Francine Spang-Willis wishes the landscape of the Crazy Mountains near Livingston, Montana, could speak for itself. But if that doesn’t happen, the oral historian will launch a new project by talking to people with a connection to the country.
Spang-Willis is one of twelve new fellows announced Wednesday by the Emerson Collective, Laurene Powell Jobs’ philanthropy. In partnership with the nonprofit Park County Environmental Council, Spang-Willis will spend the next year interviewing people with unique and in-depth perspectives on the area in hopes of developing strategies to manage the Crazy Mountains. She said the land has many stakeholders — from farmers who have been there for five generations, to members of the Crow Nation who go there for “some kind of fasting or vision quest” to hunters and recreationists.
“How do they connect and have a relationship with the land,” she asked. “And what knowledge can they bring to the table?”
This year, the Emerson Collective fellows are all local leaders pursuing projects of their own creation through a wide range of methodologies. Each member of this fifth cohort of fellows will receive $125,000 from the collective and will not be required to report on how they spend that money.
“They are all working to bring culturally relevant local approaches to bringing their communities together, with many of them bridging the divide and ultimately creating a stronger social fabric where they live,” said Patrick D’Arcy, senior director of the Fellows -program. at Emerson Collective.
Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, founded the collective in 2011 because of her philanthropic work and investments. Emerson Collective is not a foundation and says little about its grants, which focus on education, immigration, the environment and health equity. In 2021, Powell Jobs announced that she would invest $3.5 billion over ten years in climate-focused initiatives.
At her foundation’s annual meeting in December, Powell Jobs described herself and the collective as “horticulturists of hope.”
“Just as a tiny seed contains everything needed to produce a towering redwood, the work we and our partners do from humble beginnings can grow to change the landscapes of possibility,” she said.
The collective conducts research and invites potential fellows to apply for a project, although the theme of the fellowship changes each year. It is a way in which the collective directly supports individuals.
“When these talented people have the freedom and support, take risks and think big, truly magical things can happen,” D’Arcy said. Given the uncertain year ahead for the U.S., he said all fellows are working to bring their communities together.
Rosten Woo, a citizen designer who works at the intersection of art and community organizing, will use the funds to create an atlas of social institutions in Los Angeles, where he lives and works.
“LA especially is a pretty baffling place for people to get a political orientation especially, like who’s in control here? What is happening here? It can feel really lawless,” Woo said. He envisions creating a map that encompasses the layered features of the city and county, including everything from the Los Angeles River to school districts and mutual aid projects.
The nature of his project and its methodology means that he expects to work closely with community organizations and local experts and plans to spend a significant portion of the grant on compensating employees for their time. The fellowship and support in carrying out a project he designed is an incredible privilege, Woo said, but he also acknowledged that this, and much of his previous work, is done collaboratively.
“How can you deploy more resources than just an individual, or move from a different model of individuals: are the special people and do you think more about a community or a group of people?” he asked.
The fellowship will allow Tami Pyfer, leader of UNITE, a nonprofit focused on healing political divisions, to develop and distribute a framework for assessing the way people talk to each other. It’s called the Dignity Index and measures the amount of contempt or dignity embedded in speech.
Pyfer, who was an education adviser to a former Utah governor and served on the state’s board of education, sees the nastiness and attacks on public figures as a major deterrent to women taking on leadership roles. She hopes the index can also be a tool to recruit more women into the public sector and has found that Republican and other women’s groups in her state and elsewhere also see the potential.
“We can do better in our families. We can do better in our communities. We can solve problems in politics together,” she said. “Heaven knows we need that in the 2024 election cycle.”
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