“I’m proud of our community foundations for working together with all our nonprofits to continue to make this a place that everyone can call home.”
We recently spoke with Matt Zavala, Board President of the Longmont Community Foundation, and Carmen Ramirez, our own Board Chair. For the first time in local history, two Latinos – also representing leadership succession from one generation to the next – are making their mark as foundation leaders. In this informal Q&A, they share their thoughts on leadership, diversity, and the impact of community foundations.
Community Foundation Boulder County: How do community foundations create community?
Carmen Ramirez: First, community foundations promote awareness around local needs, and direct resources to effectively meet those needs.
We highlight the strengths and challenges of our communities in ways that develop understanding. How do we do that? At the Community Foundation, we listen, and we share community data and stories in our TRENDS Report. Making connections and listening are key to what we do.
From having people get to know one another in various settings to sitting down and really listening to one another, community foundations offer opportunities to come together, build relationships, and get involved.
Community foundations are also responsive to urgent community needs. We have the flexibility to quickly create community during challenges times – like floods and fires.
Matt Zavala: Agreed. We bring attention and awareness to the work that our nonprofit community does – or is looking to do.
In Longmont, there’s a real sense about what an awesome community we have. Our city government does a fantastic job improving the quality of life here, and the local nonprofit community is a big part of that fabric. We work to help nonprofits become stronger – we get their messages out, and we provide context for the work they’re doing.
Ultimately, we hope to inspire and drive donations – money is always important, and community foundations help facilitate giving. But nonprofits couldn’t do the work they do without volunteers, either.
CF: How can community foundation leaders help highlight the diversity of our communities as an asset for all?
CR: We have to look at ourselves, first – our own staffs and boards. We have to look at our own work processes through a lens of diversity and inclusivity, and apply that thinking to our grantmaking. From there, it’s on us to have those conversations out in the community, working toward fair representation across all sectors countywide.
The Leadership Fellows program does an awesome job of helping emerging local leaders understand what it means to be welcoming and inclusive, and to see the strengths – not only the perceived deficits – of the local Latino community, and other growing communities. Leadership Fellows and similar programs underscore the benefits of having diverse representation, as reflected in more diverse boards and commissions, which leads to greater resilience and cohesiveness as a community. But we need to do more to prepare the next generation of local leaders.
MZ: For me, when I think of my own journey with the Hispanic Education Foundation (HEF), it’s about opportunity. I was given the opportunity to be a part of something, to be a part of the conversation…and that opened another door, and then another, and another.
Community Foundations are uniquely positioned to create opportunities for people to join the conversation. We need to continue to create opportunities for all voices to be heard, and to ensure that everyone knows they’re valued.
From the HEF perspective, we’re starting to see more and more of our scholars return back to Longmont to start their lives and their families in this community, and to build their careers here. It’s positive proof of our investment in young people, and it’s what happened to me – 10 years after being a HEF scholar, I’m the HEF president.
In addition to opportunity, I would also say that mentorship is key to bringing people to the table. I wouldn’t be where I am without the mentors in my life.
CF: As leaders of our county’s community foundations, what’s the most significant community impact you’ve been part of?
CR: The opportunity to be at the table myself, and to speak up about the Latino community and others who are sometimes seen as needy and vulnerable, without also seeing their strengths. The BRAVO Fund, for example, brings together Latinos at all income levels, and all professions.
In the Latino community, it’s ingrained to give to neighbors and family – but the formal aspects of philanthropy aren’t well understood, and perceived as something that only the very wealthy can do. BRAVO seeks to change that, and I’m proud to be a part of it.
MZ: Through the Longmont Community Foundation, I’ve learned more about my community than I ever knew or realized before. I’m proud of our community foundations for working together with all our nonprofits to continue to make this a place that everyone can call home.
Last spring, a letter was sent to a family here in Longmont. The letter said they weren’t welcome here. The community responding by saying, “That’s not who we are,” and the Longmont Community Foundation partnered with Longmont Loves to facilities a better understanding and appreciation of the many different people who live here. I’m proud of that, and of our community for coming together to create a positive outcome.
Regardless of what’s happening on a national level, community foundations can still work to ensure opportunity, access, and support for all.
