News

• Published date: 01 February 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nba.30725
• Date: 01 February 2020

NONPROFIT BUSINESS ADVISOR FEBRUARY 2020

12 © 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company • All rights reserved

DOI: 10.1002/nba

follow its own progressive disciplinary process, and

(3) denied him access to the personal belongings he

kept at work.

Nevertheless, the district court judge granted a

summary judgment in favor of the city.

EMPLOYEE WINS ➔ On appeal, the court ruled

that a jury should decide whether racial discrimina-

tion was a motive for the termination.

It also held that the plaintiff’s complaints to ad-

ministrators about the allegedly racist comments

were protected and noted that he had been red

approximately two months after his most recent

complaint in September 2015. The court ruled that

the close temporal proximity—in conjunction with

the irregular manner of his discipline and termina-

tion—was sufcient to defeat a summary judgment

on the issue of retaliation.

The appellate court reversed the summary judg-

ment and sent the case back for trial.

[Vasquez v. City of Idaho Falls, U.S. Court

of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, No. 18-35255,

07/02/2019]. ■

News

Study shines light on

women’s foundation and funds

A new report from the Women’s Philanthropy

Institute at Indiana University shines some light on

women’s foundations and funds—a diverse group of

organizations with a history of leading philanthropy

dedicated to women and girls. Building on previous

WPI research, the report—Change Agents: The Goals

and Impact of Women’s Foundations and Funds—aims

to better understand how these organizations set

goals, measure impact and take action to advance

women, and is the rst to closely examine the change

these inuential organizations make among women

and the broader community.

Key ndings from the report include:

• Women’s funds share the broad goal of advanc-

ing women’s philanthropy, but their specic objec-

tives, and the ways in which they pursue them, vary

widely.

• Women’s funds dene impact in different ways

and have been most successful at achieving short-term

goals through empowerment and community-based

change.

• Women’s funds pursue their organizational

goals through multiple grantmaking approaches,

like gender-lens and community-based philanthropy,

designed to elevate their impact.

• Many women’s funds go beyond grantmaking

to achieve impact, engaging in activities such as

relationship-building, partnerships and policy advo-

cacy to pursue broader social change.

The WPI said the study’s ndings can help women’s

foundations and funds as they rene their approach,

while also providing other organizations a model for

how to support their communities through individual

empowerment and locally driven change.

To read the report in full, visit https://bit.

ly/2PHXkZ7.

Verizon awards $1 million

for digital literacy programs

Verizon has awarded a $1 million grant to Unido-

sUS—formerly known as the National Council of

La Raza—to support the Latinos @ Work program,

a new initiative that aims to bring digital learning

centers to underserved Latino communities in four

cities across the country.

The grant will support the development of a

digital literacy and job-readiness toolkit that will be

implemented in Chicago, New Orleans, Seattle and

Lawrence, Mass. The toolkit will help community-

based organizations provide soft and hard skills to

participants through eight-week-long programs. En-

rolled participants will also be provided with meals,

child care, laptops and transportation during the

duration of their course, Verizon said.

The digital learning centers will be equipped with

mobile technologies, curricula and professional ser-

vices to help program participants become digitally

competent. The curricula will consist of modules that

aim to elevate the skill sets of participants, including

nancial capability, digital literacy, job readiness,

communication and job search.

The ultimate goal is to help individuals prepare for

jobs that require digital skills and to be employed in

those jobs, the company said.

For more information, visit https://bit.

ly/2PDQCTJ. ■