Paz-Cedillos: Embracing a founder’s mindset

At the Kresge Foundation’s Centennial Year National Convening, I listened to PolicyLink CEO Michael McAfee deliver a powerful message about embracing a founder’s mindset. Gathered with change-makers striving to build equitable and thriving communities, I recall the anticipation as he took the stage. McAfee, a veteran in the fight for equity, centers his work on the 100 million Americans living at 200% below the poverty line — one in three Americans, including 50% who are poor white folk.

This convening in September came two months before the election, and in retrospect, McAfee was preparing us for the challenges ahead. He reminded us we live in an imperfect nation — founded not to ensure equality but to preserve power for the privileged elite. As Howard Zinn noted in “A People’s History of the United States,” the Constitution was crafted by wealthy landowners and lawyers to protect their economic interests. Voting was a privilege reserved for property-owning men, excluding enslaved people, women and even poor white men.

The birth of this imperfect nation leaves us grappling with systemic inequities nearly 250 years later. The inspired rhetoric of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution contrasts starkly with the lived realities of marginalized communities. Reports like those from the Silicon Valley Institute for Regional Studies reveal economic disparities persist even in one of the wealthiest regions in the world, where the top 10% of households hold 70% of the collective wealth. The system was never built for everyone, and it continues to exclude so many of us.

Today, we face leadership that threatens to erode civil rights further and deepen divisions. Economic interests remain the driving force behind these policies. For immigrants, communities of color and LGBTQ+ individuals, this is not new. For centuries, we’ve endured policies designed to harm and divide. Yet, through persistence and cross-racial organizing, we’ve risen to fight for a world worth building.

McAfee challenged us to adopt a founder’s mindset, envisioning a multiracial democracy that includes all people, even those with divergent visions. His message was clear: improvement requires that we all step into the business of governing. “What would a governing agenda born out of your work look like?” he asked.

This question is especially urgent for Silicon Valley, a region of immense wealth and glaring inequality. East San Jose bears the brunt of systemic failures: concentrated poverty, shuttered schools, struggling small businesses and unaffordable housing. Despite the resources available, solutions at scale remain elusive.

To our San Jose City Council and Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors: What policies will you champion to bridge this divide? How will you address the systems that perpetuate food insecurity, homelessness and economic disparity? Moving beyond programs, how will you tackle root causes instead of symptoms?

For my colleagues in the nonprofit sector, the question is equally pressing. Will we take on a governing agenda? Addressing immediate needs is critical, but it cannot replace the deeper systems work needed to resolve root causes. Are we ready to mobilize donors, volunteers and neighbors to demand upstream solutions in governing spaces?

In California, where the median rent in Santa Clara County exceeds $3,000 a month, bold action on housing and economic equity is long overdue. Many potential solutions fell by the wayside this election cycle, as have in the past. How do we ensure these ideas are revived and advanced?

Our nation’s founding was flawed, but its imperfection does not doom us. If anything, it calls us to become the founders of a better future. Let us embrace the founder’s mindset McAfee spoke of — a mindset rooted in courage, persistence and an unyielding commitment to equity.

Jessica Paz-Cedillos is the co-executive director at the Mexican Heritage Plaza. Her columns appear every first Monday of the month. Contact Jessica at [email protected] or follow her on LinkedIn.