Latino Community Foundation CEO Jacqueline Martinez Garcel is working to strengthen the infrastructure of grassroots organizations that proved life-saving support to their communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the latest edition of Fwd Thinkers, Martinez Garcel, who also serves on the CA FWD Leadership Council, joins CA FWD CEO Micah Weinberg to discuss how the pandemic propelled these organizations on the front lines and what needs to be done to support them going forward.
“The folks that were organizing and mobilizing [during the pandemic] were part of groups and organizations and movement builders that have been operating in their communities for years and decades,” said Martinez Garcel. “So, our job in philanthropy and in the public sector is to invest in those organizations so that we, year-round, support that movement-building, organizing to address the underlying causes that make these neighborhoods and communities vulnerable to crises.”
In building that grassroots infrastructure, she wants equity to be a priority to ensure that underserved communities don’t get left behind. “Let’s fast track resources to them,” she said. “Let’s invest in them the way we invest in California with startups for example, let’s get rid of all the barriers that are in the way of investing in these organizations.”
You can watch the interview in the video above.
