A Letter to the Kingston Community

The NoVo Foundation has been supporting work in Kingston for coming up to a decade, shortly after Jennifer and I moved here in 2011.

In 2006, my father made a pledge to return nearly all of his wealth back to society. The NoVo Foundation was the recipient of a small portion of that pledge. We knew we had a lot to learn (that never stops) and traveled throughout the country and the world to listen.

What we saw was the same mechanisms of power and oppression working at every scale.

From the other side of the world to the other side of the street, we had to acknowledge that the fundamentals were the same. It seemed that the colonial consciousness that shaped the modern world was present in nearly every corner of the globe and every cell in our bodies.

And at the same time, we learned that there was a huge network of what I have called the “Charitable Industrial Complex” at work to help “solve” deeply systemic issues. Vast resources were available to those that could align with the cultural narratives of the donors but far less for those who believe that deep and lasting change cannot be imposed onto communities but must grow out of them, according to their own needs and fit for their specific place.

Ultimately, we learned the obvious: that trusted relationships matter most of all. It is in the everyday experience of how we relate to each other, our community, our food, health, education, environment — all of the entangled systems that effect our lives every day — that the energy and imagination needed for creative, sustainable change live. And that to “start where you are” just makes sense.

In 2013, with these insights guiding us, NoVo purchased the Gill Farm in Hurley and supported the creation of a not-for-profit farm dedicated to resilience in the food system(during the pandemic, the Farm Hub donated well over 300,000 pounds of produce to the community).

Our work has evolved into support for over 60 people and organizations in the City and many more across the region. The work they all do is as varied as it is impressive, affecting all aspects of life from food to housing to healthcare to education to art & culture to the way we produce and exchange the goods and services we all need, to the energy we use to do all of the above. We are deeply honored to be in partnership with them all.

Given the scale this support has now reached, it is understandable that more and more people are asking questions about both our intentions, and how much we can be relied on into the future. The shock caused by IBM leaving left deep wounds, both economic and social. It’s imperative that we do not contribute to a repeat of that experience by creating long-term dependencies that leave the community open to a similar shock in future.

I believe intention is everything. NoVo’s intention is to work with and support people and organizations who are passionate about helping Kingston become a radically more self-reliant, equitable and ecologically restorative community. And our focus, as from the first day the foundation was created, is on those most historically and continually marginalized.

At NoVo, we believe the coming century is going to see many more shocks like the pandemic, some considerably more severe, and so it is our intention to help the Kingston community not just survive but thrive through these events.

This requires becoming a community where everyone feels safe, seen and celebrated for who they truly are, in the full context of their race, gender, sexual orientation, income level and any other characteristic or current life situation. We are a long way from that at the moment, as is the country. But only when the community as a whole is stable and secure enough to be involved in shaping the future can we hope to achieve true self-reliance; a community so connected and known to itself that it can cherish all of its members as it provides for all of its needs.

Gentrification is an urgent issue; it would be a tragic and deep injustice if this community was changed beyond recognition by the forces at large that are driving up housing costs and prices and driving down affordability and availabilty. Our challenge has been how to support meaningful change in a particular neighborhood without those changes inadverdently contributing to those forces driving out the very people who were meant to benefit.

This is about as complex a question as there is in this work and we are committed to supporting organizations across all sectors, from local government to researchers to not-for-profits and activist groups who are working hard to address it.

Self-reliance also requires us to live in balance with the environment that supports us. The Hudson Valley is an incredibly beautiful and agriculturally rich area, as we all know. There is no reason it cannot provide much of what we need to thrive. To do so, though, we will need to learn how to restore the ecological damage caused by the heavy tread of the last century. That requires developing a new type of economics fit for this place specifically; an equitable economy that encompasses access to food, healthcare of all kinds, training for meaningful jobs and much more.

NoVo is not an in-perpetuity Foundation — we will not exist forever. We are deeply committed to this community and this work, though, and so although we cannot be here indefinitely, we are committing to at least another decade.

By 2031, the world will look very different than it does now; just think back 10 years and all the change that has happened in your life. The sorts of questions we have for ourselves, our partners, and Kingston as a whole are: where along this path to self-reliance, equity and ecological restoration do we want to be by then? What new systems or institutions need to emerge to make that possible and which can be left to the past? And what do we need to do to make sure that any reliance on NoVo is distributed or made sustainable by then?

Kingston as a community is unique, but Kingston as a small city in America is not. NoVo’s work to build new systems for community self-reliance extends far beyond Kingston — we support nearly a thousand partners across the country and the world, so we can learn from others and be an inspiration as well.

I believe we are living in an historically significant time. No one can predict the future. But we can participate in imagining it. Unfortunately, imagination itself has become a luxury. But kids still have it. And stability, safety and trust can nurture it. My hope is that NoVo, through its many partners, can help foster a transformation towards the beloved community that we know is possible.