The Hive Collective Podcast: Shifting Power in Nonprofits - Building Community Power: From Trauma to Transformation with Camryn Smith and Jen Zuckerman

Building Community Power: From Trauma to Transformation with Camryn Smith and Jen Zuckerman

09/09/24 • 66 min

The Hive Collective Podcast: Shifting Power in Nonprofits

Welcome to The Hive Collective Podcast with your host, Beth Ellen Holimon. In this episode, we explore how nonprofits can shift power dynamics by centering those directly impacted by systemic injustices. Today’s guests are:
Cameron Smith – Writer, anti-racism activist, and co-founder of Communities in Partnership (CIP) in Durham, NC. She shares her powerful story of how a tragic event led to the creation of a "community-rooted" organization.
Jen Zuckerman -Advisory board member at CIP, consultant on power reorganization, and former philanthropy executive. She discusses her journey from traditional power structures to understanding and supporting community-rooted movements.
Join us for a deep dive into how these leaders are reshaping narratives, building relationships, and rethinking the role of nonprofits.
Full Bios:
Camryn Smith is a proud resident of Old East Durham and a community activist & organizer. She has been serving in place-based development work for over 23 years both stateside and abroad. Camryn is one of the founding members of Communities In Partnership (CIP), a community-rooted organizing and education group based in Old East Durham and serves as the Founding Executive Director. CIP focuses on addressing policy and systemic inequity for BIPOC and materially poor people within Durham focusing on social determinants of health, economic development, gentrification, and housing. Camryn is a RWJF Culture of Health Leader (Cohort 3), and an Aspen Institute Healthy Communities Fellow (cohort/2022). She also serves locally as co-chair of Organizing Against Racism-Durham as well as serving as a member of the Racial Equity Taskforce for the City of Durham and the Built2Last/Durham Compact Board of Advisors. She also serves on the Executive and Steering Committees for the Equitable Food Oriented Development (EFOD) which is a national collaborative of food systems organizations run by black and brown communities to reshape the narrative surrounding food, community and economic development centered in black and brown liberation. To see more, go to the CIP website.

Jen Zuckerman is owner of Zuckerman Consulting, working with philanthropic, academic, and community organizations on issues of power, connection, and authentic relationship building. As part of her work with Zuckerman Consulting, Jen contracts with the DEI Works Collective. Her work focuses on institutional organizing, concentrating specifically on recognizing power and operationalizing power shift strategies.

She previously served as the Director of Strategic Initiatives at Duke University’s World Food Policy Center, focusing on people-first policy development for equitable food policy in the US. There, she supported research to demonstrate the racialized history of policies that have created the inequities in the food system of today, identifying strategies that shift power and decision making to community leadership.

Jen’s background is in philanthropy, spending twelve years at the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation as the Senior Program Officer for Healthy Living and the Director of Strategic Partnerships and as a Board member/Board Chair of the Sustainable Agriculture and Food System Funders Network.

The Hive Collective is a strategic partner to nonprofits and NGOs all over the world. Reach out to us at [email protected]
Hivecollective.net
Don't forget to subscribe to The Hive Collective Podcast!

Previous Episode

Building Shared Values and Collective Governance with Sumona Majumdar

In this episode of The Hive Collective Podcast, we sit down with Sumona Majumdar, the CEO of Earth Island Institute, to explore her journey and the significant changes she has introduced since taking on the role in March of last year. Sumona shares the thoughtful approach she took in her initial months, starting with a two-day retreat designed to foster shared values and build strong relationships within her team.

Sumona discusses how these retreats, held every four to five months, were instrumental in creating an environment of trust and open communication. The process involved engaging activities that allowed team members to connect on a personal level, which paved the way for honest discussions about values and future goals.

A particularly memorable activity was envisioning the impact of their work seven generations into the future, as well as reflecting on their ancestral histories. This exercise helped team members connect on a deeper level, acknowledging their diverse backgrounds while uniting around a common vision for the future.

Central to their transformation was the implementation of collective governance. Earth Island Institute adopted values such as community, adaptability, justice, equity, and power sharing, which have become the guiding principles for their decision-making processes. They established decision-making circles for critical areas like compensation, hiring, and DEI, involving a broader range of staff in these decisions to distribute the leadership load more equitably.

Sumona also reflects on the challenges of this transition, including the initial excitement and the practical concerns of managing increased workloads. Despite some ongoing adjustments, the shift to collective governance has been a positive step towards a more inclusive and collaborative work environment.

Tune in to hear more about how Earth Island Institute is navigating these changes and the impact of shared values on its organizational culture.

Connect with us:

Visit Earth Island Institute: https://www.earthisland.org/
Visit our website: Hive Collective
Follow Beth Ellen Holimon on LinkedIn for more insights and updates.https://www.linkedin.com/in/beth-ellen-holimon-cfre/

@Beth Ellen Holimon

Next Episode

Shift Power with Period Awareness: "Period Reality" Shares How Work Can Better Support Women

Embracing the Menstrual Cycle for a Healthier Life
In this episode, we dive into the transformative insights behind Period Reality with our founder Marlou Cornelison, Silindile Khuzwayo, and Denzil Doyle . We explore how the 24-hour societal cycle doesn't align with the reality for people with menstrual cycles, whose hormones fluctuate over an average 28-day period. This difference means a daily change in mood, energy, and productivity levels, and we discuss how tracking these shifts can empower individuals to better understand their bodies and optimize their lives.
Key highlights include:
- The **four phases** of the menstrual cycle and how they impact everything from creativity to confidence.
- The importance of **cycle tracking** as a tool to reconnect with our bodies and advocate for our health.
- How understanding our personal cycle can help in planning tasks, scheduling social events, and managing energy levels.
- Real stories from our guests about how cycle tracking revealed underlying health conditions and improved overall well-being.
- How societal change and workplace adjustments can support people who operate on a 28-day hormonal cycle instead of a 24-hour one.
Join us as we shed light on this under-researched area of women's health and discuss the Period Reality movement's goal of educating and advocating for policy reform by 2030 to support this hormonal cycle difference.
Listen now for an empowering conversation on syncing with your natural cycle, giving yourself grace, and embracing your full potential!