Entering a new century: Kimberly Roberson reflects on our Flint Area program’s next chapter
The Mott Foundation is celebrating our centennial and entering our second century of work with a new strategic plan to guide our grantmaking.
In the video and transcript below, hear from Kimberly Roberson, director of our Flint Area program, about what’s ahead for the program and why it’s important.
Transcript of video
Introduction
“Flint is my hometown. It’s a wonderful place. It’s an amazing place.
“And when people from outside don’t understand that, it really raises our hackles because they’ve got to come and see it. It’s worth investing in, it’s worth living in, and we’re glad to be here.”
Flint Area program
“Our hope is that the community will really see impact from this new plan. We’re going to go deeper in a couple of areas that we heard are very important to this community, as well as maintaining some of the areas that have been traditional grantmaking for the Foundation.
“But we hope the impact will really be seen and felt.”
How we work
“The most important thing as we thought about the strategic plan was community engagement and feedback. We have heard over and over from residents about the importance of neighborhoods and safety and where they live and work, and how they want this community to be.
“And we feel that that’s deeply reflected in the new plan, as is the ongoing concern about education and how important that is. But the plan is about what we’ve heard from the community.”
Initiatives
“The new strategic plan is really built around five initiatives. Two of them are areas that we plan to go very deep in. And those are education and housing and blight. And those are areas that — over and over — we hear are very important to the community. And what we’re trying to do here is make a sustained commitment in those areas so that we can really see differences and move the needle.
“The other three areas are by no means less important, but they’re areas that are traditionally important to the Foundation and that will impact the community as well.
“One of them is childhood poverty, addressing childhood poverty. That’s a deep concern in this community, and we’re looking at multiple ways that we can go at that issue, along with partners and others. We’re always concerned about economic development and the economic strength of our community.
“And then we have an area called community vitality. That’s really about connections across the community, how we relate to one another, how we become one whole community and ways that we can support that.
“Everything impacts everything in Flint. They may be separate grants, but it’s one community. Housing will impact education. Housing impacts how kids learn. Education impacts the economic well-being of our community.
“It all works together. We think about it as a whole. We focus on these areas, but everything connects to everything.”
Motivation and inspiration
“Although there’s not really one story that stands out from all of my time at the Foundation, there’s a kind of story that stands out. And it’s when I’m out in the community, and for instance, I go to St. Luke’s, and there’s a woman sewing a Stormy Kromer vest who’s had a terrible past and suddenly is a professional seamstress. And that’s the work in action.
“And I go to Educare, and I see 2-year-olds tumbling out of the room onto the playground that’s especially for them. And that’s the work in action.
“And I go to Beecher for their high school, and it’s filled not just with balloons and drummers, but with the whole community that’s there to support their high school kids.
“People think the money is so important, and the money is important, but the magic happens out there. And when the money leaves the Foundation, it’s still just money. But when it gets to those people, it sometimes just takes my breath away.”