Practice What You Preach
INTRODUCTIONS
Before we get into the Main Event, let’s do an introduction. If you’ve been through this song and dance or you have a short attention span (hey, I get it) feel free to jump straight to the Main Event.
Hello, my name is Yasmine Smith and I have the great pleasure of being MEASURE’s Chief of Development. So, what is MEASURE you may ask? Well here’s us in a snap-shot. If you’re more a visual person, there’s a video below!
ORGANIZATIONAL DESCRIPTION
Motto: Numbers You Can Trust
Mission: MEASURE’s mission is to bridge divisions through data and public education in active partnership with local communities to address complex social problems.
Objective: MEASURE’s objective is to leverage quantitative and qualitative information, in the form of research and education, as a tool to bridge divisions and empower communities to address complex social problems. We ask impacted communities to become active participants in the process of changing the statistics.
WHAT WE DO…
MEASURE seeks to change behaviors, laws, policies and ordinances as they pertain to interactions with people of color. The organization’s work is data driven as it strives to use fact-based research and advocacy on behalf of certain segments of the populace. MEASURE’s efforts are innovative within the ecosystem of social justice entities as it encourages people of color to be the data collectors and storytellers.
Far too often biased data feeds the narrative about marginalized communities. MEASURE seeks to empower people impacted by substandard data and the related narrative by allowing the people to own the information gathered about them, and to tell their own story unabridged.
MEASURE uniquely partners with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), local community colleges and other colleges and universities to create a new pipeline of Black and Brown researchers and data storytellers.
THE PEOPLE WE SERVE
MEASURE seeks to serve underrepresented communities primarily in Austin, TX as well as other cities across the world through shared research, best practices and community participatory action events.
WHO ARE THE PEOPLE OF MEASURE?
MEASURE’s staff is made up predominantly of volunteers. We have lawyers, doctors, activists, police officers, students, professors, web designers and technology experts on our team. When authorized, MEASURE volunteers may serve as independent contractors. We also have a full C-Suite who are co-founders of the organization that serve as researchers and planners. MEASURE is committed to building a demographically diverse team of people who believe in the power of solid data to address problems.
The Main Event
In this startup grind, there will be a multitude of factors coming at you all at once. For example, just for me in my Development role I’m juggling project management, public grants, private foundation donations, individual donations, and locking down consultations. Sometimes, unfortunately I get tunneled visioned and lose sight of the big picture. Thankfully, I have a team that pulls me back to reality. Our mission is community focused and therefore whatever is done we must put the community first. Take, for example, a current project MEASURE is getting off the ground in partnership with the Austin Area Urban League, Austin Voices, and Impact Hub: the Equity Through Advocacy Tour (E.T.A.).
Through E.T.A., MEASURE hopes to empower underserved communities with resources needed to impact policies that affect them in the realms of affordability. In order to make this happen we must fund our venture. Putting my nose to the ground, I treated this as the main priority before coming to the Impact Hub accelerator. However, the mission, the goals, the impact is the true priority. To truly be community first means not just proposing a solution and finding money for it, but instead going to the community and listening. The money will come if you’re doing good work (trust me), but the work must be something you can be proud of and that aligns with your mission.
That’s why MEASURE is so proud of the work we’ve done in the last couple of months — listening and being part of the community. By partnering with local organizations already doing work in the community we hope to serve, MEASURE has been able to participate in gatherings for Thanksgiving and Christmas. With that backdrop be believe we will be able to truly elevate the voices of that community.
The next event where we will be part of the community is coming up on December 15th at Burnet’s Winter Fair!
