Posted on 2 Comments on Meet the Instructors: Dr. LaMont Green

Meet the Instructors: Dr. LaMont Green

[Meet the Instructors is a series intended to introduce you to one of the greatest resources the University of Washington Tacoma Professional Development Center has to offer: its diverse team of veteran, industry-tested professionals. The Center’s professional development programs are designed to be rewarding, challenging and cutting-edge. Our instructors play no small part in that, ensuring students are exposed to the most current industry trends while remaining well-versed in the tried-and-true best practices of their professions. We’re excited to share our instructors with you, and their stories are a great place to start.]

Tell me a little bit about yourself.

My name is LaMont Green. I am a descendant of the Gullah Geechee people from the Low County area of South Carolina, where I was born. I’ve lived in Tacoma for over 20 years and graduated with a degree in Social Work from UW Tacoma – I love our diverse community!

For nearly 20 years, I have worked to help local communities and governments identify and dismantle the persistent drivers of inequity across human services, homelessness, housing, behavioral health, and criminal justice systems. I have been very fortunate to lead several community-driven initiatives centered on improving care systems for complex health and historically disenfranchised populations. I received a Doctorate of Social Work from the University of Southern California with a focus on harnessing social innovation to address the Grand Challenge of Achieving Equal Opportunity and Justice for All. But, most importantly, I am the father of 2 wonderful Labradoodles – Buddy and Brodie:-)

What led you to your Special Initiatives Director position for King County?

King County was awarded a 5.4 million dollar grant from HUD – the Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP) – to test strategies to end unaccompanied youth and young adult homelessness effectively. I was hired to implement the program and lead King County’s Campaign to End Youth Homelessness. The Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program resulted in significant reductions of unaccompanied youth experiencing unsheltered homelessness by advancing young adult voices and participation in governance, design, and evaluation of housing and supportive services.

Youth Homelessness has been an issue close to my heart for some time now. As a young man, after military service, I became homeless, depressed, and drug-addicted, struggling with my own internalized demons resulting from living in a society that constantly reminded me that due to my skin color or sexual orientation that I am inferior; I do not belong, and I am a second class citizen. Luckily, as a Veteran, there were services available to help support my recovery; however, this is not the case for many young people in our community. Black, Brown, Indigenous, LGBTQ, and Trans* youth are tremendously overrepresented in the homelessness system due to the generational impacts of systemic oppression intersecting with race, gender, and class.
I enjoy this work and learn so much from young people experiencing homelessness. Their resiliency, creativity, and bravery in the face of rejection, othering, and shaming fuels me to join with them and others to create liberating communities where we all belong and have opportunities to thrive.

Who do you see benefiting from these two day-long workshops on institutional racism in the nonprofit sector?

Anyone and everyone that works in the nonprofit sector. This training is beneficial for case managers, nonprofit executives, board of directors, program directors, senior leadership, data specialists, outreach specialists, behavioral health professionals, medical staff, etc. We all play a crucial role in ensuring that we address the persistent drivers of inequity.

What are your goals for students to bring back to their organization?

There are three things that I want students to learn and bring back to their organization:

  1. A deep understanding of the history of systemic racism and connecting that history to present-day manifestations of inequity;
  2. Gaining greater competency in identifying, describing, and undoing organizational policies, procedures, and practices that continue to drive racial disparities; and
  3. Becoming familiar with helpful frameworks and tools that can be utilized to lead programmatic and systems change efforts that eliminate racial and social disparities.

 

Join Dr. Green and Nick Bayard at their upcoming workshops September 18th, on Race, Power and Social Impact and on October 2nd, Advance Strategies for Racial Equity Within Nonprofits.
Posted on 3 Comments on Better Events, Bigger Returns: Seattle Fundraising Duo Brings Workshop to Tacoma

Better Events, Bigger Returns: Seattle Fundraising Duo Brings Workshop to Tacoma

Rebecca Dietz and Carol Dole knew right away that they wanted to go into business together.

It was 2008 and Barack Obama had just been elected president.

“We were very excited about Obama winning the presidency and we were not going to fly to Washington D.C., so we said, ‘let’s have our own ball,’” remembered Dietz. “We planned a phenomenal inaugural ball. We had people dressed up in costumes, we had entertainment, it was amazing.”

“People loved it. We realized we worked really well together,” she said. “We looked at each other and said, ‘let’s start this business.’”

Since then, Dietz, a former designer and project manager, and Dole, who previously worked as a producer in Hollywood, have been joined at the hip as the “duo of inspired professionals” behind Well Done Events, LLC. Managing events ranging from small gatherings to large productions with thousands in attendance, the two combine their skills effectively to pull off events for clients. They typically work in the nonprofit space with organizations with small staffs and development operations.

This spring, they will be leading a workshop designed to help nonprofit organizations navigate the complex world of fundraising events, with a focus on planning, purpose and strategy. Titled “Better Events, Bigger Returns: Fundraising Events Management,” the workshop will meet the evenings of June 18 and 20 at UW Tacoma.

Registration for the workshop is open to the public through the UW Tacoma Professional Development Center, who also offers certificates and short courses in Nonprofit and Fundraising Management. Unlike the certificate programs, which offer more comprehensive curriculums, this workshop offers attendees six hours focused exclusively on the topic of event management.

Events shouldn’t be isolated incidents, cutoff from the rest of an organization’s operations, Dietz and Dole are quick to point out. Events are most effective when they are integrated with a nonprofit’s development strategy.

“You don’t just have a party because it feels good or because the neighbor is having one,” said Dietz. “To do it effectively, you need to think about what your strategy is for the next few years.”

Over the course of two evenings, the workshop will go beyond what it takes to run an event successfully to exploring questions like, “Why are we having an event in the first place?” to “What is your ‘ask’ going to be at this event?”

Unpacked, the “better” in the workshop’s title goes beyond making an event flashy and fun. To Dietz and Dole, a “better event” is one whose design incorporates strategy, public relations and branding with intention.

“The misunderstanding we run into all the time is ‘we’re having an auction because everyone else is having an auction; we’re going to make $200,000 at the auction because this organization made that much at an auction,’” said Dietz.

Here, Dole said, is where they often see organizations making mistakes.

“They haven’t really thought about first of all, how are we making $200,000 at this auction, whose coming? It gets into a cycle that is not good business planning and not maximizing what events should be,” she said.

That’s not to say that Dietz and Dole are down on nonprofits; they are very excited about working in the sector.

“They’re doing great work and that’s why we love to work with them,” said Dole.

The mission of Well Done Events, and the UW Tacoma workshop, is to enhance local nonprofits’ use of events as a strategic tool.

“It’s really about getting out in the community, finding the people who believe in the work, moving the mission along and that takes time,” said Dietz.

“At events you’re thanking people, you’re acknowledging people, you’re bringing your community together, but as we often say: Bill Gates is not going to come to your auction and raise his paddle for $10 million,” said Dietz.

“That’s not how you’re going to get money from Bill and his friends,” she said. “He might come to your auction, but if you don’t have a strategy as to how you’re going to follow up with Bill for one, two, five, ten years, to get that kind of money, why are you having that event?”

“We come in and say, ‘Why are you doing this?’” said Dole. “The more savvy people going into the industry are about the role events should be playing, the better for everybody.”

To learn more from Dietz and Dole, you will have to join them in person this June at “Better Events, Bigger Returns: Fundraising Events Management.” You can learn more about the duo on their website, Well Done Events. For more information on our Fundraising and Nonprofit programs, visit our website.