NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Darren Walker needed to be convinced of his new book\u2019s relevance.<\/p>\n
The outgoing Ford Foundation president feared that \u201cThe Idea of America,\u201d set to publish in September just before he leaves the nonprofit, risked feeling disjointed. In more than eight dozen selected texts dating back to 2013, he reflects on everything from his path as a Black, gay child from rural Texas into the halls of premiere American philanthropies to his solutions for reversing the deepening inequality of our \u201cnew Gilded Age.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be clear, not everything I said and wrote over the last 12 years is worthy of publication,\u201d Walker said.<\/p>\n
A point of great regret, he said, is that he finds American democracy weaker now than when he started. Younger generations lack access to the same \u201cmobility escalator\u201d that he rode from poverty. And he described President Donald Trump\u2019s administration\u2019s first six months as \u201cdisorienting\u201d for a sector he successfully pushed to adopt more ambitious and just funding practices.<\/p>\n
Despite that bleak picture, Walker embraces the characterization of his upcoming collection as patriotic.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy own journey in America leaves me no option but to be hopeful because I have lived in a country that believed in me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Walker recently discussed his tenure and the book\u2019s call for shared values with the Associated Press inside his Ford Foundation office \u2014 where an enlarged picture of a Black child taken by Malian portrait photographer Seydou Ke\u00efta still hangs, one of many underrepresented artists\u2019 works that populated the headquarters under his leadership. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.<\/p>\n
Q: Upon becoming Ford Foundation\u2019s president, you suggested that \u201cour most important job is to work ourselves out of a job\u201d \u2014 a 2013 statement you include in the book. How would you grade your efforts?<\/p>\n
A: The past 12 years have been both exhilarating and exhausting. Exhilarating because there\u2019s never been a more exciting time to be in philanthropy. And exhausting because the political, socioeconomic dynamics of the last 12 years are very worrisome for our future. Philanthropy can play a role in helping to strengthen our democracy. But philanthropy can\u2019t save America.<\/p>\n
I would probably give myself a B or a B-. I don\u2019t think where we are as a nation after 12 years is where any country would want to be that had its eye on the future and the strength of our democracy.<\/p>\n
Q: Is there anything you would do differently?<\/p>\n
A: In 2013 and those early speeches, I identified growing inequality as a challenge to the strength of our democracy. And a part of that manifestation of growing inequality was a growing sense of disaffection \u2014 from our politics, our institutions, our economy. For the first time, a decade or so ago, we had clear evidence that working class white households were increasingly downwardly mobile economically. And the implications for that are deep and profound for our politics and our democracy.<\/p>\n
We started a program on increasing our investments in rural America, acknowledging some of the challenges, for example, of the trends around the impacts of the opioid epidemic on those communities. I underestimated the depth and the collective sense of being left behind. Even though I think I was correct in diagnosing the problem, I think the strategy to respond was not focused enough on this population.<\/p>\n
A: One of the disappointments I have with philanthropy is that we don\u2019t take enough risk. We don\u2019t innovate given the potential to use our capital to provide solutions. I do think that, in the coming years, foundations are going to be challenged to step up and lean in in ways that we haven\u2019t since the pandemic. <\/p>\n
The 5% payout<\/a> is treated as a ceiling by a lot of foundations and, in fact, it\u2019s a floor. During these times when there\u2019s so much accumulated wealth sitting in our endowments, the public rightly is asking questions about just how much of that we are using and towards what end.<\/p>\n Q: Where do you derive this sense of \u201cradical hope\u201d at the end of your book?<\/p>\n A: As a poor kid in rural Texas, I was given the license to dream. In fact, I was encouraged to dream and to believe that it will be possible for me to overcome the circumstances into which I was born. I\u2019ve lived on both sides of the line of inequality. And I feel incredibly fortunate. But I\u2019m also sobered by the gap between the privileged and the poor and the working-class people in America. It has widened during my lifetime and that is something I worry a lot about.<\/p>\n But I\u2019m hopeful because I think about my ancestors who were Black, enslaved, poor. African Americans, Black people, Black Americans have been hopeful for 400 years and have been patriots in believing in the possibility that this country would realize its aspirations for equality and justice. That has been our North Star. <\/p>\n Q: Heather Gerken, the dean of Yale\u2019s law school, was recently named as your successor<\/a>. Why is it important to have a leader with a legal background and an expertise in democracy?<\/p>\n A: She is the perfect leader for Ford because she understands that at the center of our work must be a belief in democracy and democratic institutions and processes. She is also a bridge builder. She is a coalition builder. She\u2019s bold and courageous. I\u2019m just thrilled about her taking the helm of the Ford Foundation.<\/p>\n It is a signal from the Ford Foundation Board of Trustees that we are going to double down on our investment and our commitment to strengthening, protecting and promoting democracy.<\/p>\n Q: Youtold AP last year<\/a> that, when you exited this building for the last time, you\u2019d only be looking forward. What does \u201cforward\u201d mean to you now?<\/p>\n A: I have resolved that I don\u2019t want to be a president or a CEO. I don\u2019t need to be a president of CEO. I think leaders can become nostalgic and hold onto their own history. Now there\u2019s no doubt, I know, that my obituary is going to say, \u201cDarren Walker, the president of the Ford Foundation.\u201d That\u2019s the most important job I\u2019ll ever have. But hopefully I\u2019ll be able to add some more important work to that.<\/p>\n Darren Walker\u2019s next chapter<\/p>\n As he gets set to leave the Ford Foundation, Darren Walker, 65, will join the Obama Foundation\u2019s board of directors<\/a> and become president of The National Gallery of Art. He was named commander of France\u2019s Order of Arts and Letters<\/a>, the country\u2019s highest cultural honor, in 2022.<\/p>\n Art is important to Walker and he dedicates an entire section of his upcoming book \u201cThe Idea of America\u201d<\/a> to the connection between art and democracy. He told The Associated Press why in a recent interview with James Pollard<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cWe know from research that exposure and education in the arts and humanities helps us develop empathy. It helps us to see the humanity in others, particularly people who don\u2019t look like us or necessarily share our background. If we are to be a just nation, we must have a citizenry that possesses some modicum of collective empathy. And we can\u2019t be a just and empathetic nation without the arts and humanities. What it does, to give us our collective identity, is essential. We need more leaders who see our common humanity. And if more people are exposed to the arts, we increase the likelihood that we\u2019re going to get leaders who can see our common humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP\u2019s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP\u2019s philanthropy coverage, visit https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/philanthropy<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Darren Walker needed to be convinced of his new book\u2019s relevance. 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