Making the Belo Fund a Reality

Much progress, excitement and hard work going on over the last few months to make the Regenerative Fund for Belo Horizonte (aka Belo Fund) a reality within Associa??o Nossa Cidade. Sharing today some recent highlights of our collaboration with proximate leaders to strengthen the community and advance their goals:

1. STRATEGIC PLAN APPROVAL AT LEADERSHIP GATHERING

We gathered members of our governance structures at the Div? Thrift Shop, in the Nova Cachoeirinha community of Belo Horizonte. In a productive session, we approved our new mission statement and strategic plan. We also heard, first-hand, from Malu, our host and fellow member of the Management Committee, about her journey as a community leader:

I have fallen down 300x, and gotten up 301x. So far.

2. CASA PONTAL DA LUZ

We celebrated the opening of Casa Pontal da Luz, a new collaborative house in Santa Luzia, a municipality of 220K people in the Greater Belo Horizonte area. More than 40 community members who work at multiple local impact initiatives attended. My role was to facilitate a conversation circle where folks shared their perspectives on how generosity has manifested itself in their community. Such rich dialogue, summed up with @mariasdomorro leadership sharing that

"today's event help set hope into motion, fighting isolation and highlighting the power of our people"

Follow Cleber Rodrigues and see Casa Pontal da Luz to learn more.

3. TELLING THE STORY OF OUR MINIGRANTS IN BRUMADINHO

We visited key sites and grantees in Brumadinho, another of the 34 municipalities in the Greater Belo Horizonte area. The trip focused on gathering content for a new promotional video, which I will share in a future posting. We got less than 300 feet from the epicenter of death, where more than 250 people were killed by the deluge of mud from the Vale dam. We saw how the neighborhoods surrounding it are being bought up by the company and slowly transforming the village into a ghost town. But we also saw how resilient nature and human life are. Visiting the Xukurú Kariri indigenous village and the Leaning in the Backyard project provided concrete testaments that people know what they need and we should trust them with resources so they can address those needs.

4. BACK TO THE CLASSROOM

Alongside four of our governance members I am taking the O2 Self-Management Organization course. Organic Organizations (hence O2) stare into how dysfunctional the typical command and control structures can be and offers a compelling alternative. It is often counterintuitive, but also coherent and practical. And a spoiler, it is not a free for all: questions of authority and responsibility are faced and addressed head on. See here for more. In addition, as part of the Transforming Territories program, IDIS - Instituto para o Desenvolvimento do Investimento Social sponsored a course to develop our theory of change (which I will share in the future).

5. ACTIVELY FUNDRAISING

I have gotten my toe in the water on the fundraising front. Thrilled that some past Amgen Foundation board members have shown their support with generous contributions. I humbly invite everyone in my network to donate if you can as well – any and every amount helps us support proximate leaders in the greater Belo region!

More soon, and thanks for reading!