eNews

December 2023

Deaconess Community, 

As 2023 concludes we reflect on the year with appreciation for you, our neighbors, community members, partners, and co-laborers with whom we have taken significant steps forward.

Our public meetings and strategy sessions immediately come to mind. After an 18-month engagement process with the community and stakeholders to gather feedback, we launched our new strategic plan and framework. Through four engagement sessions on both sides of the river we shared our audacious strategic aspiration to achieve liberation in the next seven generations. One session included engaging directly with philanthropic peers where we leaned into the practice of transparently sharing our funding approaches to seed intentional collaboration among funding partners. The other sessions provided opportunities for community to offer additional feedback. At each session, individuals and organizations identified and reflected on how the strategy components intersect and resonate with their own work and communities.

With a new strategic framework, we refreshed our organizational branding to incorporate elements of our refined approach to our printed and digital materials. The new look includes a graphic representative of the next seven generations and the values shared by community describing what it would take to achieve liberation.

A record-breaking number of applications were submitted for our 2023 Policy Campaign Grant opportunity, three times more than any previous year. This increase reinforced the need for strong investment in year-round base-building, civic engagement, and community organizing throughout the lifespan of a campaign to change public policy. Just before the Fall we launched our new grant portfolio. A new funding opportunity includes the Movement Transformation Grants which carries forward the efforts of the J4K Anchor Institution Program (launched in 2018) and the Deaconess Impact Partnership (launched in 2004) of strengthening organizational capacity building, operations, and leadership through a multi-year partnership. Below is a list of organizations awarded grant funds this year.

As part of our community-stewarded funds, we salute the Community Governance Board of The Racial Healing + Justice Fund for dispersing a historic $800,000 to support 42 Black and Brown-led organizations in our region this summer, and the Regional Health Commission for the $350,000 investment in supports for local residents over age 55 through the Senior Community Development & Revitalization Fund.

We celebrated the launch of the Institute for Black Liberation this fall, which has created an intentional space to name, reckon with, and heal from racial trauma and the pervasive effects of internalized and structural racism. During November's public joint board meeting, Deaconess' board adopted the Racial Equity Dashboard, codifying and measuring internal efforts to build an equitable culture. The Dashboard helps to ensure that not only Deaconess' practices are equitable and transparent but also provides inspiration for others to do the same.

We’re also excited about partnering with the City of St. Louis on the Guaranteed Basic Income pilot program. The program provides supplementary income and economic stability to local families to combat the economic aftershocks of the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges faced by working people. 

As a community, we have cared for one another during difficult times in our country and in our world this year. We encouraged each other, laughed, learned, and grew together both in person and virtually. We broke free enough to dream and cast a revolutionary vision worthy of what our region expects and deserves.

With continued collaboration and faith that moves mountains, we will make the impossible possible. We look forward to being in community with you in the year ahead.  

With tidings of comfort and joy,

Rev. Bethany Johnson-Javois

President & CEO

Deaconess Foundation

Welcome New Trustee

Deaconess Foundation's Board of Trustees appointed a new board member during the Annual Public Joint Meeting of the Deaconess Foundation and Deaconess Center for Child Well-Being Boards in November. Join us in welcoming our new trustee as she begins her term in January 2024!

Dolores J. Gunn, MD

Union County Hospital, Emergency Medicine

Southern Illinois Health Care Foundation, Family Medicine

Dr. Dolores Gunn is a board certified health care provider in East Saint Louis and Anna, IL. She practices emergency medicine at Union County Hospital and family medicine at Southern Illinois Health Care Foundation. Dr. Gunn has practiced in the St. Louis Region since 1999 and has more than 27 years of experience in medicine. She speaks English and Spanish.

Dr. Gunn is currently affiliated with American Academy of Family Physicians, American Medical Association/National Medical Association, and is a National Council Member of Washington University Institute of Public Health. Among many distinguished awards and recognition, Dr. Gunn has been recognized with the St. Louis Business Journal Health Care Heroes Award, the St. Louis American's Excellence in Public Health Care Award, and more. She volunteers in support of education with previous experience as a physician at the Jennings School District, a board trustee and president at St. Louis Community College, and committee and chair representation for ACCT in support of community colleges.

Previously, Dr. Gunn held positions in St. Louis, MO at People's Health Center, Insitutute for Research and Education in Family Medicine, and St. Louis County Department of Health. She earned a doctorate of medicine at Wayne State University School of Medicinie in Detroit, MI. She previously earned a bachelor of science in zoology and biological anthropology from University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI, and participated in Marygrove College's science program in Detroit, MI.

Winter Sabbath - Closure Dates

The year-end is a time for rest, replenishment, and rejuvenation. In honor of that, Deaconess has a practice of sabbath to close the season.

Deaconess Center will be closed December 16 - January 15. During this time, the Center's convening spaces are closed for deep cleaning and maintenance.

Deaconess Foundation will be closed from December 22 - January 1. Our team will return to the office Tuesday, January 2, 2024.

2023 GRANT PARTNERS

As we concluded the 2023 grant cycles, below is a snapshot of the organizations we awarded grants to this year.

Movement Transformation Grants are awarded to organizations in partnership with Deaconess and are invited to be a part of a three-year cohort. Recipients receive annual grants over a three-year period for general operating support. Grant awards are $20,000-$30,000 each year. These grants provide a stable source of flexible funding for organizational and civic infrastructure expansion, advancement of issue-specific public policies, and/or efforts impacting systems transformation for the improved health and wellness of people in Eastern Missouri and Southern Illinois. There are 12 organizations apart of the inaugural Movement Transformation Cohort (2023-2026):

• ACLU of Missouri
• Action St. Louis
• ArchCity Defenders
• Cornerstone CDC
• Equity Legal Services
• Faith for Justice
• Freedom Community Center
• Kids Win Missouri
• Missouri Budget Project
• Missouri Jobs with Justice
• Missouri Organizing and Voter Engagement Collaborative (MOVE)
• Power 4 STL

Seeding the Future Grants support organizational and civic infrastructure expansion, advancement of issue-specific public policies, and/or efforts impacting systems transformation through an intergenerational approach for the improved health and wellness of people in Eastern Missouri and Southern Illinois. This grant is designed to cultivate a partnership pipeline for the Movement Transformation Cohort. Funding supports general operations. Nine organizations received $20,000 each amongst the three cycles in 2023:

Cycle 1 

• New Cahokia Commons Urban Farm (NCCUF) 

Supporting the development of a Black farmer alliance in the St. Louis Metro East that will work in conjunction with other Black farmer organizations to build community, solidarity, and opportunity across state and local boundaries.  

• WEPOWER

Building power for our babies and businesses through transformative work and innovation by creating radical solutions to problematic situations. Shaping the narrative by telling human-centered stories that shift beliefs and behaviors.

Cycle 2 

• Addiction is Real, Inc. 

Working with students at Lift for Life Academy to advocate for the City of St. Louis to change policy on dispensaries opening near schools.

• Advocates for Illinois Children – Children's Advocates for Change 

Closing the racial wealth gap for Illinois children and their families by building public support for and securing legislative passage of a state child tax credit.

• League of Women Voters of Metro St. Louis

Helping new Americans and high school students who may not be college-bound register to vote and providing voter education in St. Charles County, St. Louis County, and St. Louis City. 

• Migrantes Unidos Jamás Serán Vencidos (MU) – Inter-Faith Committee on Latin America (IFCLA)

Support and advocacy for asylum seekers with a focus on the Haitian population aligned with Hispanic community members.

Cycle 3 

• Parents United for Change – Community Organizing and Family Issues (COFI) 

Building civic leadership base to advance systems change that the parent civic leaders prioritize to realize racial liberation.

• United Congregations of Metro East

Supporting the Leadership Development Pipeline, an intensive leadership program that spans 16 months and provides training and support to community leaders.

• Vitendo 4 Africa 

Educating Black refugee and immigrant community local leaders impacted by systemic racism to access information on racial healing, protection from discrimination, professional development for organizers and activists, power-building, and community advocacy and liberation practices and support.

Policy Campaign Grants support general operating for timely and urgent issue-based campaigns advancing public policy through grassroots advocacy, civic engagement and community organizing that aligns with Deaconess' desired impacts. There were two Policy Campaign Grant recipients in 2023, each receiving $50,000:

• Alive & Well Communities

Implementing policy recommendations from student-led advocacy efforts regarding youth mental health in Missouri schools.

• Missouri Jobs with Justice

Mobilizing supporters, voters, and coalitions to secure paid sick leave and higher wages for residents in Missouri.

Healthcare Open Enrollment is Now Open

It's now open enrollment season for healthcare plans. Learn more to see if you are eligible, learn about essential health benefits, and compare plans. If you missed the December 15th deadline, enroll today for coverage beginning as early as February 1, 2024. Learn more and enroll here.

www.deaconess.org

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