People of Color Affinity Group

About the People of Color Affinity Group

The People of Color Affinity Group is the trailblazer of affinity groups in the Alliance. Started in 2001, it brings together capacity builders of African, Asian/Pacific Islander, Latino or Hispanic, Indigenous or Native ancestry and other people of color who are dedicated to strengthening nonprofits and the sector.

The POC Affinity Group seeks:

To support capacity builders of color and those that they support.

Agenda and Structure

The Affinity Group is moving forward, energized and refocused. For 2005-2006, we are encouraging participation in working groups to advance areas of greatest interest, including:

• Advocacy
• Mentoring
• Professional Development
• Social Enterprise

Building on our work in previous years, the POC is at the heart of the Alliance's new Cultural Competency Initiative, generating transformative peer dialogue and practice.  Already, many of our members have work featured on the website in Cultural Competency for Nonprofits: The Resource Pages, www.allianceonline.org/cci.ipage/cci_resources.page.

We convened nearly 70 people at our 2005 Annual Gathering in Chicago, and engaged with key challenges presented by speakers Ron McKinley of National Network o Grantmakers, and Ricardo Millett of the Woods Fund of Chicago. (Annual gathering summaries are online in the POC document library, and available to all Alliance members by request.)

Our new POC Leadership Team includes:

Margo Bailey, Melwood (Washington, DC)

Monica Herrera, Community Consulting Group (Minneapolis, MN)

Dahnesh Medora, National Community Development Institute (Oakland, CA)

Jim Milner, Urban Strategies (Milwaukee, WI)

The team works to advance the purposes, process, and accomplishments of the POC by setting the direction in harmony with the Annual Gathering and exchanges over the course of the year, help form and support working groups in which POC members are encouraged to participate, and guide the POC in responding to new challenges and opportunities.  For brief background on our team members, see their listings in the Alliance "Find a Consultant" Provider Search.

We are fortunate to have a strong base of interested and engaged members as well as an informal "wisdom circle," including Patricia St.Onge (former co-leader), Monika Moss (co-founder), Brigette Rouson (staff, co-founder, and former co-leader), other former Leadership Team members--Alfredo Vergara-Lobo, Don Moragne, Inca Mohamed, Tom Bailey--and immediate past board chair David Maurrasse, plus longtime Alliance members Gus Newport, Omowale Satterwhite, and others.