North Star Fund is thrilled to welcome 16 new members to our Community Funding Committees (CFCs) in spring 2024, making this our largest CFC team to date!
There are five new members of the CFC NYC, seven new members of the CFC Hudson Valley, and five new members of the CFC Let Us Breathe—with one person joining both the Hudson Valley and Let Us Breathe Fund CFCs.
The current CFCs, including our returning and new members, are now engaged in collective decision-making processes about our most recently received grant applications.
With our newest additions, our CFCs reflect greater representation from the Hudson Valley, particularly the upper Hudson Valley region. In addition to our new CFC members who live throughout NYC, new CFC members live in Albany, Copake, Hauppauge, Newburg, Salt Point, Stuyvesant and Troy.
Our CFC members bring a wide range of experience to this work in terms of both the justice issues they’ve worked on and the types of grassroots organizing strategies they’ve utilized, and new CFC members will help to expand our organizational expertise and understanding of healing justice and cultural organizing. Additionally, several new CFC members have been involved with North Star Fund grantee organizations and bring that experience to this role.
Our CFC members are passionate about supporting social justice and Black liberation, reimagining and challenging philanthropy, and building community care and connection. They are committed to funding Black-led organizing and organizing by people with lived experience with the issues and systems they are confronting and transforming, in alignment with North Star Fund’s values. (You can read reflections from two CFC members about their interest in joining the CFC below.)
North Star Fund also extends deep gratitude to the four members who are leaving the CFCs and continuing their journeys after many, many years of combined service. We appreciate your leadership and thank you for supporting North Star Fund in being true to the values and practices of trust-based philanthropy, and look forward to you continuing to be part of the North Star Fund community in new ways.
Reflections from New CFC Members
“I’m interested in joining the CFC because I love the idea of supporting the process of thoughtfully resourcing groundbreaking and often underfunded work that is rooted in community and localized. I appreciate the opportunity to bring my experience across issues, communities and sectors to shaping funding decisions and strategy. Most of all, I would love to learn more about re-imagining how philanthropy is practiced and NYC’s organizing scene.”
—Kavita Pawria-Sanchez, New York City CFC, Bronx
“I’m deeply interested in joining the CFC because of my passion for philanthropy and my drive to reshape its processes. I see this as a unique opportunity to delve deeper into philanthropy’s dynamics and discover ways to further innovate the system. My experiences in community organizing have shown me the value of grassroots-driven initiatives. I believe that by supporting organizations fueled by grassroots organizers, we can bring about meaningful change in communities.”
—Lukee Forbes, Hudson Valley and Let Us Breathe Fund CFCs, Albany
Photo by Gerard Gaskin