June 16, 2026 • 34 mins
Simone Hardeman-Jones flew into ATL to break down how she's reimagining what philanthropy actually looks like. As executive director of Green Light Fund Twin Cities, she walks into rooms full of wealthy people and convinces them to invest in the communities everybody else overlooks. We get into the Minnesota paradox. It's ranked number one in quality of life and dead last in the income gap between Black and white residents. Same state. Two completely different realities depending on who you are. Simone shares how Green Light Fund finds high-impact programs that don't exist yet in a community, brings them in, and backs them with $600K in seed funding over four years. We talk about the maternal health crisis where 95% of Black maternal deaths were preventable, the food logistics problem hiding behind 9 million food shelf visits, and why she stopped selling her community as a problem to fix. She also gets into what it means to be a Black woman asking for money in rooms that weren't built to welcome her, the difference between deciding for a community versus with it, and the fifth-grade letter-writing campaign that started it all. Learn more about Green Light Fund at greenlightfund.org Subscribe for more conversations on the business of culture.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, everybody, Welcome to the episode of but Tommy host
Brandon Butler FOUTACYEO Butter atl And today we got somebody
special in the building. Man.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
She flew in just for this conversation. We got some
good stuff. We're going to talk about.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
The one that only missed. Smoane Hardiman Jones, Executive director
of the green Light Ferment Twin Cities.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Now what you're doing, I am doing well.
Speaker 4 (00:20):
Thank you. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Oh, thank you for pulling up. Thank you for pulling up.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Thank you for coming down there for a second. You
know there's a lot of stuff going on. You made
it down here to atl.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Did you know I needed a little bit of sunshine
and warm weather.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Well tell me, tell me a little about yourself and
who you are.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
And what the green Light Fund does.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Sure well, my name is Simone. I have the pleasure
of being the executive director of green Light Fund Twin Cities.
I'm born and raised in Minneapolis. I consider myself a
third generation Minnesotan, which is something to be proud of.
I think the Twin Cities has become a home for
lots of folks who are what we call transplants, people
(00:57):
who come, come in, move there to, you know, for
jobs and careers, and so I think from the perspective
of being homegrown, it's, you know, it's a rare thing
these days. I'm a mom of an amazing eight year
old son named Leo and the wife of a amazing
spouse and partner named Chris. I am an identical twin
(01:21):
and proud to you know, be a leader in my community.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Wait a minute, so what's your twins? What's your twins name?
Speaker 4 (01:28):
Rachel?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Okay, so this isn't Rachel sitting here with us right now?
Speaker 4 (01:31):
You never know?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
So, so what's the Greenlight Fund?
Speaker 4 (01:36):
Sure?
Speaker 3 (01:36):
So? Greenlight Fund is an amazing organization. We are a
nonprofit philanthropic organization. We are a national network with fifteen
local communities or cities that we're working in and at
the most simplest way to describe green Light is that
we invest in community led change. But when you you know,
sort of peel back the layers, what we really do
(01:57):
is we go out, we listen and learn from our community.
City members are residents, and we want to understand what
the most pressing and urgent needs are so that we
can identify with them solutions, programs, resources that can respond
to those needs. So we are collaborators, we are problem solvers,
we're community builders, we're philanthropists.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Okay, okay, Now you know your background says that you know,
you kind of came up in a in a family
where you know, third generation Minnesota, and you know, came
in the family where public service wasn't really an option.
It was one of those things like, Okay, we're going
to find a way to do this. And you know
you've actually, you know, worked in the Senate, you've worked
with the Obama administration. Tell us a little bit about
that history and how that led you to doing the
work with the green Light Ones.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
So, like you said, I grew up in a family
that was really committed to our community Minneapolis and Saint
Paul in particular, and you know, finding ways to improve
the lives of black Minnesotans. My I always like to
share about my grand my maternal grandmother. Her name is
Ernestine Belton, and she was the force to be reckoned with.
(03:02):
She was someone who, you know, I think she was
a community organizer before we really knew that word, before
we called people that. And she always encouraged me to
identify a need or a problem in our community and
then figure out a way to solve it, so I'll
never forget.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
In fifth grade, I came.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Home with this assignment that we had to do this
advocacy project like identify a solution or excuse me, identify
a problem and figure out a way to address it.
And I asked her what I should do. I didn't
really understand what that meant, and so she sat down
and said, let's figure it out. And we after some research,
(03:41):
we've identified that there was a company that was sending
formula baby formula overseas to Africa to mothers in Africa
who didn't have clean running water, fresh running water to
make the baby formula properly. So as a result, babies
were getting sick. And so I launched this letter writing
(04:03):
campaign to this company, you know, asking them to address
their practices and explaining to them what was happening to
these mothers in Africa.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
And while I.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Don't totally remember the outcome, you know, I do remember
that was the first moment I was really inspired to
be a part of public service and giving back and
figuring out how to solve some of the problems in
our community.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
But I also just had.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
An amazing example. Other examples of black leadership. I just my
father worked for fifty years for the Twin Cities Boys
and Girls Clubs, where he has served as a mentor
and a leader and a guide to hundreds of young
people across our community. I can't go anywhere without someone saying, oh,
(04:53):
you must be John Hartman's daughter. And so it's been
you know, I've just had these really strong.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Role models who.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Led, and I got to learn from their leadership and
understand that community is a verb. You know, we we
do and you know, show up and support and effect
change in the ways that we can. And so that
really laid the pathway from my career, you said, I
started out in politics and public policy, working on local
(05:25):
campaigns in my community, and then going to school in Washington.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
D C.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Where I majored in political science and public policy and
decided I wanted to work on Capitol Hill and made
that happen. It was hard work, some of the hardest,
you know, most I think intense times of my career
that as well as working in the Obama administration, but
(05:51):
just an amazing opportunity to see how policy and legislation
happens and gets made for our you know, for our country,
and also I got to see sort of how how
it doesn't go as well as we would want it
to be wanted to and what h to really start
to imagine a world of what I would want things
(06:11):
to look like if you know, if I were in charge.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Yeah, no, you know you talk about you know, you're
born and raised in Minnesota. You now run the green
Light Fund of Twin Cities, and you know, Minnesota has
a lot of different interesting aspects going on, right, Like
on one side, it's a you know, the number one country,
it's number one in the country for quality of life.
But then on the other side, it's it's number fifty
(06:34):
and kind of the income gap between black and white residents, right,
and it's all happened in the same state. You know, Like,
how does the green Light Fund invest in that place
where there's prosperity but it's not reaching everybody.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Yeah, So those are exactly the cities that green Light
Fund wants to invest in. And you know, I think
the Twin Cities Minnesota is a really clear example as
you just articulated, of those deep rooted disparities. You know,
on paper, life looks amazing in Minnesota if you're white.
So we have some you know, we are often applauded
(07:08):
for being one of the healthiest states in the nation,
you know, great education system, great social service sector.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
But when you.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Pull back the layers and you look at the data,
that is actually not true for black and brown people
in the state. And so green Light Fund in twenty
twenty or twenty nineteen started to have conversations as a
national network about what it would look like to bring
their work as an additive solution to the local ecosystem,
(07:40):
and there was a lot of excitement and energy in
a new way to support the community through innovation. Green
Light Fund. There's many things that make us unique, but
we are really intentional about not reinventing the wheel, but
really bringing in innovative, high impact solutions that don't already
(08:03):
exist in the local ecosystem. And so we are after
having those conversations with local community members, we go out
and we look for programs that don't exist in the
Twin Cities but might be working well in Atlanta or
in Seattle or somewhere else.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
And we help them. You know, we have those conversations.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
To say, would this be a good fit for the
Twin Cities. So not only are we talking to those
organizations about whether or not they.
Speaker 4 (08:32):
Are interested in expanding to the Twin Cities.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
But also we're going back to our community to say, hey,
we found this amazing program. Does this resonate with you?
Is this something that you would use? Is this a
service that you know, you know someone would take advantage of.
Because we want to make sure that we are matching
the need and the fit and also bringing the partners
(08:55):
together to the table to make sure it's successful and sustainable.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Let's dive in on that a little bit, like, what
are some of these programs like, give me an example
of a program that either you all do their locally
in Minnesota or that you've seen somewhere else that you
brought back that was making an impact.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Yeah, so lots of great examples. Our first program in
twenty twenty that we invested in and brought from Seattle
to Minneapolis is called let Everyone Advance with Dignity, and
the acronym for let Everyone Advance with Dignity's lead and
it was. It is a case management program that is
(09:32):
really rooted in public health but also treating each other
with dignity. Seeing the humanity in individuals who are typically
cycling in and out of the criminal justice system for
low level offenses or behavioral health issues. And this program
really so this was in twenty twenty, right after, shortly
(09:52):
after the murder of George Floyd took place, and as
I was going out into our community and having those conversations,
what I learned and what I was hearing was that
the community was looking for alternatives to policing that were
really rooted in what I described LEAD as doing, really
seeing people's humanity. And when I discovered the LEAD program
(10:17):
and started having conversations with them, what really got me
excited was this new way of community safety. So case
managers are deployed into the community to support those low
level offenders in ways that build long term relationships with them,
but also built the LEAD program builds this new table
of people that are coming together to address community safety
(10:41):
in the community. And so we're bringing together the mayor
and the city council representatives, and the Public Defender's office
and the City Attorney's office, people who wouldn't necessarily sit
at the same table, but have come together in this
public private partnership because they saw the importance of this
(11:03):
program for the community, and so we selected that in
twenty twenty one. Roughly and once green Light makes a
selection of a program and we help it scale. So
we bring, we set up the infrastructure really to ensure
that it's going to be successful in the city. We
provide six hundred thousand dollars of seed funding over four
(11:24):
years and also collaborate and work with other partners to
make sure that this program is going to be sustainable
over the long term. So I want to make sure
that there are other funding streams that will support the work.
I want to make sure that there are other collaborators
and partners who are saying, yes, I love this program too,
and I see the need and I don't see anything
(11:45):
else like in our community, and I'm going to support
it as well.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
How long does it take to the program that that
from you know, idea, to actually make it an impact.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Yeah, that's a great question. So roughly nine to twelve months.
So we have the green what we caller green Light
method that really starts with discovery and again that's those
community conversations that we're having. But I'm also here talking
to the mayor's office to understand what are your priorities
for this year, What are the governor's priorities, What has
(12:15):
momentum in the community. In addition to talking to our
nonprofit leaders, our business sector policymakers, others, folks, faith based
leaders to really understand what they're seeing. And then we
also want to make sure we are talking to folks
most proximate to the issues that we're addressing. So, for example,
(12:38):
last year, we were talking about addressing the issue of
food insecurity in the community as well as housing, So
we convened groups of folks who wanted to share with
us their experiences of being unhoused or struggling to find
stable food for their families and kids, so that we
could really.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
Learn from their experiences.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Once through discovery, that's when we start to scout for
those high impact, evidence based programs that don't already exist
in our local community that we would want to consider
to bring into the Twin Cities, and then we select,
eventually select one organization per cycle we invest in it.
(13:20):
So that's investing that six hundred thousand dollars over four years,
and then the last step is measuring impact. I always
think about it as I am accountable to my community
members and I want to make sure that what we
have invested in, what we've brought into the community is
going to respond to those needs that I heard directly
from residents about. And so measuring impact is a really
(13:44):
important piece of our work, but also done a little
bit differently because we co create the KPIs the key
Performance Indicators with that organization, so that we are all
at the table together saying here's what we think impacts
should look like, here's the metric we want to change,
metrics we want to change, and here's what this will
look like for our community.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
When you're, you know, looking at these programs and you're
looking for people that might be doing stuff, what do
you Is it a balance between people that are already
maybe doing something that has momentum and you all can
kind of help amplify it. Or is it, you know,
more kind of building from zero from scratch, or is
it maybe a little bit of combination of both.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
Of those things.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
It's definitely a combination of both of those things. So
I was mentioning, you know, we want to see what
are the priorities, Where is their energy, what's happening there,
where is their support and collaboration? And also sometimes you know,
I think we're finding there is a true gap and
need here and this is the space that we can
greenlight has the opportunity in space to do something. But
(14:44):
one example, another example of sort of both of those
things is an organization we brought in called Earth, which
is stands for birth, but they drop the B for
bias and birthing.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
And over the last couple of years, what my.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
Team and I were seeing through research and conversations was
that black women in particular, Black and Native American women
in particular were dying at higher rates than their white
counterparts during childbirth. And we also knew that ninety five
percent of those deaths were preventable. So well documented problem
(15:23):
issue in our community, but very few solutions to address
those problems. And so we found amazing program Earth. While
so there was energy around addressing maternal health. The state
had just come out with a report documenting these numbers.
Our Commissioner of Health was talking about maternal health and
(15:44):
Black maternal health in particular, So there was that energy, there,
there was interest and also the research to back it up,
and we found this amazing program Earth that does two things.
It created has a technology based platform, kind of a
Yelp like platform where black and brown families, birthing people, doulas,
(16:06):
fathers can leave reviews, leave their experiences birthing experiences or
their partners birthing experiences, and then what Earth starts to
do is look at the data from those reviews to
start to think about how do we hold hospital systems
accountable and work with them to address these these concerns
with the goal of really reshaping reframing the practices of
(16:31):
our healthcare professionals. And so it's both an approach to
community building that the founder of Earth often talks about
her work as you know, the data she is collecting
from community is you know, what is going to hold
these hospitals accountable. And they're having an amazing impact. We've
(16:53):
built two partnerships in the Twin Cities with Earth and
one of their largest net hospitals in the state, and
then just recently at the Children's Hospital where they'll be
partnering with the NATO Intensive Care Unit to start examining
their practices and working collaboratively to better support black and
(17:14):
brown families and birthing people.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Yeah, and the reason why I ask is just you know,
for those might be listening if there are people that
are listening that are you know, doing programs and I
mean green lights and what fifteen.
Speaker 4 (17:23):
Different fifteen cities across.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
The cities, right, So there might be a green light
fund in your city, and if you're already doing some
work in the community, it might make sense connect.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Toal That's right, there's fIF like you said, fifteen cities
green light fund cities and including Atlanta, there's a green
light fund Atlanta doing amazing work for the last several years.
And you know, the beauty of being a part of
this national network is also being able to learn from
each other. And so some of the organizations that I've
brought into the Twin Cities I initially learned about because
(17:52):
my colleague and Atlanta worked with, for example, are brought in,
for example, a program called inter Explore, which helps address
mental health needs and issues for young people. You know,
we brought in an organization called Food Connect that I
learned about through my colleagues in the Bay Area in
Kansas City.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
And so we really have this amazing.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Network of people who are doing similar work but also
very but still very much rooted in their local communities.
So there Kansas City may not need the same things
that Minneapolis and Saint Paul need. But we still get
to learn, listen and learn from each other and see
what each other does and understand how to build from that.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
And now you're all, you know, going out here and
you building these funds. I mean, I know green Light
just did a fund for almost thirty million dollars and
bringing in different capital. But a lot of times that
kind of requires you to go into rooms with some
very wealthy people, yes, and convince them that they to
invest in poor communities, like what is that?
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Like? What does that sound like? With it?
Speaker 3 (18:51):
So you know it is it's Philanthropy is an interesting sector.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
You know.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
I think we at green Light are really reimagining what
philanthropy can look like. And also you know, are creating
true partnerships and collaborations because our work, you know, is
a little bit different than the traditional philanthropic organization. You know,
I think we see ourselves as innovators in this space.
(19:17):
And also, you know, as a black woman leader, it's
not always easy to walk into those rooms and and
you know, ask for money. I you know, I have
to be really thoughtful and intentional about how I talk
about our work, how I share our work, what the
impact is and you know, and I think, you know,
(19:38):
I think as as a black woman leader, it's it's
a space that hasn't always been the most welcome to us,
but one that you know, as as as I grow
in my leadership, has become more comfortable.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
I mean, I think I always talk about like the
importance of kind of being in the room. You know,
I kind of joke on a little bit from.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
Hamilton right now where happened, but you got to be
in the room.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
And I mean from my standpoint right as somebody that's
pretending marketing for like the last twenty years.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Right, Like, I've been in rooms where, let me tell you,
I've heard some stuff.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
I've heard some people that you know, you know, I
always kind of talk about this one example where there
was this one, you know, a nameless fast food brand
I know we are, and you know, they were doing
a campaign and you know it was like I looked around.
I was the only person that looked like me in
the room, and you know, they were saying, we want
(20:29):
to do some football season and they were like we
got this idea. We we want to get a gospel choir.
And I was like, oh, here we go yep, and
then we want to we'll give them boxes of chicken
and they're gonna be singing and they're gonna say, you know,
if if football is your religion, chicken is ours. I
was like like, yeah, I don't know if that's gonna work.
And then then one of the guys in the room
looks at me. He says, Brandon, what's that thing that
(20:52):
black people drink?
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Like water?
Speaker 4 (20:56):
Good answer?
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Right right? He was like, no, crystal, we need some crystals, Like,
oh well, just a watermelonbi, you know what I mean.
So I just said to kind of say, like, you
it's important to being these rooms. And I mean you've
been in rooms, you know, with the Obama administration, you know,
some power people making like decisions about you know, things
like education, and some of those decisions would really impact
(21:19):
you know, people that aren't in those rooms, right, Like,
how do you kind of think about the impact of
what happens? Again, you're important of being in those rooms
to help make sure that you're guiding and providing you know,
thoughtful insights so that those so that you know they're
not they're not showing up in the in the neighborhoods
with you know, buckets and chicken at the church.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
Right.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
So one thing I've been really thoughtful about is my narrative,
you know, and I think it's important to that. Our
natural inclination, for whatever reason, is to frame things as
a deficit. You know, black kids are you know, you know,
sixty percent of making this up, but sixty percent of
(21:57):
black kids aren't at reading level by third grade.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
You know.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
But what I've really I've stopped doing that. I don't
like doing that. What I want to do is say,
dream with me, what is your vision for our community,
for the place that you live. You may not look
like me, you may not look like some of the
people many of the people that we're serving, but I'm
willing to bet that you want the same things for
(22:24):
your kids or your grandkids and your your life, you know,
your your city, your community. And so I really start
those conversations with let's dream together and let's think about,
you know, what we want this community to feel like?
Be like, what do we want our people to experience?
And I find that if I anchored there, it takes
(22:45):
people along on a journey that doesn't keep you keep
them sort of in this negative or deficit framed mindset,
but also get some excited, but get some excited about
what's possible and what they're investing in and what they
want to what they want to buy into.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
And that's what you kind of call reimagining.
Speaker 4 (23:03):
Philanthroy Bright, that's right, That's exactly right.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
I think we have this opportunity to really think about Well,
I'll back up and say I get I even in
my work leading green Light, when I go out to
those for those community conversations, I really ask my community members,
what are your dreams for your community?
Speaker 4 (23:23):
What are your dreams for your kids?
Speaker 3 (23:24):
And if we anchor there's something about that dreaming isn't
a natural thing to people, for people myself included, But
if we I think it's if we anchor there, it
just starts to shift the conversation and shift the way
that we think and the way and the goals that.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
We set for ourselves.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
And you know, I think it just opens the doors
to what's possible.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
No, So that's actually a really interesting way of kind
of like, you know, frame it right, because you can
almost to your point framing it is starting at a
deficit from a negative place, which again is I have
whether people realize if that's going to come with certain
feelings and emotions, but like the kind of automatically refa
reframe it is dreaming kind of you know, puts people
in a different mindset. And then also it makes them
feel like they're kind of like co building something together
(24:12):
because those are the best opportunities, right, is that when
you're working.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
My guess is that's what you do on all sides.
Like you're you're, you're you're.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
You're getting insights in the community, from the parents, from
the doctors, from people.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
On the ground.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
You you're getting those people in the rooms that have
the funds to help make that stuff impact. You're saying, look,
I understand them. Now let's dream together about what all
this looks like. What is there another example of another
program that's kind of like near and dear to your
heart of something that you all launched, it's really made
an impact.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
Yeah, so, I mean all of them feel like my babies.
But another I think one really amazing example, especially because
of what's been happening in the Twin Cities metro area
over the last couple of months, is an organization called
food Connect.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
It's i'll serve as organization called food Connect because.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
Food Connect is is an organization that helps with logistics.
So I can back up and share a little bit
about what we were learning in our community over the
last year, which was one food shale visits you know,
skyrocketed to nine million. I think it was the highest
number of foods heal visits historically in our community. And
(25:23):
so there was this huge need for access to food
and for some reason, the community hadn't quite figured out
how to get food from point A to point B.
The things that we were hearing, the key piece that
I was hearing rather was that there's not a shortage.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
Of food in our community.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
We have a shortage of ways to get the food
to where it needs to go. And so we learned
that we really had a logistics problem as well as
a lack of We weren't using technology to the best
of and the best ways to really figure out how
to tackle this problem. And so we you know, again,
(26:05):
I mentioned food Connect because I had the benefit of
learning about it through my colleagues in the Bay Area
and in Kansas City, and you got to go see
what the work looked like in person in Kansas City,
and really it started to see that, you know, with
this support of this or an organization like Food connect
they could really I mean, they are problem solvers. They
(26:26):
come in and they I mean much like you know.
I think I think of them very similarly to the
way that green Light operates, and that they will go
in and sit down and say where are your pain points,
where are your problems, what are your challenges, and how
can we help support you. Sometimes that means deploying you know,
trucks and drivers out into the community to get the food,
you know, truckload of turkeys for things, giving to food
(26:50):
banks or food shelves that can actually safely house those
because what we were seeing was that there wasn't always
the proper refrigeration for for loads of food, so as
a result, they're getting wasted. They're able to get meals
delivered to Native elders in South Minneapolis because they have
(27:11):
which the program was previously staffed by volunteers and now
food with Food Connects support, they have people who are
able to get those boxes delivered within on time rate
in lieu of or in partnership with those volunteers. But
I think what I really want to point out is
that this organization really stepped up during Operation Metro surge
(27:35):
when we had the influx of ice agents in our community,
and we know that our community members, black and brown
community members in particular, were not leaving their homes and
but in need of support and food. Connect was able
to step in and support the local food ecosystem in
(27:57):
ways that I couldn't have even predicted or imagined. End
over a year ago when I selected them for green
Light Fund twin Cities, we knew there was a need then.
But what they've been able to do, particularly over these
last three to four or five months and still ongoing,
I will, I should add, has been nothing short of amazing.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Now, you know Atlanta, Atlanta's a black city. You know,
we call those the Black Meca. But we're not perfect
down here. A lot of people don't know. You know,
Atlanta has about I think it's like a ninety ninety
to ninety.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Five percent upper milliar rate.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
So essentially, if you're born in poverty, there's a ninety
five percent chance you'll stay there. And a lot of
people don't necessarily realize that. What all the things you
see going on out here, but those are the things
we're dealing right, you know, even though you're in Minneapolis
You know, most people don't necessarily think of the Twin
Cities in a black city, right, Like, what does black
Minneapolis look like? You know that a lot of people
don't know that. You want to make sure you're sharing,
(28:51):
you know, those under those parts because I've been up there,
I've hung out, I got some friends of Minnesota.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
I had a good time with it.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
I was like, Okay, but I don't think a lot
of people see this, Like what do people need to
know about you know that black Minnesota?
Speaker 3 (29:01):
One that there are black people in Minnesota. I went
to school. I went to college in Washington, d c.
And the most frequent question I get would get was
are you sure there are black people in Minnesota? Or
they'd say, oh, it's just you and Prince and Kirby
Puckett who used to play for the Minnesota Twins. Yes, yes,
so yes, there are. There is a thriving black community.
(29:24):
And in fact, I would say that there is a
thriving multicultural community in Minnesota and in the Twin Cities.
We are known to be somewhat of a melting pot
of you we have people coming from from all over
the world, whether it's Somalia, Liberia, you know, it's just
(29:46):
an amazing community of people who I think there was
examples of this all over the news, the national news
over the last few months. Amazing community of people who
come together to support each other, especially when things are
hard and things are unjust and unfair. So I want
(30:07):
you to know that that what you saw was real
and true. And you know, I think there is if
to put a finer point on the black community in
the Twin Cities, we have amazing leaders across the local
ecosystem who are committed to improving the lives of Black
Minnesotans in particular, but and knowing that once we do that,
(30:31):
it improves the lives for every lives for everyone.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Is there something about, you know, philanthropy in general and
kind of how it really works that you don't think
a lot of people really understand or ready to hear it? Yet,
say the question one more time, is there's something about
philanthropy and like how philanthropy actually works behind the scenes
that you think that people don't really understand or they
might not be ready to hear.
Speaker 4 (30:51):
So that's a great question. I think that.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
Philanthropy is starting to shift. I think that what people
often people probably often think you know, there are these
foundations or organizations that have a ton of money and
you know, they give the money out and they make
you report back to them of what you did with
the money. And I think what I would want people
(31:18):
to understand, especially with green Light Fund, but I think
this is true. I'm seeing a shift across sector is
that community based, trust based philanthropy is really important and
critical to ensuring that we are listening and truly listening
and learning authentically, not just saying it, not just checking
(31:40):
a box, not just you.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
Know, convening you know, one working.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
Group or community conversation, but actually, you know, going out
and listening to people's people who are most proximate to
those issues before making any decisions. And I would say
for green Light Fund, we don't make we make those
decisions in partnership with community. So if there's you know,
if I have and this has happened for me, where
(32:07):
there is an organization that I was considering and thought, oh,
this would be a really great opportunity, but after having
conversations with residents and with other nonprofit leaders, realized that
this wasn't the right fit. This organization was not going
to be the right fit for us. At this time,
and so we had to say no, we And so
you know, I think really talking about making those decisions
(32:30):
not for but with is an important piece that people
don't often think about because it's just not it's I
think it's still rare, but I think it's coming to
the forefront more often.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
Absolutely looks the moments has been an amazing conversation. I mean,
the work you' all dealing with the green Light Fund
and Twin Stays is great and it's making an amazing impact.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
You know, before we.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
Get out of here, could you please tell people if
they want to learn more, get in contact and definitely
want to give you all some money whatever it is like.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Give them all. This takes your money, give all the things.
How do you make any consent?
Speaker 1 (33:02):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (33:03):
So, our website is www dot green Light fund dot org.
We are a network of fifteen cities across the country,
so you can click on any of those cities. Go
to the Twin Cities first, of course, learn more about
what we're doing in the in Minneapolis and Saint Paul.
We always welcome folks to give or if you want
to learn more, please reach out.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Absolutely well, like I said, y'all doing some amazing work.
Thank you for making an impact up there. I've learned,
I've learned a lot of about Minnesota in this conversation.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
You know.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
Again, Yeah, I thought it was just Curby fuckingting printing
you out there, and I learned it's a.
Speaker 4 (33:35):
Whole other community, broad community.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
You know, and all these amazing things happen. And again,
it's really important work you're doing too. Like I said,
you know, they're number one in quality of life, but
that that that income gap is huge and that's something
that you know, we need people paying attention to up
there anywhere that black people are at specifically too. So
thank you for doing the work in the community and
just helping make sure that gets out here and you know,
keep it up and with that yet said y'all that's
(33:59):
the pod.
Speaker 4 (33:59):
Yeah, thank you,
Hey, everybody, Welcome to the episode of but Tommy host
Brandon Butler FOUTACYEO Butter atl And today we got somebody
special in the building. Man.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
She flew in just for this conversation. We got some
good stuff. We're going to talk about.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
The one that only missed. Smoane Hardiman Jones, Executive director
of the green Light Ferment Twin Cities.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Now what you're doing, I am doing well.
Speaker 4 (00:20):
Thank you. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Oh, thank you for pulling up. Thank you for pulling up.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Thank you for coming down there for a second. You
know there's a lot of stuff going on. You made
it down here to atl.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Did you know I needed a little bit of sunshine
and warm weather.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Well tell me, tell me a little about yourself and
who you are.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
And what the green Light Fund does.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Sure well, my name is Simone. I have the pleasure
of being the executive director of green Light Fund Twin Cities.
I'm born and raised in Minneapolis. I consider myself a
third generation Minnesotan, which is something to be proud of.
I think the Twin Cities has become a home for
lots of folks who are what we call transplants, people
(00:57):
who come, come in, move there to, you know, for
jobs and careers, and so I think from the perspective
of being homegrown, it's, you know, it's a rare thing
these days. I'm a mom of an amazing eight year
old son named Leo and the wife of a amazing
spouse and partner named Chris. I am an identical twin
(01:21):
and proud to you know, be a leader in my community.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Wait a minute, so what's your twins? What's your twins name?
Speaker 4 (01:28):
Rachel?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Okay, so this isn't Rachel sitting here with us right now?
Speaker 4 (01:31):
You never know?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
So, so what's the Greenlight Fund?
Speaker 4 (01:36):
Sure?
Speaker 3 (01:36):
So? Greenlight Fund is an amazing organization. We are a
nonprofit philanthropic organization. We are a national network with fifteen
local communities or cities that we're working in and at
the most simplest way to describe green Light is that
we invest in community led change. But when you you know,
sort of peel back the layers, what we really do
(01:57):
is we go out, we listen and learn from our community.
City members are residents, and we want to understand what
the most pressing and urgent needs are so that we
can identify with them solutions, programs, resources that can respond
to those needs. So we are collaborators, we are problem solvers,
we're community builders, we're philanthropists.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Okay, okay, Now you know your background says that you know,
you kind of came up in a in a family
where you know, third generation Minnesota, and you know, came
in the family where public service wasn't really an option.
It was one of those things like, Okay, we're going
to find a way to do this. And you know
you've actually, you know, worked in the Senate, you've worked
with the Obama administration. Tell us a little bit about
that history and how that led you to doing the
work with the green Light Ones.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
So, like you said, I grew up in a family
that was really committed to our community Minneapolis and Saint
Paul in particular, and you know, finding ways to improve
the lives of black Minnesotans. My I always like to
share about my grand my maternal grandmother. Her name is
Ernestine Belton, and she was the force to be reckoned with.
(03:02):
She was someone who, you know, I think she was
a community organizer before we really knew that word, before
we called people that. And she always encouraged me to
identify a need or a problem in our community and
then figure out a way to solve it, so I'll
never forget.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
In fifth grade, I came.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Home with this assignment that we had to do this
advocacy project like identify a solution or excuse me, identify
a problem and figure out a way to address it.
And I asked her what I should do. I didn't
really understand what that meant, and so she sat down
and said, let's figure it out. And we after some research,
(03:41):
we've identified that there was a company that was sending
formula baby formula overseas to Africa to mothers in Africa
who didn't have clean running water, fresh running water to
make the baby formula properly. So as a result, babies
were getting sick. And so I launched this letter writing
(04:03):
campaign to this company, you know, asking them to address
their practices and explaining to them what was happening to
these mothers in Africa.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
And while I.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Don't totally remember the outcome, you know, I do remember
that was the first moment I was really inspired to
be a part of public service and giving back and
figuring out how to solve some of the problems in
our community.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
But I also just had.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
An amazing example. Other examples of black leadership. I just my
father worked for fifty years for the Twin Cities Boys
and Girls Clubs, where he has served as a mentor
and a leader and a guide to hundreds of young
people across our community. I can't go anywhere without someone saying, oh,
(04:53):
you must be John Hartman's daughter. And so it's been
you know, I've just had these really strong.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Role models who.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Led, and I got to learn from their leadership and
understand that community is a verb. You know, we we
do and you know, show up and support and effect
change in the ways that we can. And so that
really laid the pathway from my career, you said, I
started out in politics and public policy, working on local
(05:25):
campaigns in my community, and then going to school in Washington.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
D C.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Where I majored in political science and public policy and
decided I wanted to work on Capitol Hill and made
that happen. It was hard work, some of the hardest,
you know, most I think intense times of my career
that as well as working in the Obama administration, but
(05:51):
just an amazing opportunity to see how policy and legislation
happens and gets made for our you know, for our country,
and also I got to see sort of how how
it doesn't go as well as we would want it
to be wanted to and what h to really start
to imagine a world of what I would want things
(06:11):
to look like if you know, if I were in charge.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Yeah, no, you know you talk about you know, you're
born and raised in Minnesota. You now run the green
Light Fund of Twin Cities, and you know, Minnesota has
a lot of different interesting aspects going on, right, Like
on one side, it's a you know, the number one country,
it's number one in the country for quality of life.
But then on the other side, it's it's number fifty
(06:34):
and kind of the income gap between black and white residents, right,
and it's all happened in the same state. You know, Like,
how does the green Light Fund invest in that place
where there's prosperity but it's not reaching everybody.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Yeah, So those are exactly the cities that green Light
Fund wants to invest in. And you know, I think
the Twin Cities Minnesota is a really clear example as
you just articulated, of those deep rooted disparities. You know,
on paper, life looks amazing in Minnesota if you're white.
So we have some you know, we are often applauded
(07:08):
for being one of the healthiest states in the nation,
you know, great education system, great social service sector.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
But when you.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Pull back the layers and you look at the data,
that is actually not true for black and brown people
in the state. And so green Light Fund in twenty
twenty or twenty nineteen started to have conversations as a
national network about what it would look like to bring
their work as an additive solution to the local ecosystem,
(07:40):
and there was a lot of excitement and energy in
a new way to support the community through innovation. Green
Light Fund. There's many things that make us unique, but
we are really intentional about not reinventing the wheel, but
really bringing in innovative, high impact solutions that don't already
(08:03):
exist in the local ecosystem. And so we are after
having those conversations with local community members, we go out
and we look for programs that don't exist in the
Twin Cities but might be working well in Atlanta or
in Seattle or somewhere else.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
And we help them. You know, we have those conversations.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
To say, would this be a good fit for the
Twin Cities. So not only are we talking to those
organizations about whether or not they.
Speaker 4 (08:32):
Are interested in expanding to the Twin Cities.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
But also we're going back to our community to say, hey,
we found this amazing program. Does this resonate with you?
Is this something that you would use? Is this a
service that you know, you know someone would take advantage of.
Because we want to make sure that we are matching
the need and the fit and also bringing the partners
(08:55):
together to the table to make sure it's successful and sustainable.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Let's dive in on that a little bit, like, what
are some of these programs like, give me an example
of a program that either you all do their locally
in Minnesota or that you've seen somewhere else that you
brought back that was making an impact.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Yeah, so lots of great examples. Our first program in
twenty twenty that we invested in and brought from Seattle
to Minneapolis is called let Everyone Advance with Dignity, and
the acronym for let Everyone Advance with Dignity's lead and
it was. It is a case management program that is
(09:32):
really rooted in public health but also treating each other
with dignity. Seeing the humanity in individuals who are typically
cycling in and out of the criminal justice system for
low level offenses or behavioral health issues. And this program
really so this was in twenty twenty, right after, shortly
(09:52):
after the murder of George Floyd took place, and as
I was going out into our community and having those conversations,
what I learned and what I was hearing was that
the community was looking for alternatives to policing that were
really rooted in what I described LEAD as doing, really
seeing people's humanity. And when I discovered the LEAD program
(10:17):
and started having conversations with them, what really got me
excited was this new way of community safety. So case
managers are deployed into the community to support those low
level offenders in ways that build long term relationships with them,
but also built the LEAD program builds this new table
of people that are coming together to address community safety
(10:41):
in the community. And so we're bringing together the mayor
and the city council representatives, and the Public Defender's office
and the City Attorney's office, people who wouldn't necessarily sit
at the same table, but have come together in this
public private partnership because they saw the importance of this
(11:03):
program for the community, and so we selected that in
twenty twenty one. Roughly and once green Light makes a
selection of a program and we help it scale. So
we bring, we set up the infrastructure really to ensure
that it's going to be successful in the city. We
provide six hundred thousand dollars of seed funding over four
(11:24):
years and also collaborate and work with other partners to
make sure that this program is going to be sustainable
over the long term. So I want to make sure
that there are other funding streams that will support the work.
I want to make sure that there are other collaborators
and partners who are saying, yes, I love this program too,
and I see the need and I don't see anything
(11:45):
else like in our community, and I'm going to support
it as well.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
How long does it take to the program that that
from you know, idea, to actually make it an impact.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Yeah, that's a great question. So roughly nine to twelve months.
So we have the green what we caller green Light
method that really starts with discovery and again that's those
community conversations that we're having. But I'm also here talking
to the mayor's office to understand what are your priorities
for this year, What are the governor's priorities, What has
(12:15):
momentum in the community. In addition to talking to our
nonprofit leaders, our business sector policymakers, others, folks, faith based
leaders to really understand what they're seeing. And then we
also want to make sure we are talking to folks
most proximate to the issues that we're addressing. So, for example,
(12:38):
last year, we were talking about addressing the issue of
food insecurity in the community as well as housing, So
we convened groups of folks who wanted to share with
us their experiences of being unhoused or struggling to find
stable food for their families and kids, so that we
could really.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
Learn from their experiences.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Once through discovery, that's when we start to scout for
those high impact, evidence based programs that don't already exist
in our local community that we would want to consider
to bring into the Twin Cities, and then we select,
eventually select one organization per cycle we invest in it.
(13:20):
So that's investing that six hundred thousand dollars over four years,
and then the last step is measuring impact. I always
think about it as I am accountable to my community
members and I want to make sure that what we
have invested in, what we've brought into the community is
going to respond to those needs that I heard directly
from residents about. And so measuring impact is a really
(13:44):
important piece of our work, but also done a little
bit differently because we co create the KPIs the key
Performance Indicators with that organization, so that we are all
at the table together saying here's what we think impacts
should look like, here's the metric we want to change,
metrics we want to change, and here's what this will
look like for our community.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
When you're, you know, looking at these programs and you're
looking for people that might be doing stuff, what do
you Is it a balance between people that are already
maybe doing something that has momentum and you all can
kind of help amplify it. Or is it, you know,
more kind of building from zero from scratch, or is
it maybe a little bit of combination of both.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
Of those things.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
It's definitely a combination of both of those things. So
I was mentioning, you know, we want to see what
are the priorities, Where is their energy, what's happening there,
where is their support and collaboration? And also sometimes you know,
I think we're finding there is a true gap and
need here and this is the space that we can
greenlight has the opportunity in space to do something. But
(14:44):
one example, another example of sort of both of those
things is an organization we brought in called Earth, which
is stands for birth, but they drop the B for
bias and birthing.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
And over the last couple of years, what my.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
Team and I were seeing through research and conversations was
that black women in particular, Black and Native American women
in particular were dying at higher rates than their white
counterparts during childbirth. And we also knew that ninety five
percent of those deaths were preventable. So well documented problem
(15:23):
issue in our community, but very few solutions to address
those problems. And so we found amazing program Earth. While
so there was energy around addressing maternal health. The state
had just come out with a report documenting these numbers.
Our Commissioner of Health was talking about maternal health and
(15:44):
Black maternal health in particular, So there was that energy, there,
there was interest and also the research to back it up,
and we found this amazing program Earth that does two things.
It created has a technology based platform, kind of a
Yelp like platform where black and brown families, birthing people, doulas,
(16:06):
fathers can leave reviews, leave their experiences birthing experiences or
their partners birthing experiences, and then what Earth starts to
do is look at the data from those reviews to
start to think about how do we hold hospital systems
accountable and work with them to address these these concerns
with the goal of really reshaping reframing the practices of
(16:31):
our healthcare professionals. And so it's both an approach to
community building that the founder of Earth often talks about
her work as you know, the data she is collecting
from community is you know, what is going to hold
these hospitals accountable. And they're having an amazing impact. We've
(16:53):
built two partnerships in the Twin Cities with Earth and
one of their largest net hospitals in the state, and
then just recently at the Children's Hospital where they'll be
partnering with the NATO Intensive Care Unit to start examining
their practices and working collaboratively to better support black and
(17:14):
brown families and birthing people.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Yeah, and the reason why I ask is just you know,
for those might be listening if there are people that
are listening that are you know, doing programs and I
mean green lights and what fifteen.
Speaker 4 (17:23):
Different fifteen cities across.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
The cities, right, So there might be a green light
fund in your city, and if you're already doing some
work in the community, it might make sense connect.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Toal That's right, there's fIF like you said, fifteen cities
green light fund cities and including Atlanta, there's a green
light fund Atlanta doing amazing work for the last several years.
And you know, the beauty of being a part of
this national network is also being able to learn from
each other. And so some of the organizations that I've
brought into the Twin Cities I initially learned about because
(17:52):
my colleague and Atlanta worked with, for example, are brought in,
for example, a program called inter Explore, which helps address
mental health needs and issues for young people. You know,
we brought in an organization called Food Connect that I
learned about through my colleagues in the Bay Area in
Kansas City.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
And so we really have this amazing.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Network of people who are doing similar work but also
very but still very much rooted in their local communities.
So there Kansas City may not need the same things
that Minneapolis and Saint Paul need. But we still get
to learn, listen and learn from each other and see
what each other does and understand how to build from that.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
And now you're all, you know, going out here and
you building these funds. I mean, I know green Light
just did a fund for almost thirty million dollars and
bringing in different capital. But a lot of times that
kind of requires you to go into rooms with some
very wealthy people, yes, and convince them that they to
invest in poor communities, like what is that?
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Like? What does that sound like? With it?
Speaker 3 (18:51):
So you know it is it's Philanthropy is an interesting sector.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
You know.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
I think we at green Light are really reimagining what
philanthropy can look like. And also you know, are creating
true partnerships and collaborations because our work, you know, is
a little bit different than the traditional philanthropic organization. You know,
I think we see ourselves as innovators in this space.
(19:17):
And also, you know, as a black woman leader, it's
not always easy to walk into those rooms and and
you know, ask for money. I you know, I have
to be really thoughtful and intentional about how I talk
about our work, how I share our work, what the
impact is and you know, and I think, you know,
(19:38):
I think as as a black woman leader, it's it's
a space that hasn't always been the most welcome to us,
but one that you know, as as as I grow
in my leadership, has become more comfortable.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
I mean, I think I always talk about like the
importance of kind of being in the room. You know,
I kind of joke on a little bit from.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
Hamilton right now where happened, but you got to be
in the room.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
And I mean from my standpoint right as somebody that's
pretending marketing for like the last twenty years.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Right, Like, I've been in rooms where, let me tell you,
I've heard some stuff.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
I've heard some people that you know, you know, I
always kind of talk about this one example where there
was this one, you know, a nameless fast food brand
I know we are, and you know, they were doing
a campaign and you know it was like I looked around.
I was the only person that looked like me in
the room, and you know, they were saying, we want
(20:29):
to do some football season and they were like we
got this idea. We we want to get a gospel choir.
And I was like, oh, here we go yep, and
then we want to we'll give them boxes of chicken
and they're gonna be singing and they're gonna say, you know,
if if football is your religion, chicken is ours. I
was like like, yeah, I don't know if that's gonna work.
And then then one of the guys in the room
looks at me. He says, Brandon, what's that thing that
(20:52):
black people drink?
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Like water?
Speaker 4 (20:56):
Good answer?
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Right right? He was like, no, crystal, we need some crystals, Like,
oh well, just a watermelonbi, you know what I mean.
So I just said to kind of say, like, you
it's important to being these rooms. And I mean you've
been in rooms, you know, with the Obama administration, you know,
some power people making like decisions about you know, things
like education, and some of those decisions would really impact
(21:19):
you know, people that aren't in those rooms, right, Like,
how do you kind of think about the impact of
what happens? Again, you're important of being in those rooms
to help make sure that you're guiding and providing you know,
thoughtful insights so that those so that you know they're
not they're not showing up in the in the neighborhoods
with you know, buckets and chicken at the church.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
Right.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
So one thing I've been really thoughtful about is my narrative,
you know, and I think it's important to that. Our
natural inclination, for whatever reason, is to frame things as
a deficit. You know, black kids are you know, you know,
sixty percent of making this up, but sixty percent of
(21:57):
black kids aren't at reading level by third grade.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
You know.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
But what I've really I've stopped doing that. I don't
like doing that. What I want to do is say,
dream with me, what is your vision for our community,
for the place that you live. You may not look
like me, you may not look like some of the
people many of the people that we're serving, but I'm
willing to bet that you want the same things for
(22:24):
your kids or your grandkids and your your life, you know,
your your city, your community. And so I really start
those conversations with let's dream together and let's think about,
you know, what we want this community to feel like?
Be like, what do we want our people to experience?
And I find that if I anchored there, it takes
(22:45):
people along on a journey that doesn't keep you keep
them sort of in this negative or deficit framed mindset,
but also get some excited, but get some excited about
what's possible and what they're investing in and what they
want to what they want to buy into.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
And that's what you kind of call reimagining.
Speaker 4 (23:03):
Philanthroy Bright, that's right, That's exactly right.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
I think we have this opportunity to really think about Well,
I'll back up and say I get I even in
my work leading green Light, when I go out to
those for those community conversations, I really ask my community members,
what are your dreams for your community?
Speaker 4 (23:23):
What are your dreams for your kids?
Speaker 3 (23:24):
And if we anchor there's something about that dreaming isn't
a natural thing to people, for people myself included, But
if we I think it's if we anchor there, it
just starts to shift the conversation and shift the way
that we think and the way and the goals that.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
We set for ourselves.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
And you know, I think it just opens the doors
to what's possible.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
No, So that's actually a really interesting way of kind
of like, you know, frame it right, because you can
almost to your point framing it is starting at a
deficit from a negative place, which again is I have
whether people realize if that's going to come with certain
feelings and emotions, but like the kind of automatically refa
reframe it is dreaming kind of you know, puts people
in a different mindset. And then also it makes them
feel like they're kind of like co building something together
(24:12):
because those are the best opportunities, right, is that when
you're working.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
My guess is that's what you do on all sides.
Like you're you're, you're you're.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
You're getting insights in the community, from the parents, from
the doctors, from people.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
On the ground.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
You you're getting those people in the rooms that have
the funds to help make that stuff impact. You're saying, look,
I understand them. Now let's dream together about what all
this looks like. What is there another example of another
program that's kind of like near and dear to your
heart of something that you all launched, it's really made
an impact.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
Yeah, so, I mean all of them feel like my babies.
But another I think one really amazing example, especially because
of what's been happening in the Twin Cities metro area
over the last couple of months, is an organization called
food Connect.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
It's i'll serve as organization called food Connect because.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
Food Connect is is an organization that helps with logistics.
So I can back up and share a little bit
about what we were learning in our community over the
last year, which was one food shale visits you know,
skyrocketed to nine million. I think it was the highest
number of foods heal visits historically in our community. And
(25:23):
so there was this huge need for access to food
and for some reason, the community hadn't quite figured out
how to get food from point A to point B.
The things that we were hearing, the key piece that
I was hearing rather was that there's not a shortage.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
Of food in our community.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
We have a shortage of ways to get the food
to where it needs to go. And so we learned
that we really had a logistics problem as well as
a lack of We weren't using technology to the best
of and the best ways to really figure out how
to tackle this problem. And so we you know, again,
(26:05):
I mentioned food Connect because I had the benefit of
learning about it through my colleagues in the Bay Area
and in Kansas City, and you got to go see
what the work looked like in person in Kansas City,
and really it started to see that, you know, with
this support of this or an organization like Food connect
they could really I mean, they are problem solvers. They
(26:26):
come in and they I mean much like you know.
I think I think of them very similarly to the
way that green Light operates, and that they will go
in and sit down and say where are your pain points,
where are your problems, what are your challenges, and how
can we help support you. Sometimes that means deploying you know,
trucks and drivers out into the community to get the food,
you know, truckload of turkeys for things, giving to food
(26:50):
banks or food shelves that can actually safely house those
because what we were seeing was that there wasn't always
the proper refrigeration for for loads of food, so as
a result, they're getting wasted. They're able to get meals
delivered to Native elders in South Minneapolis because they have
(27:11):
which the program was previously staffed by volunteers and now
food with Food Connects support, they have people who are
able to get those boxes delivered within on time rate
in lieu of or in partnership with those volunteers. But
I think what I really want to point out is
that this organization really stepped up during Operation Metro surge
(27:35):
when we had the influx of ice agents in our community,
and we know that our community members, black and brown
community members in particular, were not leaving their homes and
but in need of support and food. Connect was able
to step in and support the local food ecosystem in
(27:57):
ways that I couldn't have even predicted or imagined. End
over a year ago when I selected them for green
Light Fund twin Cities, we knew there was a need then.
But what they've been able to do, particularly over these
last three to four or five months and still ongoing,
I will, I should add, has been nothing short of amazing.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Now, you know Atlanta, Atlanta's a black city. You know,
we call those the Black Meca. But we're not perfect
down here. A lot of people don't know. You know,
Atlanta has about I think it's like a ninety ninety
to ninety.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Five percent upper milliar rate.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
So essentially, if you're born in poverty, there's a ninety
five percent chance you'll stay there. And a lot of
people don't necessarily realize that. What all the things you
see going on out here, but those are the things
we're dealing right, you know, even though you're in Minneapolis
You know, most people don't necessarily think of the Twin
Cities in a black city, right, Like, what does black
Minneapolis look like? You know that a lot of people
don't know that. You want to make sure you're sharing,
(28:51):
you know, those under those parts because I've been up there,
I've hung out, I got some friends of Minnesota.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
I had a good time with it.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
I was like, Okay, but I don't think a lot
of people see this, Like what do people need to
know about you know that black Minnesota?
Speaker 3 (29:01):
One that there are black people in Minnesota. I went
to school. I went to college in Washington, d c.
And the most frequent question I get would get was
are you sure there are black people in Minnesota? Or
they'd say, oh, it's just you and Prince and Kirby
Puckett who used to play for the Minnesota Twins. Yes, yes,
so yes, there are. There is a thriving black community.
(29:24):
And in fact, I would say that there is a
thriving multicultural community in Minnesota and in the Twin Cities.
We are known to be somewhat of a melting pot
of you we have people coming from from all over
the world, whether it's Somalia, Liberia, you know, it's just
(29:46):
an amazing community of people who I think there was
examples of this all over the news, the national news
over the last few months. Amazing community of people who
come together to support each other, especially when things are
hard and things are unjust and unfair. So I want
(30:07):
you to know that that what you saw was real
and true. And you know, I think there is if
to put a finer point on the black community in
the Twin Cities, we have amazing leaders across the local
ecosystem who are committed to improving the lives of Black
Minnesotans in particular, but and knowing that once we do that,
(30:31):
it improves the lives for every lives for everyone.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Is there something about, you know, philanthropy in general and
kind of how it really works that you don't think
a lot of people really understand or ready to hear it? Yet,
say the question one more time, is there's something about
philanthropy and like how philanthropy actually works behind the scenes
that you think that people don't really understand or they
might not be ready to hear.
Speaker 4 (30:51):
So that's a great question. I think that.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
Philanthropy is starting to shift. I think that what people
often people probably often think you know, there are these
foundations or organizations that have a ton of money and
you know, they give the money out and they make
you report back to them of what you did with
the money. And I think what I would want people
(31:18):
to understand, especially with green Light Fund, but I think
this is true. I'm seeing a shift across sector is
that community based, trust based philanthropy is really important and
critical to ensuring that we are listening and truly listening
and learning authentically, not just saying it, not just checking
(31:40):
a box, not just you.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
Know, convening you know, one working.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
Group or community conversation, but actually, you know, going out
and listening to people's people who are most proximate to
those issues before making any decisions. And I would say
for green Light Fund, we don't make we make those
decisions in partnership with community. So if there's you know,
if I have and this has happened for me, where
(32:07):
there is an organization that I was considering and thought, oh,
this would be a really great opportunity, but after having
conversations with residents and with other nonprofit leaders, realized that
this wasn't the right fit. This organization was not going
to be the right fit for us. At this time,
and so we had to say no, we And so
you know, I think really talking about making those decisions
(32:30):
not for but with is an important piece that people
don't often think about because it's just not it's I
think it's still rare, but I think it's coming to
the forefront more often.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
Absolutely looks the moments has been an amazing conversation. I mean,
the work you' all dealing with the green Light Fund
and Twin Stays is great and it's making an amazing impact.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
You know, before we.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
Get out of here, could you please tell people if
they want to learn more, get in contact and definitely
want to give you all some money whatever it is like.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Give them all. This takes your money, give all the things.
How do you make any consent?
Speaker 1 (33:02):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (33:03):
So, our website is www dot green Light fund dot org.
We are a network of fifteen cities across the country,
so you can click on any of those cities. Go
to the Twin Cities first, of course, learn more about
what we're doing in the in Minneapolis and Saint Paul.
We always welcome folks to give or if you want
to learn more, please reach out.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Absolutely well, like I said, y'all doing some amazing work.
Thank you for making an impact up there. I've learned,
I've learned a lot of about Minnesota in this conversation.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
You know.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
Again, Yeah, I thought it was just Curby fuckingting printing
you out there, and I learned it's a.
Speaker 4 (33:35):
Whole other community, broad community.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
You know, and all these amazing things happen. And again,
it's really important work you're doing too. Like I said,
you know, they're number one in quality of life, but
that that that income gap is huge and that's something
that you know, we need people paying attention to up
there anywhere that black people are at specifically too. So
thank you for doing the work in the community and
just helping make sure that gets out here and you know,
keep it up and with that yet said y'all that's
(33:59):
the pod.
Speaker 4 (33:59):
Yeah, thank you,
Host
Brandon Butler
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