City residents and others will have a chance to ask questions and provide input as Kingston-based mega-charity the NoVo Foundation hosts a series of “community conversations” in the coming months.

The online forums are part of a broader community engagement effort by the foundation amid concerns over transparency and sustainability at the charity, which has pumped millions of dollars into programs to support its vision of Kingston as “a radically more self-reliant, equitable and ecologically restorative community.”

NoVo project coordinator Megan Weiss-Rowe said that there was growing awareness at the foundation that more needed to be done not only to inform people of the charity’s operations, but to actively seek input from a broad range of area residents.

“When NoVo first came to Kingston its role was much smaller. The idea was that NoVo wanted to support work in a couple of key areas and have the story not be about NoVo itself but the work, much of which was already occurring here,” said Weiss-Rowe. “Over time as NoVo’s presence grew larger there was a recognition that we are in a relationship not just with specific grantees, but with the community as a whole.”

The NoVo foundation was founded by philanthropist Peter Buffet — son of billionaire investor Warren Buffet — and his wife Jennifer back in 2006. In 2014, the foundation purchased the sprawling Gill Farm in Hurley to create a hub of agricultural research, an incubator for new farmers and a link in a locally based food distribution network. Since then, the foundation has expanded its reach locally, pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into both existing local charities like the United Way of Ulster County and the Kingston YMCA, and fully funded by NoVo projects like Radio Kingston.

The foundation has also made inroads into local government, spending millions to support programs and even fund positions in county and city government. In Kingston, the foundation supports city government’s efforts to promote health and wellness and combat climate change. NoVo funding has also backed county projects like County Executive Pat Ryan’s signature pandemic relief program “Project Resilience” and a pilot Universal Basic Income program that distributes no-strings-attached cash to county residents.

The philosophy driving NoVo is a belief that climate change and its attendant social and political upheaval will inevitably disrupt or even destroy global supply chains, leaving communities reliant on local resources. NoVo programs like the Farm Hub, a proposed grain mill and even a local currency seek to create sustainable local infrastructure for distributing food, goods and services to help the city weather the coming storm.

But as the foundation’s local operations have expanded, so have questions about how the money is distributed — and what could happen if the tap runs dry. A July article in the online magazine Tablet described an opaque decision-making process and the use of pass-through entities like Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley to mask the source of substantial funds flowing into local projects and institutions. The article also highlighted the foundation’s 2019 pivot away from global efforts to support women’s empowerment to focus in on its vision of “localism” with Kingston as its showpiece and laboratory; a move that some of those involved in the women’s programs said left them feeling blindsided and abandoned.

'Real conversations'

The community engagement effort began last summer when NoVo held a series of outdoor discussions in a vacant lot near the Boys and Girls Club. Weiss-Rowe described the events as an opportunity for NoVo staff to answer questions from the community. Weiss-Rowe said that the online forums were designed as the next step in the process, small group discussions where participants can speak directly with Buffet, NoVo special projects coordinator Martin Kirk and Weiss-Rowe. Kirk, who recently moved to Cottekill, was a co-founder of The Rules (2012-19), a global collective of activists challenging the root causes of global poverty and inequality. The Rules developed what they refer to as "Cultural Hacking" - "a method and toolkit to help social movements bring about narrative and structural change."

“It’s really trying to move away from a question-and-answer format and have real conversations,” said Weiss-Rowe of the weekly forums which began last month. “People can ask questions, of course, but they can also share ideas and concerns, comment on their experiences with NoVo or with Kingston in general.”

The forums are open to anyone who lives or works in Kingston, but space in each forum is limited to 12 people to facilitate back-and-forth discussion. The forums take place every Thursday from 5-7 p.m. and are slated to run through the end of the year. Participants can register for a spot in the forums by clicking here.

Weiss-Rowe said that the forums had generated a strong response and discussions are underway about extending the initiative into 2022. The foundation also plans to host some forums in Spanish.

The forums, Weiss-Rowe said, were part of a broader community engagement effort that includes the creation of a Kingston specific email address — kingston@novofoundation.org — to allow city residents to communicate directly with NoVo staff. Weiss-Rowe said the foundation also plans to begin hosting in-person forums once COVID-19 protocols are no longer necessary.

“We’re trying a number of different vehicles to connect with people and this is just the next step in the process,” said Weiss-Rowe. “The question we’re trying to answer is, ‘How do you have a conversation with 23,000 people?’”