When we last checked in with Justice Oregon for Black Lives—a $25 million, five-year effort launched by the Meyer Memorial Trust to address the combined impact of systemic racism and 2020’s wildfires—newly named director D’Artagnan Bernard Caliman was still settling in, and deeply involved in a listening process with Black-led and Black-serving organizations throughout the state.
A lot has changed in five months. Today, Caliman is working with a grant review committee that includes Black representatives of four other funders and Black leaders of six nonprofit community organizations to wade through the response to Justice Oregon’s first call for proposals. As Caliman told me, that response has illustrated a real need: Roughly 80 organizations completed the streamlined application process and collectively asked for more than $25 million.
I recently spoke with Caliman about the results of Justice Oregon for Black Lives’ initial call for proposals, and about his own experience returning to Oregon after 20 years to lead the effort. We also discussed the lay of the land for a greater, lasting philanthropic response to calls for racial equity in Oregon and nationwide.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Now that you’ve returned to Oregon after 20 years away, do you think that there’s a greater recognition of the need for funding racial equity issues in the state—or recognition of the need for racial healing overall—than there was when you were first living and working there?
I’ll actually answer that in two ways. I would say yes, overall, but at the same time, I would say that the historical trauma of Black, Indigenous and people of color across the state of Oregon has remained. I think it shows up in different forms and different ways. But that being said, I would say, especially since the murder of George Floyd, I have certainly seen not only in Oregon, but across America, across our country, that organizations, philanthropy, business partners, private and public entities, are definitely a bit more conscientious of the various issues related to racism and the impact of racism in our country.
Meyer Memorial Trust is making a commitment around justice in many of our other portfolios [in addition to Justice Oregon For Black Lives]. Our partners like the Collins Foundation have made a commitment similar to Meyer—they have a Black equity movement portfolio that is focused on liberation and resilience for the Black community just like we have made. And before either of us, the Oregon Community Foundation made a commitment a couple years ago around Black student success. There’s a newer initiative that the Portland Business Association is working on, around economic justice, [called] Black Economic Prosperity Agenda.
I am motivated by some of the commitments that I’ve seen across the state of Oregon, within philanthropy as well as outside of philanthropy. But what I would also add is that back in the summer of 2020, many organizations made commitments to what they wanted to see change, and also made commitments around dollars that they wanted to put in to address racial healing in our country. And from what we’ve seen in philanthropy, I would say that some, even maybe many, of those commitments have not been followed up upon.
(Author’s note: Inside Philanthropy’s reporting on these issues backs up Caliman’s assertion. My colleague Philip Rojc has covered the currently disappointing results of business philanthropy’s $50 billion racial equity promise and the philanthrosphere’s mixed reactions to the murder of George Floyd.)
I am pleased to think about the way that Black communities have huddled together to support each other, to voice what our needs are, and to openly state that we want to ensure that our needs are met, and that we will not step away from the table until our needs are met. That actually gives me great joy and motivation as we continue to do this work.
Since you’ve been back in Oregon, and while on your listening tour of Black-led/Black-serving organizations in the state, have you experienced any surprises?
I’m honored to see the ways in which Black community leaders have partnered together to support the strategic direction of communities. I think in our first interview, I gave examples like Reimagine Oregon, which is really a partnership of many Black-led, Black-serving agencies coming together, working with our elected officials to say: These are things that we want to see happen and change at a policy level for our community. That is very different than what we would have seen 20 years ago.
I think Black community has always tried to work together, but having a listening ear from those who are in positions of power and authority, actually being open and listening and actually responsive [is a surprising difference]. So often in our history, Black community has named what the issues are and the solutions for our community, but far too often, those have fallen on deafened ears.
While on one hand, I talk about how it’s been motivating to see the way communities have come together, I think at times it’s disheartening to see that although we’ve made some progress, there’s just so far to go. [Even] at this time of racial awakening for our country, and even in the state of Oregon, we have instances of racial tensions and racism still playing out within our state that are new every day.
We’ve had some issues in the school system in Newberg, Oregon, [and] I heard from a partner yesterday who works out in far east Oregon [about] some racism that she’s come across in her community as they’re trying to work in more rural settings. As much as I think we’re making some movement, there’s still so much to do—especially in [rural] pockets of our state where we have Black community, as well.
When we last spoke, you weren’t yet in a position to call for proposals or issue any grants. What progress have you made on this front?
I’m pleased to say that on August 23, we opened a call for proposals and we had about 80 or so organizations apply, with [total] requests of $25 million plus. And as you remember, our initial investment is a total of $25 million over five years. What that means is, I have $5 million this year, so we’ll have to make some hard decisions, because it was an open application process. It was not invite-only because we wanted to hear from as many organizations as possible.
But the flood of requests means that the need is there. And it actually tells a story to our organizations, as well as our other philanthropic partners who are working in this space, as well as our public partners who are working in this space, as well as our business partners who are working in this space, that the need is there. Meyer alone will not be able to meet this need by ourselves. That’s not the goal, but it is to highlight what Black-led and Black-serving communities need throughout our state, and really partnering with our other philanthropic, private, public and business partners to do this work.
On a personal level, what’s made you happiest about coming back to your home state?
I’ve really enjoyed the fact of being back home. I’ve got an older daughter who was already here, my middle son has moved back since we’ve been back, [and] my eldest son is in Seattle with our granddaughter, so they’re not too far away. We have one child still left at home, a 13-year-old daughter who’s an eighth grader, and just the joy of being back home in our village, and having our family and friends and loved ones be able to put our arms around virtually, and sometimes in-person.
You know, we are still dealing with COVID and certainly the delta variant, so we’re being very safe. But it’s just wonderful for our daughter, and us as well, to be in a place where [she] has family surrounding her.
The second thing I would say, and I think from our first interview, I talked about this a little bit as well. But the opportunity just to come back home where I received so much growing up as a young person here in this community, and to be able to give everything I’ve learned while I was here, and that I’ve learned since I’ve left, and to bring that all back home, and have the opportunity to work within Black community where I gained so much, has been truly nothing short of a blessing.