2023: A Year of Impact and Gratitude
It’s hard to believe that another year is coming to an end. And yet, as we reflect on the year, it’s exciting to see how much has been accomplished by the Greenbridge team and, more importantly, by our remarkable Impact Partners.
As we look back over the last 12 months, our decisions have been guided by the four beliefs we defined last year:
We believe in practicing radical candor with love.
We believe everyone deserves a fighting chance to thrive.
We believe in creating memorable moments of impact.
We believe no one should be defined by their worst mistake.
These have come alive in our site visits, granting decisions, and through the work of our Impact Partners. We thought we’d dedicate this year’s blog to celebrating these accomplishments.
Learning by doing
This year, we prioritized time away from our computers to learn directly from our Impact Partners and their direct beneficiaries — in schools and classrooms, maximum security prisons, and animal shelters. This in-person time sitting with our Impact Partners helped bring their work to life and taught us so much about the complex issues we’re focused on and vital solutions. And equally, these site visits introduced us to some incredible new partners. Learn more about the power we’ve found site visits to hold.
Creating connections
We were thrilled to welcome nearly 30 of our Impact Partners together for our second annual Greenbridge Summit in June. This event offered the opportunity for these remarkable senior leaders to connect and learn from each other. We’ve found that there are critical decisions facing these organizations that cut across their respective focus areas — it doesn’t matter if the organization is tackling climate change, second chance employment, or the US democracy crisis — they are asking similar questions around organizational growth, organizational management, and brand building. To learn more about this year’s summit, read the blog we published.
Celebrating our Partners
This year, many of our Impact Partners received significant awards, grants, and recognition. We offer our sincere congratulations to them all and wanted to highlight just a few below:
FreeWorld and the Anti-Recidivism Coalition (ARC) both received significant funding from Blue Meridian’s Justice and Mobility Fund
Sam Lewis, the Executive Director of ARC and a tireless criminal justice advocate in California received his SB 731 Expungement, which means he no longer has to check the box for “felony”. Congrats Sam!
Projet Innerspace, along with two other organizations, was awarded $165M from the Department of Energy to help expand US geothermal energy deployment
Ian Bassin, Executive Director of Protect Democracy, was named as a MacArthur Fellow
Royal Ramey, Co-founder and Chief Program Officer of the Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program, was selected to join the Obama Foundation’s Leaders USA program
Milestones and accomplishments
Our Impact Partners have been very busy this year working towards their own goals and outcomes. We’d be remiss if we didn’t celebrate some of their big wins and milestones this year.
Freeworld: Reached the major milestone of over 1,000 graduates of the Freeworld CDL certification program!
Rewiring America: Since the adoption of the Inflation Reduction Act in August 2022, Rewiring America has been hard at work helping Americans understand the value of electrifying their homes. Over 530,000 Americans have used their new calculator to understand how much they could save thanks to the IRA if they made improvements in their homes like electric water heaters and induction stoves.
Last Mile Education Fund: Last Mile has had a banner year. Over the past year, they’ve expanded their services to an array of new demographics, including women pursuing careers in the semiconductor industry and Native American women pursuing degrees in computing-related fields. Since launching just three years ago, they’ve now provided over 5,000 grants totaling more than $5.5M to support degree completion for low-income students aimed at careers in tech.
VotingWorks: VotingWorks had a big win this year when they became the first new voting system vendor approved in New Hampshire in more than 30 years. This gives them the opportunity to deploy their machines throughout the state in both the upcoming state primary and general election in 2024.
Center for Reproductive Rights: Despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in June 2022 – the Center for Reproductive Rights continues to lead the fight forward. Some of their recent successes include:
New state constitutional rights to abortion after landmark rulings in three states. Ballot victories in all seven states where abortion was up for a vote.
Abortion bans blocked or delayed in seven states. Interstate shield laws enacted in 17 states and the District of Columbia to protect abortion providers, patients, and helpers across state lines.
Recidiviz: In 2023, Recidiviz added four partner states to their data platform, bringing them to a total of 15 state partners that account for 29% of the American prison population. They’ve supported 34,000 people on their journey to liberty, bringing the organization to a total of 103,000 people impacted by their tools.
Planning for 2024 is already well underway and we are excited to continue with our theme, “Simplify and deepen.” We look forward to sharing our work, and the amazing work of our Impact Partners with you.