Comments for The LAFF Society http://laffsociety.org/blog For the men and women engaged in Life After The Ford Foundation Tue, 07 Sep 2010 06:10:02 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 Comment on The West Virginia Mining Disaster: A Matter of Workplace Safety by Robertt Schrank http://laffsociety.org/blog/?p=568&cpage=1#comment-28213 Robertt Schrank Sun, 06 Jun 2010 17:38:08 +0000 http://laffsociety.org/blog/?p=568#comment-28213 Having spent some time as a union representative in Butte Mont.Hard rock mines I sure can appreciate Michael Lipsky's suggestion for Ombudsman in the mines. Especially the non union ones. I hasten to add that in my experience in Butte the old union there failed their safety responsibility and were decertified. I lead the the campaign to get the union back. That whole campaign was based on safety nothing else and we won. One of the problems is that miners are paid by tonnage. That creates a greedy desire for more and safety gets sacrificed. Years later while at the Foundation we funded a miners safety manual.While it covered the OSHA safety regulations it was made small enough to fit into the back pocket of miners work pants. The Foundation was also instrumental in its support of "Miners For Democracy." That group was responsible for bringing about a whole new leadership in the UMW. The new President of the AFofLCIO, Richard Trumka came out of that same group. When I am asked "what the Foundation did to help with workers safety?" I am proud to say we were instrumental for the first time to give every coal miner a Safety Hand Book that made crystal clear their rights to a safe working environment. Is it time to update that book and get it back in the hands of the coal miners? Thanks Michael Lipsky Having spent some time as a union representative in Butte Mont.Hard rock mines I sure can appreciate Michael Lipsky’s suggestion for Ombudsman in the mines. Especially the non union ones. I hasten to add that in my experience in Butte the old union there failed their safety responsibility and were decertified. I lead the the campaign to get the union back. That whole campaign was based on safety nothing else and we won. One of the problems is that miners are paid by tonnage. That creates a greedy desire for more and safety gets sacrificed.

Years later while at the Foundation we funded a miners safety manual.While it covered the OSHA safety regulations it was made small enough to fit into the back pocket of miners work pants. The Foundation was also instrumental in its support of “Miners For Democracy.” That group was responsible for bringing about a whole new leadership in the UMW. The new President of the AFofLCIO, Richard Trumka came out of that same group.

When I am asked “what the Foundation did to help with workers safety?” I am proud to say we were instrumental for the first time to give every coal miner a Safety Hand Book that made crystal clear their rights to a safe working environment. Is it time to update that book and get it back in the hands of the coal miners? Thanks Michael Lipsky

]]> Comment on Aid Needs Help by Robertt Schrank http://laffsociety.org/blog/?p=561&cpage=1#comment-20547 Robertt Schrank Wed, 05 May 2010 16:31:51 +0000 http://laffsociety.org/blog/?p=561#comment-20547 I think the argument that our poverty fighting aid is a mess and has been as long as I can remember. (Spent a couple of years with the World Bank and that opinion was confirmed there.) Maybe the problem of no clear policy is the simple fact that no one seems to know how to frame it? A start might be for some interested hopefully knowledgeable folks to sit around a table and try to answer the question, what would a policy to fight world poverty look like? Or is the answer to that question already out there? Thanks RS I think the argument that our poverty fighting aid is a mess and has been as long as I can remember. (Spent a couple of years with the World Bank and that opinion was confirmed there.) Maybe the problem of no clear policy is the simple fact that no one seems to know how to frame it? A start might be for some interested hopefully knowledgeable folks to sit around a table and try to answer the question, what would a policy to fight world poverty look like? Or is the answer to that question already out there? Thanks RS

]]> Comment on Obituary - Katharine Williams Grant by Carol Arnold http://laffsociety.org/blog/?p=495&cpage=1#comment-7540 Carol Arnold Sat, 06 Feb 2010 22:56:09 +0000 http://laffsociety.org/blog/?p=495#comment-7540 I met Kay Grant while she worked as a receptionist on the tenth floor. She was one of the most gracious, competent and unassuming female figures in my life, always seeing the best in each person. Her creativity found expression through her travels and artwork — most noticeably the mural painting on her Tudor City apartment wall, and the journal entries which captured the poetic and spiritual insights into her own nature and those who worked for her while she managed the farm in Brazil. Kay loved her family most of all. She took particular pride in the accomplishments of her grandson,Byron. She often spoke highly of her son and daughter-in-law, and their love and generosity of spirit. Kay was a special person, a loyal and dear friend. She will be missed, but never forgotten! Comment by Carol Arnold — February 6, 2010 @ 6:31 pm I met Kay Grant while she worked as a receptionist on the tenth floor. She was one of the most gracious, competent and unassuming female figures in my life, always seeing the best in each person. Her creativity found expression through her travels and artwork — most noticeably the mural painting on her Tudor City apartment wall, and the journal entries which captured the poetic and spiritual insights into her own nature and those who worked for her while she managed the farm in Brazil. Kay loved her family most of all. She took particular pride in the accomplishments of her grandson,Byron. She often spoke highly of her son and daughter-in-law, and their love and generosity of spirit. Kay was a special person, a loyal and dear friend. She will be missed, but never forgotten!

Comment by Carol Arnold — February 6, 2010 @ 6:31 pm

]]> Comment on Obituary - Bob Gross by Claudia Fletcher http://laffsociety.org/blog/?p=477&cpage=1#comment-7407 Claudia Fletcher Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:38:05 +0000 http://laffsociety.org/blog/?p=477#comment-7407 He will be missed. I started at fF in 1972 and he was a mainstay. And thanks Bob for the parties in the yellow submarine..... He will be missed. I started at fF in 1972 and he was a mainstay. And thanks Bob for the parties in the yellow submarine…..

]]> Comment on Obituary - Bob Gross by Beverly Levine http://laffsociety.org/blog/?p=477&cpage=1#comment-7399 Beverly Levine Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:52:22 +0000 http://laffsociety.org/blog/?p=477#comment-7399 I remember Bob whom I met when I joined FF in 1984. He was always very helpful whenever I needed to call him to repair something. Whenever we had a bathroom problem, I would tell him what was wrong and he sent his staff to fix it and told them to listen to me because I was a plumber's daughter and knew what I was talking about. I'm sorry to hear the sad news. Beverly I remember Bob whom I met when I joined FF in 1984. He was always very helpful whenever I needed to call him to repair something. Whenever we had a bathroom problem, I would tell him what was wrong and he sent his staff to fix it and told them to listen to me because I was a plumber’s daughter and knew what I was talking about. I’m sorry to hear the sad news. Beverly

]]> Comment on Obituary - Bob Gross by Linda Fingerson http://laffsociety.org/blog/?p=477&cpage=1#comment-7394 Linda Fingerson Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:23:00 +0000 http://laffsociety.org/blog/?p=477#comment-7394 an absolutely terrific guy who cared not only about the building but the people in it. I'll miss him. an absolutely terrific guy who cared not only about the building but the people in it. I’ll miss him.

]]> Comment on Obituary - Bob Gross by Natalia Nikova http://laffsociety.org/blog/?p=477&cpage=1#comment-7392 Natalia Nikova Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:57:07 +0000 http://laffsociety.org/blog/?p=477#comment-7392 Bob was an incredible story teller. His best tales related to funny events that happened during his nearly four decades at the Foundation. He possessed a unique sense of humor and a great memory for details. He was a very friendly, warm and vibrant human being. I miss him. Bob was an incredible story teller. His best tales related to funny events that happened during his nearly four decades at the Foundation. He possessed a unique sense of humor and a great memory for details. He was a very friendly, warm and vibrant human being. I miss him.

]]> Comment on Edwin Torres Named as Associate Director responsible for New York City Grant Making by Will Hertz http://laffsociety.org/blog/?p=456&cpage=1#comment-7203 Will Hertz Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:10:01 +0000 http://laffsociety.org/blog/?p=456#comment-7203 What was Torres' assignment with the Ford Foundation? Will Hertz What was Torres’ assignment with the Ford Foundation?

Will Hertz

]]> Comment on Creating Hope and Opportunity in Haiti for Extremely Poor Women and their Families by Will Hertz http://laffsociety.org/blog/?p=468&cpage=1#comment-7202 Will Hertz Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:05:54 +0000 http://laffsociety.org/blog/?p=468#comment-7202 What is Susan Davis's connection with LAFF or the Ford Foundation? Will Hertz What is Susan Davis’s connection with LAFF or the Ford Foundation?

Will Hertz

]]> Comment on About Robert McNamara by Treasurer http://laffsociety.org/blog/?p=426&cpage=1#comment-6802 Treasurer Sun, 06 Dec 2009 10:22:38 +0000 http://laffsociety.org/blog/?p=426#comment-6802 From Dick Magat Schrank Gets it Right Leave it to Bob Schrank to get it right about Robert McNamara’s obsession with metrics (Nov. 22). Schrank displayed his characteristic deftness in beating McNamara at his own numbers game, this time for a just cause. Schrank was a rara avis at the Ford Foundation—an admitted former Communist, a street-corner orator in the Bronx, and a gritty union organizer (from the South to slightly less menacing Butte,Montana). At the Foundation, this skilled machinist held his own in a sea of heavily Ivy League colleagues, running programs dealing with worker alienation, experiments in labor-management relations, and minority union leadership. Along the way, despite the lack of a high school diploma, he went on to achieve a doctorate in sociology. Widely read, he himself wrote two wonderful books-- Ten Thousand Working Days and Wasn’t That a Time? Growing up Radical and Red in America, both published by the MIT Press. From Dick Magat

Schrank Gets it Right

Leave it to Bob Schrank to get it right about Robert McNamara’s obsession with metrics (Nov. 22). Schrank displayed his characteristic deftness in beating McNamara at his own numbers game, this time for a just cause. Schrank was a rara avis at the Ford Foundation—an admitted former Communist, a street-corner orator in the Bronx, and a gritty union organizer (from the South to slightly less menacing Butte,Montana). At the Foundation, this skilled machinist held his own in a sea of heavily Ivy League colleagues, running programs dealing with worker alienation, experiments in labor-management relations, and minority union leadership. Along the way, despite the lack of a high school diploma, he went on to achieve a doctorate in sociology.

Widely read, he himself wrote two wonderful books– Ten Thousand Working Days and Wasn’t That a Time? Growing up Radical and Red in America, both published by the MIT Press.

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