What Cecilia Zavala told John Legend she most wants social justice funders to understand

Cecilia Zavala (Leading with Conviction™ 2023) writes: “[In early December] in Boston, I found myself sitting beside leaders and funders from across the country—people who shape the trajectory of our justice system, public safety landscape, and the possibilities available to those returning home from incarceration. Earlier that morning, musician John Legend held a private conversation with our fellowship cohort, asking a simple but profound question:

“‘What do you most want funders to understand?’

This is a defining moment for philanthropy.

“When it was my turn to speak, I drew from years of being on the ground, serving my community, and building programs driven by lived experience. I shared what so many of us know to be true:

“The field cannot continue asking community-rooted organizations to deliver long-term systemic impact on short-term, year-to-year dollars.

“I spoke about the reality that organizations like ours — those built and led by people who understand the justice system from the inside out — are not simply service providers. We are innovators, system navigators, culture shifters, and drivers of public safety and economic mobility.

“A few hours later, when John Legend repeated my words back to an entire room of funders, including some of the most influential philanthropic leaders in the country, something shifted. It wasn’t the validation of being quoted by a public figure. It was hearing the truth of our work — and the urgency of the investment it requires — spoken aloud in a space with the power to change the trajectory of communities like ours.

“This is a defining moment for philanthropy.

“If funders want to advance mobility, increase safety, reduce incarceration, and invest in solutions that actually work, they must resource the organizations delivering those outcomes — not as short-term grantees, but as long-term partners.”

Read the full article at NationOutside.org.