The Raikes Foundation is pleased to announce the promotion of key personnel following the completion of a strategic refinement process.
Dr. Zoë Stemm-Calderon has transitioned into the newly created role as Senior Director of the Youth-Serving Systems Strategy. The foundation is excited to more tightly integrate our work in service of young people across our historic and expanding strategy areas, including cross-system efforts to support highly mobile youth and young adults experiencing homelessness, and K-12 and post-secondary education. Zoë will oversee the development, alongside our field and funding partners, of a strategy that advances our shared vision for equitable youth serving systems. This promotion builds on her success cultivating broad coalition and investing in field partners who have lead transformation of our national education system since she joined the foundation in 2015 as Director of the National Education Strategy.
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Dear Friends,
In 2021, our communities faced extraordinary challenges that have not let up in 2022. And while it can be exhausting to continue to push against the disturbing antidemocratic trends in our country, our grantees and partners helped us maintain our resolve and our dedication to do more in 2022 and beyond.
Despite all that is coming at us, it is important to look back and learn. To that end, we are pleased to share the Raikes Foundation’s 2021 Annual Report which outlines those lessons and provides a snapshot of our journey and the progress we’ve made in our work in funding and supporting our grantees.
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The Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade is devastating. It takes away the fundamental right to determine when and if to become a parent - a hallmark of self-determination for women across our country.
This decision harms women. It constrains freedom and undermines the dignity of women everywhere. This decision most impacts black, brown, poor women, and pregnant people. On average, these women lack access to high levels of health care, secure jobs, and support for their wellbeing, childcare, and other needs. Our health care system and economy do not work as well for women of color as they do for their affluent white women peers.
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Ten people were murdered in Buffalo on Saturday, 9 of them for no other reason than because they were Black. We cannot let that essential fact be lost to us. In the coming days, there will be questions about the killer’s access to weapons and his mental state, but we cannot allow those questions to obscure the fact that racial hatred was at the core of this crime against humanity.
White supremacy poses a clear threat to the freedom and security of all Americans, especially Black Americans, all people of color, people of non-Christian faiths, and historically marginalized groups. Those killed in Buffalo were shopping at their neighborhood grocery store in a weekend ritual familiar to most Americans. Others have been killed in recent years as they worshipped at churches, mosques, and synagogues. Our government institutions are not immune. Public buildings have been breached, bombed, and vandalized, most prominently on January 6, 2021. These acts of violence share a common origin – a violent ideology that no longer lurks in the shadows of American life.
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