What's New

October 2010

The Surdna Foundation announced today that Shawn Escoffery has been named as the new Director of its Strong Local Economies Program.  Mr. Escoffery will join the Foundation in mid-November, and succeeds Kim Burnett who served as Program Director from February 2005 to May 2010.

For the past several years Mr. Escoffery has served as the deputy director of the New Orleans Neighborhood Development Collaborative (NONDC), a community organizing, community planning and development organization, focused on revitalizing the Central City neighborhood.  Mr Escoffery also has a strong background in community and economic development policy and workforce development. Prior to NONDC, he was the Director of Workforce Development at Empower Baltimore Management Corporation in Baltimore, and the New Community Corporation in Newark, New Jersey.  He was also Vice President of BCT Partners in Newark, an organization that provides Information Technology and Program Management services to corporations, the public sector, and nonprofit clients in a variety of capacities. Mr. Escoffery has served on the boards of the Louisiana Housing Alliance, California Community Builders, Scholar League, and Commissioner and Secretary for the Baltimore Human Services Commission.  He earned his Masters Degree in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Bachelor of Science from Rutgers University.

Phillip Henderson, Surdna's President, said "Mr. Escoffery brings a wealth of hands-on experience and creative thinking to the Foundation.  We are excited to add him to the talented Surdna team."

Mr. Escoffery joins Surdna at an auspicious time as the Foundation recently refocused its funding guidelines, with a mission to foster the development of just and sustainable communities characterized by strong local economies, thriving cultures, and healthy environments.  The Strong Local Economies Program provides support for communities that seek to increase access to opportunity for all residents to build their wealth in a sustainable manner by funding programs that create economic opportunities and connect people to economic opportunities.

The Surdna Foundation has also embarked on a sustained effort to assist in the long-term recovery of New Orleans.  The Foundation will be particularly well-served by Mr. Escoffery's deep knowledge and experience in New Orleans.

About the Surdna Foundation

The Surdna Foundation - one of the nation's oldest family foundations - was established in 1917 by John E. Andrus, and is governed today by fourth and fifth generation Andrus family members.  With assets of approximately $800 million, Surdna awards more than $35 million in grants annually to hundreds of nonprofit organizations across the United States, fostering just and sustainable communities. Its program areas include Sustainable Environments, Strong Local Economies, and Thriving Cultures.

Reports by the Brookings Institution and the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center show data trends, essays, and a review of the state of greater New Orleans five years after Hurricane Katrina.

Read more...

Like so many others across the nation, the stories and images of the devastation wrought by hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the subsequent levee failures in New Orleans profoundly impacted Surdna Foundation board and staff.  As a result, in 2007 we began to take a careful look at whether and how the Foundation might deepen its engagement in New Orleans in support of the city's long-term rebuilding and resiliency efforts.  After a series of learning sessions and visits to the region over the course of almost a year, board and staff agreed that the moment was ripe for Surdna to join the work there in a fuller way than we had prior to the storms.  In 2008, after much deliberation and consultation, the New Orleans Fund was established with a budget of $5 million, $1 million per year over five years.

Read more...

Guest Commentary by
Andy Van Kleunen, Executive Director, National Skills Coalition

Economic times are bad, and the nation wants answers:  What should policymakers be doing to get millions of Americans back onto a path toward prosperity?  And what will the U.S. economy look like when it finally comes back from the Great Recession?

The media is on the case, and in its quest has recently given a lot of ink to the rarely covered topic of workforce development.  For those running or funding local workforce programs, such press attention has seemed long overdue.  With community college enrollments at unprecedented levels, and a near three-fold increase in clients at Workforce Investment Act (WIA)-funded One-Stop Centers and training programs, worker demand for new skills is at an all-time high. Unfortunately, much of the recent coverage has presented two contradictory pictures of the economy:  one in which targeted investment in workforce skills is a no-brainer, the other in which job training is dismissed as inconsequential or out-dated.

Read more...

Surdna's Board met in September to approve 52 grants totaling $7,750,000.

Click here for the complete list of grants...

The Strategic National Arts Alumni Project

The Strategic National Arts Alumni Project - commonly known as SNAAP - is an annual online survey for graduates of degree-granting arts education institutions.  The project encompasses arts high schools through undergraduate and graduate art and design colleges, conservatories, and arts schools and programs within comprehensive universities.

In 2008, SNAAP was officially launched as a collaboration between two university-based research centers:  the Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research and the Vanderbilt University Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy.  In its first two years, SNAAP surveyed over 6,000 arts graduates of more than 90 institutions. More than 100 new institutions will participate in the third and final field test in the fall of 2010.

When fully implemented, SNAAP will provide information about the educational experiences and career choices of arts alumni. Preliminary data from the 2009 field test, in which 3,700 alumni from 54 institutions responded to the survey, gives substance to the generally-held concept that arts graduates have diverse careers.

Read more to learn about initial findings...

by Cathy Calfo, Executive Director, The Apollo Alliance

The oil-slicked beaches, out-of-work fishermen and devastated local economies along the Gulf Coast are a stark reminder of our nation's costly addiction to oil. While the Gulf States are now experiencing the most disastrous consequences, Americans nationwide bear the costs of this addiction.  Each day, we send more than $1 billion overseas to purchase oil, and the clean-up to oil spills like the BP disaster is an added financial burden to the American people.  Meanwhile, working people and their families here at home who live in communities without viable alternatives to cars and traditional fuels are dependent on oil and face the hardship of wildly fluctuating gas prices. This is not sustainable for our economy, and it's not sustainable for our environment.

As the world recovers from the current recession, and moves to lessen its dependence on carbon-intensive fossil fuels, the manufacture of advanced public transit and freight vehicles that utilize cleaner, more efficient technologies is emerging as a key growth sector in the new global clean energy economy. The goal of putting the United States at the forefront of the low-carbon economy, and assuming leadership in the design and manufacture of new world-class clean transportation systems, is yet another important reason for America to pursue new transportation policies that spur domestic demand for cleaner ways to move people and goods throughout our economy.

Read more...

Surdna's Thriving Cultures Program announces a new line of work: Artists Engaging in Social Change.  Complete information and guidelines are available here.

In 1997, The Surdna Foundation began its long-term commitment to the artistic advancement of teens. As part of this commitment, we soon recognized that public arts high schools around the country were critical democratic sources offering advancement of artistic opportunity to teens from all backgrounds.

By the year 2000, Surdna launched its Arts Teachers Fellowship Program (SATF) in support of the talented and committed teachers helping to guide the artistic growth of the young people in these schools.

We are delighted to share the documented analysis of SATF's first decade.

Click to download the report...

 

Two recent reports released at the end of June have highlighted how investments in more sustainable transportation options can create good, domestic jobs that will help spur the economy while relieving American dependence on oil and providing more accessible mobility options for communities across the country.  First, a report by Duke University prepared for Surdna grantee the Apollo Alliance showed that the U.S. rail manufacturing industry--consisting of 249 manufacturing locations in 25 states--stands to undergo considerable growth in the coming years if lawmakers pass transportation bills currently being considered that call for significantly greater investments in public transit and rail.  The authors write that manufacture of passenger and transit railcars and locomotors already comprise an estimated 10,000 to 14,000 U.S. jobs, but that the job creation potential of the industry has been limited by lower investments in the industry than those of the nation's economic competitors.  With important policy changes and stronger investment policies, the industry stands poised for growth, especially in Midwest and Northeast industrial states, in which the current economic recession has created the severest job losses.

A second report released by the Economic Policy Institute and Surdna grantee Transportation for America (T4A) compared the job creation projects for two potential federal transportation bills: first, a continuation of the existing SAFETEA-LU legislation, and second, a proposal by Transportation for America focusing on maintenance and retrofits of existing infrastructure and completing the transportation network with adequate public transportation.  The study concluded that given an investment of $500 billion in both scenarios, the T4A proposal creates 400,000 more jobs over the life of the bill, for a total of 7.2 million.

“This study shows why America needs a new direction in our transportation policy,” said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa. “Cleaner and smarter transportation investments will create millions of good paying quality jobs and put our nation on a path to a lasting economic recovery."

• For more information about Duke University and Apollo Alliance report, please view the press release or the full report.
• For more information about the Economic Policy Institute and Transportation for America report, please view the press release or the full text.