense,” says Burton, a founding member of the BCF. “Donors typically don’t have the time to investigate charities and make sure those charities are using their donations the way they intend.”
With the guidance of expert speakers and experienced community philanthropy practitioners, participants at the June 27-29 conference will learn successful strategies to do the business of community philanthropy with a clear vision of a desired future. “In the first five years, the BPP focused on the nuts and bolts of creating and growing community foundations. Now the focus is giving them staying power to meet community needs for years to come. The critical question is: How do communities create saving accounts for their own development instead of continuously spending down their checking accounts?” says Ann Tartre, Director of the BPP.
To conclude, as any representative from the Border Communities Foundations would say: “What makes this unique cross-boarder initiative so special is that instead of raising walls, we are building bridges”.
The Synergos Institute is a non-profit organization that mobilizes resources and bridges social and economic divides to reduce poverty and increase equity around the world. Drawing on over 15 years’ experience in Africa, Asia and Latin America, Synergos serves as managing partner of the US-Mexico Border Philanthropy Partnership. More information is available at www.borderpartnership.org and www.synergos.org.