In the lingering spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday, I wanted to express appreciation and gratitude on two fronts.

First, a congratulatory shout-out to Los Angeles Mayor-Elect Karen Bass for her recent victory.  At TCE, we have enjoyed a two-decade-plus relationship with Congressmember Bass, whom we came to know as a grantee-partner in South Los Angeles as she led Community Coalition.  Karen brought a well-established track record as a health practitioner, community organizer, and advocate for justice to elected leadership roles in the state legislature and Congress.  She understands racial justice, racial equity, multi-racial & multi-ethnic coalition building, public-private partnership, and collaboration.  Los Angeles is in desperate need of her brand of leadership as our city’s first African American woman mayor.

And a somber note about the very recent passing of Pablo Eisenberg, who is less well known, but established a well-deserved reputation as philanthropy’s greatest critic on matters of inclusion, transparency, and justice.  Pablo’s four decades of critique and advocacy about institutional philanthropy continue to ring true even today, and I admired and relished his constructive critiques about how the world of private foundations operates.  Pablo, a shout-out to your leadership and vision for our field and the potential to both do well and do good.

Bob