Warren Buffett has been called a wizard, an oracle, a sage - a wise and prophetic investor who knows value when he sees it. In this last episode of Season Two, Warren Buffett sat down with CNBC's Becky Quick in Omaha in 2017 to talk about how America's systems fundamentally misdirect money into the hands of too few to the detriment of the many. He called on philanthropists looking to have the biggest impact for their investments to shed their pretensions and one-upsmanship and look where things are working to attack at the root of the problem. Listen
Leading with Equity
Building racial, social and health equity in communities of concentrated poverty is not an unrealistic dream - it's happening in real-time across the Purpose Built Communities network. A group of thoughtful leaders from diverse backgrounds in different cities have moved from talking to leading with equity.
Michelle Matthews, Senior Vice President at Purpose Built Communities, moderated a discussion in Orlando in 2018 with the first cohort of Equity Ambassadors - Kia Baker of the Southeast Raleigh Promise, Kirk Wester of Growing Together in Tulsa, Danny Shoy of the East Lake Foundation in Atlanta, and Sally Mackin of Woodlawn United in Birmingham. Listen
Strength Through Diversity
There's an opportunity cost to separating and segregating people: we're not getting the best ideas, the creativity, the innovation out of discriminated communities that can lift up those neighborhoods and our country. Diversity brings out the best in people.
Dr. Katherine Phillips, professor of organizational behavior at Columbia Business School, told Purpose Built Communities' annual conference in Omaha in 2017 that, to understand the value of diversity and use it to learn and innovate more effectively, we need to start by making small changes in ourselves. Listen
Locking Up Human Capital
More Americans are sent to jail than ever before in human history. Most of them are young, African American men living in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty. Mass incarceration devastates the communities where it has removed a generation of residents, with long-term impacts for generations.
Dr. Todd Clear, professor at Rutgers University's School of Criminal Justice, presented to the Purpose Built Communities annual conference in Orlando in 2018 about how over-incarceration impoverishes communities, hurts our country, and ultimately fails to achieve its original goal - to deter criminal behavior and lower the overall crime rate. Listen
Personal Relationship with Race
Institutional racism does not just impact people who are old enough to vote and have a job. It's a lifelong reality from birth to death, and it's taught, reinforced and perpetuated when our students are in America's classrooms.
Dr. Beverly Tatum, president emerita of Spelman College and bestselling author, talked with the Purpose Built Communities' Michelle Matthews in Omaha in 2017 about how people of different ages discuss race - starting as students in the classroom - and how a deeper understanding and a servant approach to the discussion can help break down the barriers of segregation. Listen
Racism Exacts a Cost
Two weeks before the 2016 election, there was an immediacy and urgency when Dr. David Williams, professor of public health, African and African American studies, and sociology at Harvard University, shared his research on the clear connection between race, socioeconomic status and health at the Purpose Built Communities annual conference in Birmingham, Alabama. His work is even more relevant now in the face of public attacks from our leaders and those emboldened by racist rhetoric on communities of color and immigrants in our country. Listen
Streetlights
We are so constantly and fundamentally surrounded by racism in the way our systems and public institutions have been structured and operate that it can be easy to not see it. To effectively revitalize a neighborhood, we need to look through a structural lens at our political, economic, social, and cultural history in order to fully understand the meaning of racism in America and how to address it in our institutions.
Glenn Harris, president of Race Forward, led a session about racial equity in 2015 at the Purpose Built Communities annual conference in Fort Worth, Texas. Listen
Opportunity Zone Funds And Other Cutting Edge Tools For Community Development
Access to capital for community revitalization is a perpetual challenge. Join us for conversations highlighting two new tools – the LIIF Accelerator Fund and Opportunity Zone Funds – and learn about new ways to use existing tools like NMTC and grant capital.
Watch
Purpose Built Communities’ Equity Ambassadors
Building racial, social and health equity is one of the primary goals of the Community Quarterbacks in the Purpose Built network. Several Community Quarterback leaders have formed the first cohort of Equity Ambassadors to deepen their knowledge – and the Network’s – of how we should elevate and value equity. In this conversation, they share their reflections from this journey. Watch
Imprisoning Communities: How Mass Incarceration Harms Disadvantaged Neighborhoods
Criminologist Todd Clear explains how over incarceration impoverishes communities, straps municipal budgets and fails to deter criminal behavior. Watch