When Communities Build Power, They Don’t Let Go
In a year of growing antipathy toward immigrants and refugees, the Culture & Community Power Fund made a decisive move: investing just under one million dollars in the very communities under pressure, supporting them to organize, create, and lead with culture at the center.
Across Memphis, New Orleans, Detroit, Fresno, Philadelphia, Boston and beyond, partners completed a wide array of projects—efforts to address wage theft, increase culturally relevant food security, and elevate the art, culture, and history of their communities. But Director Erik Takeshita is clear about what matters most.
“While the projects and material outcomes are important, what is equally, if not more important, is the community infrastructure built to achieve them,” said Erik Takeshita, director of the Culture & Community Power Fund. “Residents were organized and connected. Youth were trained and given voice. Organizations worked together across sectors. The way the work was achieved laid the groundwork for this work to grow.”
That is the fund’s design philosophy in action: supporting not just what communities build, but how they build it. Every grant is an opportunity to practice community power-building—to strengthen the relationships, skills, and shared identity that make lasting change possible. And once people experience that power, Takeshita says, they want more. “They know they deserve it and they know they can do it.”
“While the projects and material outcomes are important, what is equally, if not more important is the community infrastructure built to achieve them. Residents were organized and connected. Youth were trained and given voice. Organizations worked together across sectors. The way the work was achieved laid the groundwork for this work to grow.”
Erik Takeshita, Director, Culture & Community Power Fund
Now the fund is ready to grow with them. A rigorous 2025 evaluation confirmed a resounding desire from communities and partners to continue and expand. The result is a next chapter that will broaden into new communities, deepen investment in existing ones, and invite additional investors to participate. The fund will also explore targeted use cases where culture-centered power building can have outsized impact, such as in community health.
