The Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation (AAACF) is one of the five regional collaborative leads engaging in CMF’s Statewide Equity Fund (SEF). It is building a coalition that centers the voices of connected community leaders. The coalition is hosted and supported by the community foundation and the county for the purpose of influencing public funding. 

AAACF and four other regional collaborative sites, led by CMF members, began engaging in the SEF Strategic Support Pilot in early 2022 and are now working closely with their local units of government to help shape investments toward equitable outcomes within the focus area of economic prosperity.

As CMF reported, Michigan is receiving significant funding through federal and local recovery dollars. As part of the ARPA, Michigan is receiving an estimated $10 billion dollars with $1.8 billion in Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Funding being allocated directly to 49 Michigan cities and townships.

Shannon Polk, president and CEO of AAACF, shared that through the SEF, the community foundation was able to create a table for community members that historically had not had a seat.  

“We had individuals who represented returning citizens, immigrants, the LGBTQIA+ communities and more. We were able to create a table where they could share with us the challenges for the community; that would not have happened without the investment of the SEF dollars,” Polk said.  

According to Polk, the community foundation was a facilitator and convener and worked to create a space for community leaders to set the agenda for the conversations. 

“Oftentimes philanthropy, because of our vast resources, will want to dictate what engagement should look like and what the agenda should be. We put our trust in the community who are experts and let them tell us what the greatest challenges and needs are, and then we came in as a resource and support how to best advocate for those needs,” Polk said.  

Through the SEF pilot, AAACF was able to incentivize community leader participation, making broader representation of the community possible, Polk shared.

“The SEF created a space for community members to not only get to know us better but to get to know the county better and to build trust with one another. By being selected for the SEF, it gave us the opportunity to strengthen these relationships between communities that have similar interests, but also don’t always have access to the information and resources necessary to properly represent the interest of their communities,” Polk said.

Polk shared that the SEF site was able to identify Activest as a resource to support a fiscal justice analysis of the county budget.

“This strengthened not only the civic understanding of county government for these community leaders, but it also informed them in the ways that they can begin to engage in dialogue with their county representatives on what is critical for these communities to really be at play when it comes to making budget decisions,” Polk said.  

The SEF also provided an opportunity to collaborate with local government.  

“This work allowed us to partner more closely with our county government in a way that we had not for a few years. We worked to build that trust and support, and now we’re seeing that pay off in other ways through continued conversation around potential future funding projects and information sharing,” Polk said. 

Polk shared that AAACF partnered with the Washtenaw County Racial Equity Officer in creating the table for community leaders to convene.

“As we work to support and improve the lives within Washtenaw County, county government is one of our most natural allies. What this partnership through the SEF has done is allowed us to build and strengthen our relationship with the county government so that we’re not only partners around equity related to ARPA funding, but then we can become partners for other endeavors such as investments in housing or opportunities for economic development,” Polk said.

According to Polk, AAACF knows that its role as a convener is to create space for underrepresented voices because there are inequities in every community, and there should be goals for the entire community.

“This is where we can be impactful, by providing data and resources, bringing various groups across our communities together to see how we can improve the lives of everyone in our community. That’s what we were able to begin through the process of the SEF,” Polk said.

The SEF is a $2 million pooled fund powered by philanthropy and administered by CMF, which empowers CMF members to strategically pool resources toward systems change efforts with an equity-centered approach, initially focused on economic prosperity.

As part of the SEF, AAACF and four other CMF members around the state are leveraging their convening power and working closely with their local units of government and community to shape incoming federal funding toward equity-centered approaches to advance economic prosperity.

CMF members the Pontiac Funders Collaborative, Community Foundation of Greater Flint, Grand Rapids Community Foundation and the Community Foundation of Marquette County are also engaging in their own work through the SEF to advance equitable outcomes toward economic prosperity through the SEF in their respective geographic service areas.

The SEF is supported by CMF members the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Ralph C. Wilson Jr., Foundation, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Ballmer Group, DTE Foundation, Ford Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, the Skillman Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, the Hudson-Webber Foundation, Community Foundation of Marquette County, Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan and Grand Rapids Community Foundation.

Want more?

Learn more about the Pontiac Funders Collaborative SEF site’s work in supporting Pontiac organizations’ collaboration and bolstering their capacity to influence, manage and deploy American Rescue Plan Act funding toward equitable outcomes that support entrepreneurship and youth in Pontiac.

Learn more about the Community Foundation of Marquette County SEF site’s cross-sector collaboration to align incoming ARP resources with Marquette County’s 2040 plan focused on increasing access to affordable childcare and ending homelessness.

Learn more about how the Grand Rapids Community Foundation SEF site is working with the city of Grand Rapids in supporting a participatory budgeting process that engages residents in allocating ARP resources.

Explore CMF’s Strategic Support Pilot Resource page, a curated collection of resources highlighting data, tools and resources related to shaping public dollars.