As we enter our fourth year of operation, there is much to celebrate at Open Horizon. During our first two years as a foundation, since December 2019, we focused on granting funds to mission-aligned nonprofit partner organizations.
Our initial aim was to expand opportunities and increase equity. Getting to know the individuals and communities who are doing this good work has been meaningful and inspiring.
As a relatively small foundation and a very young one, just starting to walk as a three-year-old, you could say, we’ve been curious about how to have more impact than our limited granting allows. Last year, during our third year, we launched not one but three unique programs: Ignite the South, Open Horizon Leaders Retreat, and Parent Conversations about Race and Belonging. We are grateful to our partner, Imagine Us consulting, whose talented team has lived up to their mission of supporting us in pursuing our boldest dreams. With their vision and talent leading the way, we supported them in the January launch of Ignite the South, a six-month, multi-faceted leadership development program for emerging leaders in Southern social justice organizations. Also, in January they helped us deliver our inaugural two-day Leaders Retreat, focusing on reflection, connection, and renewal for our partner leaders.
Our third programmatic endeavor has been a collaboration with Conversations about Race & Belonging. Our Parents Program is the result of their skillful development and customization of a top-quality, interactive curriculum for Parents in Northern Virginia which focuses on storytelling and lays the groundwork for productive and honest discussions about racism and race, identity, equity, and belonging. We’re excited to support the expansion of this program from one to three cohorts this fall.
With this growth and new approaches, we are also seeing changes in our staffing. Early in 2022, we brought on our first staff member, Maia Falconi-Sachs, who spearheads our communications work, manages finance and administration and serves as our legal advisor. On March 20th we’ll be welcoming Open Horizon’s first executive director, D’Lynn Jacobs. D’Lynn comes to us after holding multiple leadership roles at the US Peace Corps, both in Washington, DC and abroad. We are excited for Open Horizon to benefit from her expertise in capacity building, organizational development, and equity and inclusion work. Please stay tuned to learn more about D’Lynn and her vision for leading the foundation into its next chapter.
Currently, we are preparing for a strategic planning process this spring and the opportunity to further define Open Horizon’s niche as not just a funder, but also as a convener and uplifter of leaders doing meaningful work.
We welcome you to join us on this journey and to stay tuned for what’s next.
