This coming weekend, Alfonso and Kate will be traveling to St. Cloud, Minn. and then to Fargo and Grand Forks in North Dakota. This trip was planned before the two of us joined PFund, but it’s also a launching point for a series of listening sessions we will begin holding on a monthly basis. These listening sessions are part of a broader convening that began following the Creating Change conference in February. The focus of these sessions is to listen to how individuals and organizations on the ground are working to advance LGBT equality each and every day and to then build networks and strategy that supports that work across the entire region.
As a community foundation, our role is to build the power of LGBT communities in the Upper Midwest through funding, developing leaders, inspiring giving, and convening and reporting on issues of importance within our communities. This means working to change attitudes, change systems and break down barriers at the intersection of our identities- sexual orientation, gender, race, and culture- to advance equality. We’ll be asking what that means specifically in multiple communities across the region, starting with this trip on April 29 through 30.
Every other month, PFund will be traveling out of the Cities to a different part of the five-state region to ask these questions and listen to the answer. At the same time, we’ll be holding regular listening sessions in the metro area. These will be organized by zip code and the first, at 55407, is set for Monday, May 16 . Metro area listening sessions will be asking the same questions: what work is already taking place, what needs still exist, and what is PFund’s role in meeting those needs. But for the sake of conversation, let’s break that down a bit further.
During the metro listening sessions, we are interested in hearing about what it’s like where you live. What are the issues that seem most relevant in your neighborhood? How does that impact you? We’re talking in a general way initially, in a kind of day to day basic living kind of way. This means that you might talk about your LGBT experiences but you might not. Don’t worry, though, we’ll be layering questions specific to being LGBT: What is it like to be LGBT where you live? What are the issues that most concern you? What do you love about being LGBT and want to celebrate? What do you wish that others knew?
PFund is a community foundation. What that means is that our role is to provide spaces for community to identify its own needs, visions and strategies while we provide the resources to help make it all possible. So every listening session is going to spend some time talking about resources. And like good listeners, we’re going to be asking questions about all resources including money, of course, but also time, attention, information, infrastructure and so on. What would help to address the issues that have been raised? What kinds of resources already exist in your community and what resources are still needed? And then following on from that, how can PFund help?
In all of these sessions, whether in Fargo, Des Moines or St. Paul, we will make sure there is time for building relationships because, after all, that’s the strongest resource we have. As much as we want to listen to you, we are also excited by what happens when we are all listening to each other. And those conversations are the kinds that build movements for social change.
- Kate and Susan
Every other month, PFund will be traveling out of the Cities to a different part of the five-state region to ask these questions and listen to the answer. At the same time, we’ll be holding regular listening sessions in the metro area. These will be organized by zip code and the first, at 55407, is set for Monday, May 16 . Metro area listening sessions will be asking the same questions: what work is already taking place, what needs still exist, and what is PFund’s role in meeting those needs. But for the sake of conversation, let’s break that down a bit further.
During the metro listening sessions, we are interested in hearing about what it’s like where you live. What are the issues that seem most relevant in your neighborhood? How does that impact you? We’re talking in a general way initially, in a kind of day to day basic living kind of way. This means that you might talk about your LGBT experiences but you might not. Don’t worry, though, we’ll be layering questions specific to being LGBT: What is it like to be LGBT where you live? What are the issues that most concern you? What do you love about being LGBT and want to celebrate? What do you wish that others knew?
PFund is a community foundation. What that means is that our role is to provide spaces for community to identify its own needs, visions and strategies while we provide the resources to help make it all possible. So every listening session is going to spend some time talking about resources. And like good listeners, we’re going to be asking questions about all resources including money, of course, but also time, attention, information, infrastructure and so on. What would help to address the issues that have been raised? What kinds of resources already exist in your community and what resources are still needed? And then following on from that, how can PFund help?
In all of these sessions, whether in Fargo, Des Moines or St. Paul, we will make sure there is time for building relationships because, after all, that’s the strongest resource we have. As much as we want to listen to you, we are also excited by what happens when we are all listening to each other. And those conversations are the kinds that build movements for social change.
- Kate and Susan
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