Nonprofits in Southern California can play a pivotal role in reducing poverty by a) helping community members access and utilize public benefit programs such as Medi-Cal, CalFRESH, WIC, and SSI as well as programs that housing assistance or rental; b) conducting research that offers long term solutions, including positive changes Read more…
Nonprofits can go beyond providing services and basic needs. Nonprofits should be integrating nonpartisan civic engagement into their settings and support community and neighborhood leadership to help transform policies and systems that create barriers and challenges to get out of poverty. Also, nonprofits can help to develop the next generation Read more…
Non-profit organizations should not shy away from their right to advocate for policies that are in line with accomplishing their mission. Many organizations that provide direct services are in the best position to advocate for their clients and hold government accountable to spending our public dollars most effectively. Yet many Read more…
Nonprofits can work to uplift the voice of the community to identify the critical needs that communities have and to help shape the changes that are needs in our existing political and economic systems. They can also provide stabilizing supports for community members in poverty
Nonprofits can play a pivotal role in helping reduce poverty by offering programs to help people learn about financial literacy and develop family, life and job skills they need to find and maintain employment. In addition, nonprofits such as Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Inland Empire connect at-risk young Read more…
I can say from my perspective and from the perspective of my organization that we believe working to reduce wasteful spending on ineffective prisons and reallocating those dollars back into communities is certainly a key to ensuring communities are healthy and thriving. For far too long, mass incarceration has had Read more…
California is the home of a large and forward-thinking private philanthropic and social impact investing sector. However, private philanthropic initiatives are rarely well-integrated with public sector objectives and resources. Government should partner with private-sector and local stakeholders to support effective, evidence-based, and replicable nonprofit-run program models for revitalizing local innovation Read more…
General job-skills training, shelter, and day care can be offered by non-profits. Their efficiency is much greater than that of government; so government should help with the financing, but not attempt to take over tasks being better performed by the non-profits. Non-profits should be exempt from many of the impact Read more…
There are many outstanding nonprofits addressing the effects of poverty across Southern California. Like my own organization, the Hope Through Housing Foundation, it is important for nonprofits to address the multiple challenges facing families in poverty. Working with families in affordable housing, we recognize the need to (1) prepare at-risk Read more…
Non profits can help ensure that individuals are accessing the services that are available to them to get out of poverty. Non-profits should be advocating for the policies and budget allocations necessary to ensure that these services are available the community. Non-profits can also advocate to change policies that are Read more…
1) Address the scarcity model of fundraising with philanthropy so that we can all focus on how to really pursue our mission rather than being constantly beset by how we can sustain our budgets at any given year. 2) Create and collaborate on joint capital campaigns that involves state funding Read more…
These last two questions are almost identical. I will only answer once. Non-profits often promote a “victim agenda” that does no good for anyone but professional protesters. They need to focus on things such as training for jobs and also stand up to the regulatory state. There is much they Read more…
There’s no single top-down solution. It’s a big state with a lot of problems — and that will require many people voluntarily pursuing their own best goals. We’re working on creating workplace freedom for California’s public employees.
Nonprofits can focus their efforts on the neediest households in the community before providing programming to those who can afford to pay. Nonprofits can also collaborate with others serving the same populations to eliminate duplication of services and comprehensively meet the needs of those in poverty. ———————————— Additional thoughts Nonprofits Read more…