“Golden Age” by Laura Salazar. Read more about Laura’s artwork for the Foundation and our partnership with the Otis College of Art and Design here.
Message from the President: Cultivating Deep Listening
I learned about the art and craft of attentive listening from my father, a jazz critic.
In jazz, the act of listening is not passive. It’s active and nuanced, and it requires deep attention. Through listening to records and live performances with my dad, I came to understand that the beauty of jazz lies in the coming together of different soloists, each with their own unique interpretation of the music. At times, the performance may seem discordant, but it’s the resolution, the return to harmony, that makes the experience powerful. By listening to each other and by making space – for silence and for improvisation – ensembles create the conditions for harmony.
The ability to be a thoughtful and engaged listener is among the most important skills each of us can cultivate, particularly in highly polarized times like these. Listening for both the theme (the core ideas or deep values) and the improvisation (the personal interpretations, emotional nuances, and subjective experiences) can help us appreciate the complexity of any argument or narrative. For funders, listening is essential, since it is only through conversations with individuals who are proximate to the work and to young people that we can understand the investments, activities, and partnerships that will advance our collective goals.
That’s why, over the past few months, it has been both a privilege and a pleasure to hear and learn from a broad and diverse cross-section of individuals and groups who are working every day to advance education justice and help California’s adolescents to thrive. As with jazz, a clear theme is emerging across these conversations, namely a commitment to values of belonging and inclusion, and a desire to cultivate our shared purpose.
As with jazz, a clear theme is emerging across these conversations, namely a commitment to values of belonging and inclusion, and a desire to cultivate our shared purpose.
- I’ve heard from young people who are keenly aware of the challenges facing their communities and deeply invested in finding solutions. And who, too often, have their expertise and experience discounted or disregarded.
- I sat in a room of district officials for whom every day brings a new crisis, taking time and energy away from the essential role of teaching and learning and creating schools of belonging. They were – to a person – exhausted, but undeterred in their commitment to young people.
- I have listened as community leaders, organizers, and advocates shared their concerns about the impact that the increasingly divisive rhetoric and changing policy environment will have on the young people they serve and their continued commitment to supporting the most vulnerable in our schools and communities.
- I’ve spent time with researchers, philanthropists, and public officials, all committed to leveraging their knowledge, power, and resources to continue to push for innovative policies that will bring our schools closer to our collective goals of belonging and thriving.
Across these conversations I was struck by how hungry people are for connection, how deeply committed they are to our youth, and how essential each of these and other perspectives are to creating and enacting a new vision for California’s public school system – one rooted in values of belonging and equity and a deep understanding of the essential role that the public education system plays in supporting a thriving democracy.
As the year draws to a close, I want to leave you with a story from Dr. Ruha Benjamin, with whom I had the honor of sharing the stage earlier this year at the annual Grantmakers for Education conference. Like many others, Dr. Benjamin looks to the natural world to inform and guide human behavior, particularly how we aspire to take care of each other and build a thriving ecosystem. She closes her book, Imagination Manifesto, with a short chapter on honeybees, writing:
"The aspect of bee sociality I found most striking was that, due to their relatively short lifespans, the little creatures I observed working during the summer months to produce enough honey to sustain the hive throughout the winter would not live long enough to enjoy their handiwork…
Not only do bees teach us that collaboration is how we survive, that decision-making should be collective, that we each have a part to play in creating a livable ecosystem, but also that we don’t have to choose between working hard and creating beautiful, sweet things."
Whether it’s a jazz ensemble or a busy hive, lessons about deep connection are everywhere. We just need to be open to hearing them.
I’m wishing you a restful holiday season and a New Year marked as much by sweetness and beauty as it is by hard work. We will need both.
In Solidarity,
Sophie
Foundation News
Welcome, Kristen Growney
We are pleased to announce that Kristen Growney has joined the Stuart Foundation as Vice President, Finance and Administration. Kristen is a veteran of leadership roles across nonprofit, social enterprise, and business organizations. In her new role, Kristen oversees the Foundation’s finance and operations in alignment with the Foundation’s vision, values, and goals.
New Partners in the California Thriving Adolescent Initiative
The California Thriving Youth Initiative, launched by the Stuart Foundation and the California Community Foundation earlier this year, welcomes two new philanthropic partners. Sobrato Philanthropies and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have joined the Youth Thriving Through Learning Fund, one of two-multi-year funds that seek to support the learning, leadership, and well-being of adolescents in California. Together with the Purpose of Education Fund, the Initiative now represents the collective effort of 13 local, state, and national philanthropic partners.
Celebrate California’s Adolescents
As a Foundation that devotes its resources, time, and energy to advancing adolescent thriving, we are unabashed champions of young people. In Adolescents in California: Creating the Condition for Thriving, a narrated video from the Stuart Foundation, we honor their contributions and creativity, their capacity for joy, and their demand for justice. Have a look and let us know what you think!