The McKnight Foundation, a family foundation based in Minnesota, advances a more just, creative, and abundant future where people and planet thrive. We know that the future is not yet decided. You can read more about how we’re all in on mission – including a beautiful and inspiring video (at the bottom of the page) – here.

At McKnight, we recognize that economic equity and opportunity are core components to what it takes for people and planet to thrive – on the Vibrant & Equitable Communities team, on which I sit, we name it through the lens of power, participation, and shared prosperity. Be it affordable housing and energy, quality jobs, access to capital, or other ways to gain income and build assets — financial security and well-being enable us all to achieve our dreams for ourselves, our families, and our communities.

I’m excited for ways that we have been clear that our north star is about a just economy and multiracial democracy. Whether that’s our ways of moving transformative ideas on asset building models (like guaranteed income, baby bonds, or cooperatives), to expanding public revenue, to holding the line on quality jobs and affordable housing, to expanding what it means to shift ideas of risk when it comes to lending or other ways of enabling access to financial capital, to building community power including worker power, to protecting fundamental freedoms, like freedoms of expression and assembly, and civil rights.

Colleagues and partners that are willing to lead with courage, creativity, and foresight, keeping values at the center, motivate me to continue forward as we navigate together during these uncertain times.

I think we are at a mirror and magnifying moment – a moment that shows us ways wealth and power continue to be consolidated, a process that’s been underway for a long time. This is going to require us to be clear on priorities, our essentials for what it takes to have economic opportunity and democracy, to know our dealbreakers and dealmakers as things unfold, and to stand united. With cuts to Medicaid and SNAP on the horizon as well as other demands on state budgets, I think it will require us to both be historical (e.g. how did we get here?) and future-oriented (e.g. what may be possible?). This both/and approach helps us face head on the challenges, while remaining proactive and without entrenching structural barriers or compromising values. Sometimes we’ve described this both/and approach as what we need to defend and protect; what we need to nurture, align, and sustain; and what we need to advance and build. Being able to see and act in a both/and way is a muscle I think we’re all building – and can’t do alone. We need each other.

The EOF network helps to see the trends across places and issues, to see underlying currents, and to draw on experiences and practices to help us make more strategic choices, build on existing infrastructure and lessons, and create connections that facilitate better outcomes.

What are you learning about what it takes to shift mental models about the economy and democracy that leads to durable policy?

Ashwin Desai’s book We are the Poors was an important read for me in college – as a way to really interrogate political economy, as well as the monolithic ways we often describe poverty. It (alongside a range of other thought leaders and cultural organizers, like bell hooks, James Baldwin, Franz Fanon, and Arundhati Roy) continue to shape my thinking and open up new possibilities for how we understand what is, how it came to be, and what could be. I also just re-watched this video, A Circle by the River, by Minnesota artist Ricard Levins Morales – worth a watch if you’re needing something to ground and inspire.