Hundreds Attend Forum Presented by Victoria Foundation and Rutgers University – Newark

Newark Future Forum Brings Together Thought Leaders for an Impactful Day

Hundreds gathered at the Paul Robeson Campus Center at Rutgers University – Newark on Saturday, Oct. 12, for the Newark Future Forum. Presented by Victoria Foundation, in partnership with Rutgers University – Newark, the one-day symposium featured local and national experts, residents, philanthropic organizations, and community leaders who discussed the pressing issues facing Newark and similar communities nationwide.

"The Newark Future Forum, held as part of Victoria Foundation's centennial celebration, was designed to provide the community with an opportunity to engage in thought-provoking discussions and gain valuable insights around the foundation's areas of focus: strengthening community power, fostering economic justice, and promoting youth self-determination," said Victoria Foundation Executive Officer Craig Drinkard. "It did not disappoint. I am greatly inspired by the amazing work of the people in Newark and beyond. The leaders featured in the forum stand for and lift strategies designed to strengthen and support all people. They make communities feel like home and worth fighting for. I am proud to represent a foundation that promotes these principles and values through initiatives such as the forum."

To kick-off the forum, Chief Vincent Mann, Turtle Clan Chief of the Ramapough Lunaape Nation, led a Land Acknowledgement in honor of Indigenous Peoples' Day and opening remarks were given by Victoria Foundation Executive Officer Craig Drinkard, Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka, and Interim Chancellor of Rutgers University Jeffrey Robinson. The morning plenary, "Building Collective Power: Community-Led Solutions for Equity and Justice" was moderated by Drinkard and featured esteemed leaders in philanthropy and social change: Lisa Owens, executive director at the Hyams Foundation; Jennifer Ching, executive director at the North Star Fund; and Nyoka Acevedo, fund coordinator at the Youth Organizing and Culture Change Fund.

The panelists discussed philanthropy's role in critical issues around the nation and how more needs to be done – financially and personally – by these organizations to strengthen the overall response to these issues. Additional topics included the power of organizing within the nonprofit sector to strengthen causes, pathways to greater collaboration and solidarity across sectors, offering practical examples of innovations, visionary perspectives, and opportunities for building collective power to advance racial equity and justice.

"All of us in this room have some form of institutional power," said panelist Acevedo. "Our silence – when youth are jeopardizing their physical bodies, their futures on climate, against genocide, against police brutality – is more than our tepid action. We should be willing to put our institutional reputation front and center, too, as an emphasis to offset that risk."

After the morning panel, Majora Carter – MacArthur Fellow, Peabody Award-winning broadcaster, lecturer at Princeton University's Keller Center, and author of "Reclaiming Your Community: You Don't Have to Move Out of Your Neighborhood to Live in a Better One" – took to the stage to discuss her experiences with economic development and urban revitalization during her lunchtime keynote address.

Carter spoke about growing up in the South Bronx and watching the disintegration of her neighborhood because of systemic disinvestment. She noted that communities of color were often used in the development of low value establishments that brought little wealth building to the area, such as waste facilities and power plants. She recalled walking through the neighborhood thinking she would be gone from this area soon, "planning her escape," as Carter recalled, from the South Bronx as soon as it was possible for her to do so.

Sometime later, Carter would go back and realize the potential within her hometown. She developed the Boogie Down Grind café in an old building in the South Bronx to provide the community with a quality business that would uplift the local economy without displacing residents. This has led to her stance that community members in neglected neighborhoods can come together to revitalize the area instead of leaving them behind.

"If people can invest their own best selves right back into our communities and keep their example and their money and their time so that we are building from the inside – really, truly building a level of social cohesion that exists because we feed ourselves with the idea that this is the place where we need to be what we want to be which builds power in every single way," Carter said during her address.

In the afternoon, there were three breakout panels featuring local and national experts, and each focused on one of the foundation's strategy areas: economic justice, community power, and youth self-determination.

"Community-Led Pathways to Racial Equity: Building Collective Power in Newark," which featured Ryan Haygood, Esq., president and CEO of the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice; Cuqui Rivera, outreach director at the Latino Action Network Foundation; and Rahsaan Harris, Ph.D., of Princeton University, panelists discussed their collaborative efforts across communities deeply affected by systemic racism and within the nonprofit sector, aiming to foster collective power for racial equity and justice. Some ideas discussed include democratizing access to philanthropy to spread power within the field, the importance of building coalitions, and volunteerism to facilitate togetherness.

Seventeen-year-old Domonique Bateman from the Maroon Theatre Project started off "The Power of Youth in Newark: Voices of Leadership and Stories of Action" panel with one of her original poems. She then joined the panel of young adults, including Marquise Wright from My Brother's Keeper Newark, Breanna Campbell of The Gem Project, and Lutfillah Chambas of the Sadie Nash Leadership Project, and they discussed several topics such as places where they feel the safest and their individual definitions for power. Answers for the latter ranged from "freedom" to "young people getting to decide what they want in their lives and having the tools and resources to realize it."

The youth were then joined by Tené Howard, executive director of the Sadie Nash Leadership Project; Amanda Ebokosia, founder and CEO of The Gem Project Inc.; Mark Comesañas, executive director of My Brother's Keeper Newark; and Tasha Grant, founding artistic director of the Maroon Theatre Project. Each panelist discussed their organization's commitment to nurturing young leaders' self-determination, collaboration, innovation, and community impact.

"Imagining Local Prosperity: A Dialogue on Building Black and Brown Community Wealth" brought together Adriana Abizadeh, executive director of Kensington Corridor Trust; Hazel Applewhite, CEO of Ironbound Community Corporation; Vivian Cox Fraser, president and CEO of Urban League of Essex County; and Nia Evans, executive director of Boston Ujima Project; for a thoughtful discussion about cultivating wealth and nurturing well-being within Black and Brown communities. While discussing how to help families get out of and stay out of poverty, panelists recommended offering homes to affordable housing recipients despite their credit score and the implementation of training programs and vocational schools where participants learn an in-demand skill.

After the panel sessions, attendees and speakers had the opportunity to network during a light closing reception.

The Newark Future Forum was a remarkable success, with many attendees remarking that it was an energizing day full of opportunities for collaboration, amazing speakers, and thought-provoking conversations.

"I am deeply grateful for all the hearts and minds that worked on the Newark Future Forum," said Victoria Foundation Vice President of Strategy, Impact, and Communications Sharnita C. Johnson. "Participants came from near and far to share experiences, knowledge, challenges, and successes that will inform Victoria Foundation's work. I am inspired and uplifted by the community's commitment to one another and to Newark."

For those unable to attend the Newark Future Forum, the panels and keynote address will be available for viewing soon on the foundation's website at www.victoriafoundation.org.

About Victoria Foundation

Founded in 1924, Victoria Foundation is a private foundation based in Newark, New Jersey, with an endowment of $300 million. Since 1964, Victoria Foundation has focused most of its resources on children and families living in Newark, New Jersey, with grants totaling over $340 million. The foundation recently announced a new framework that will direct its grantmaking, investments, and relationships on addressing systemic causes of generational poverty in Newark by focusing on strengthening community power, fostering economic justice, promoting youth self-determination, and responding to pressing needs. Learn more at victoriafoundation.org.

KEYNOTE ADDRESS - Pictured is Majora Carter at the Newark Future Forum on Oct. 12.