October 3, 2024 • 20 mins
Today's special guest is Candice C. Jones , President and CEO of the Public Welfare Foundation.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Public Welfare Foundation bolsters the advancement of justice and
increased opportunity for those in need. These efforts are based
on the Foundation's core values of racial equity, economic well being,
and fairness for all. The Foundation searches for strategic opportunities
where its funds can make a difference and improve people's
lives through policy and system reform that culminates in transformative change.
(00:24):
Candidcy Jones is the new force behind Public Welfare Foundation's
new narrative campaign, Future Formers, which runs through December twenty
twenty five. This campaign spotlights community visionaries aka future reformers
that are developing transformative solutions to the criminal justice system.
Candicy Jones join Public Welfare Foundation in Washington, d C.
(00:46):
As its President and CEO in twenty seventeen, and she
is our guest today. This is the Black Information Network
Daily Podcast and I'm your host, ramses Jah.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
All Right, Jones, welcome back to the show. How are
you doing today.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
It's good to see you, Ramsys. It's so good to
be with you.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
I appreciate you saying that I can hear the happiness
in your voice, and I hope that mine is translating
to you as well. So you know this was recent
enough and we've had a recent conversation in terms of
your background. But for those who are maybe they're just
coming to the Black Information Network or just joining our
(01:28):
audience and are unfamiliar, do us a favor and describe
the plight of the PWF.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Yeah, no, it's a great question. So Public Welfare Foundation
is a grant making organization. There are lots of groups
with foundation in their title, but literally we sit in
a special part of the IRS code for everybody at home.
It's like that adult in the Charlie Brown series, like
blah blah blah. But we exist to give money to
(01:57):
other organizations that do good work, and we specifically focus
on doing that around organizations in the country that focus
on criminal and youth justice reform. We do that in
nine jurisdictions across the country, Washington, d C. Which is
our home base, in Georgia and Mississippi, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Colorado, Wisconsin, Michigan,
(02:21):
and Tennessee. You'll see that we have a heavy footprint
in the Deep South and a heavy footprint in the Midwest,
two parts of the country that we think have really
been starved out of philanthropic investment.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Sure, sure, so this is the new thing we're talking
about today, Future farmers. So what led to future Farmers?
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Interestingly enough, it was a collaboration with a team here.
We have a really dope creative team, and we were
sitting around talking about the term formerly incarcerated. So much
of our work is about working with people in communities
who are impacted with the belief that those people, people
rooted deeply in this issue, have some of the best
(03:03):
ideas and innovations that we need to sort of push forward.
And we were talking about the term formally incarcerated, and
it came up that it in some ways, it becomes
like a stamp, right that stays with you, where out
of all the things people can go on and do,
all the things that they become, they have this stamp
(03:24):
of being like formally incarcerated, which still feels somewhat derogatory,
you know. And so we were talking about this idea
that these are people who go out and change the world.
If you think of the nineteen sixties, they took prominent
movement leaders in the sixties and seventies and they put
them in prisons. Right, this is what was happening in
(03:48):
the Black Panther movement, This is what was happening in
the we criminalize civic and civil unrest, we incarcerated those people.
So we took people that we would call leaders, that
we would call visionaries, and we made them prisoners and
we called them formally incarcerated. Right, And when you think
about people coming out today, that's same. All of those adjectives,
(04:11):
you know, leader, right, visionaries, those are what those people are,
but they're forever defined by this term formally incarcerated. And
when we were looking at our grantees and partners and
saying that shouldn't be what limits people have been in
the system, nor should these small terms be how we
think about all those people in our sites doing incredible
(04:33):
visionary work. They're the people that are forming the future.
And so this campaign Future Formers was born out of that.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Okay, that makes it. I like that because you know there's.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
I forgot where I came across this, and I know
that I won't hit it right on the head, but
there's a little bit of wisdom that I encountered recently
that suggests that it's the people closest to the problem
that are often close to the solution.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Yeah, and.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
I also know that you know the language that people
use to identify themselves, is it? It almost there's almost
a direct correlation in terms of how far a person
can goes depending on the language that they use to
identify themselves. And if the language is limiting, then they
themselves exactly. So to your point, I love the fact
(05:25):
that you're taking formally incarcerated and rebranding that because they're
closest to the solution, because they've already been through it,
so they're in a unique position to bring about unique
and formative and foundational change.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
And so just like historically, right when you think about
Huey Newton, the first word that comes to your mind
is not formally incarcerated. Right, right, you think about Angela Davis,
you're not like, oh, formally, they have both been formally incarcerated,
But the words that will define them in history won't
(05:57):
be those words. And I think that's true of so
many of the people doing incredible work today. The Duwayne
bets up today, Right, It's like, those people have done
such incredible things, the idea that those two words will
be what defines them in history is patently ridiculous, and
so we need to start using other words.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Now, Yeah, I like that. So so let's let's take
it a step further. Let's say that.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
You have, you know, a genie and a bottle, and
the genie says, I'm going to grant you whatever wish.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
That you want.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
You know, when it comes to this initiative, what is
it that you're hoping to accomplish? If you had unlimited resources,
if you had uh, you know, if you had a wish?
Speaker 2 (06:39):
What what? What's the goal here?
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Oh my god, that's a lot of questions, sir, I
only get one.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Wish, We'll make it three? Why not?
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Can I get three?
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Can I get have three wishes?
Speaker 3 (06:53):
My first wish for that genie through this campaign is
that tons of people see it, and I mean really
see it, consume all of it. Don't just say, you know,
hear the first sort of notes, but they really see
it and get the opportunity to absorb it. And my
(07:13):
second wish is that by seeing it, they sort of
can tap into them part of themselves that is capable
of still hoping in this moment in history. I think
so much of the stuff going on in broader society
is that we're sort of tapped out. Our meter, our
hope is really low, and humans respond to the idea
(07:35):
that their possibilities, that they can sort of lean into
something and make it happen. When I think about your
own movement, babed work, and how innovative you guys have been,
it's like you didn't see something and just get angry
about it. You didn see something and just get hopeless.
You say it, I see an opportunity there, like I'm
going to tap in. And that's what hope does for you.
And so I want people to see this campaign and
(07:57):
be inspired. I want them to be able to crystallize
and understand what transformative justice means and that there are
so many people out there trying to knit it together
and that they have a part to play in leaning in.
And then my final wish would be that people see
these groups doing this work and they give that Philanthropists
(08:19):
and high individuals say, I want to bet on this.
I want to help them grow. I see them already
trying to knit this innovation together basically on air and fumes,
and I want to give them more fuel to be
able to do bigger, greater things as they go.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Sure, sure, now i'd imagine it takes a special team
of future farmers. Yeah, to make this go, there's got
to be some special people, if I had to guess.
So talk to us a bit about how you find
these people, how they're selected to participate.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
These people are granted there are partners in our portfolio,
so we bet on them. We were saying to the world,
you should look at this work that they're doing, and
we do the same with our own resources. Tara Caganzi
down at the Southern Center for Human Rights is an
incredible leader. She talks so much about all the incredible
systems change justice reform work that they do in Georgia,
(09:18):
looking through it at so many lenses. You know, I've
heard her speak on a panel and say, listen, I
both have incarcerated people in my family and people who
worked in prisons in my family. I understand that weight
that burdened on both sides. She talks about this idea
of how we need to transform how it dehumanizes and
(09:41):
strips hope in humanity out of both of those groups.
You know, her organization has been on the front lines
of ensuring movement leaders who went to Georgia to do
work to protest the building of this new like multimillion
dollar law enforcement campus god representation when they were just
(10:02):
using sort of engaging and sort of taking advantage of
their civil rights. And so she's really been on the
front lines there of saying there are all these things
that we need to do to protect people's ability to
comment on these systems. They do impact litigation about conditions
of confinement. They were the ones that were spotlighting the
conditions in the prisons in Georgia, and god DOJDA come
(10:25):
in and do this comprehensive investigation. So it's like, she's
the kind of person that people need to know. They
need to know she exists, They need to know that
she needs to be bet on.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
This is Andrea Coleman reminding you that your vote matters.
The twenty twenty four election is a pivotal moment for
our democracy. By voting, you can influence a direction of
our country and ensure that your values are represented. Don't
let this opportunity pass you by. To register and check
your voter status, visit inul dot org forward slash reclaim
(10:58):
your vote ul dot org work forward slash Reclaim your vote.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Your vote can make a difference.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
We are here today with Candace Cy Jones, President and
CEO of Public Welfare Foundation in Washington, DC, discussing their
new narrative campaign, Future Formers. Okay, so there's a note
that I read that says that the Future Formers are
building diverse ecosystems for restoration. Explain to our audience what
that means. I have another note here, but I think
(11:29):
in your own words, let's break that down for our listeners.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
When it can sound really abstract to be like they're
building these ecosystems, they're building these spaces where people can
sort of come home and exist. A good example of
that is an organization in one of the groups we feature,
Michigan Liberation. It's an organization founded run by formally incarcerated
people in Michigan. They create this space where when people
(11:57):
are coming home, they can come there and and learn
to be movement leaders who get to engage in the
policy work. They hire people, so they are giving them
meaningful employment, living wages, and an opportunity to be a
part of the conversation and lead the work both in
the organization and the statewide policy. They do restorative practices
(12:20):
within their organization because they understand how much trauma has
been endured by the folks that they work with, and
they want to make sure that they're immediately responsive. As
an organization. They're incredible community partners in the larger coalition
of justice reform organizations working together in Michigan. So they
(12:41):
partner well with all of the other policy groups, media
and advocacy groups doing the work there, and those researchers
in that way, right, there's so many parts of their
work that address different needs that are coming up, both
for individuals for the larger community of work that's happening
(13:02):
in there. And that's what we're talking about when we're
talking about creating an ecosystem. None of these organizations have
the luxury to just be like we're going to take
this small piece. They have to be holistically responsive, and
many of them are finding ways to do that.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
So talk to us about so one of the things
that's true, A Public Welfare Foundation has made over five
seven hundred grands totally more than seven hundred million dollars
since its founding over seventy five years ago. Talk about
funding and how people can support public welfare. Found Public
Welfare Foundation too, because I know that's obviously the backbone
(13:42):
of this whole operation.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Funding is critical, right, Organizations rise or fall on the
resources that they have available. If you're a group like
Michigan Liberation, you can do all this stuff because you
have funding to allow you to hire folks, to allow
you to create staff and run campaigns and do all
the things that they do. That's sort of the money
the resources that they have, and it's really important that
(14:06):
they have access to those resources at scale public welfare.
Interestingly enough, we don't fundraise, like I said, we just
exist to give money away. But it's so important and
the reason we do campaigns like this is because we
want to use our platform to highlight other incredible organizations
that are doing this work. So we want folks to
go on futureformers dot us to learn about these organizations
(14:29):
and to fund them directly, no middleman, no one skimming
off the top, no extra overhead. We want them to
go and give those organizations resources and money, and we
want to use our platform. We want to pay for
the videos the overhead to highlight that because their work
is that important to us.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Okay, I like that. That's keeping it simple. Yeah, I'm
not mad at that at all. So obviously the future
Formers is the order of the day. You know, you
might be hyper focused on that or you might have
something waiting in the wings, But I have to ask
you know what's in the pipeline.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
What's next.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
We're going to be doing Future Formers through twenty twenty
five in November. One of the things that my team
always focuses on around Giving Tuesday is making sure that
we highlight local brand tees. I know for sure they're
going to use these video clips of the Future Formers
to amplify and highlight specific groups in this campaign to
(15:30):
direct people to give to them around Giving Tuesday and
remind people to give local, to reach out to these
organizations with proximity to them to where they live, because
it presents both an opportunity for them to do some
good but also for them to engage. We don't want
people just to go on give one time and then
look away from this issue. We want them to really
(15:52):
learn about what's justice perform in their local jurisdiction, to
understand where their jail is, what happens to youth th
custody in the place where they pay taxes, so that
they can really pay attention and stay engaged in this work.
So Giving Tuesday will be coming up. We are hoping
that we're going to do some deeper work this year
on youth justice. So we're really going to be inviting
(16:14):
people to follow us at Publicwelfare dot org to understand
more about what we're doing at Public Welfare on Instagram.
And we also are doing some really interesting work about
violence and harm reduction and hoping that people think more
deeply about how we truly create safety and need to
address these issues across the country. And so we're hoping
(16:36):
that people will be following us at Public Welfare on
Instagram because we're going to be really engaging in that
conversation and making information and education available to them over
the course of the next year. So those are some
things people should be looking for sure.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
I'm putting this all together. And I was just in Detroit,
you know, I was just in DC. I was in
clue back to Maryland.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Give me, how dare you exactly come down here when
you gave.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Exactly the point I'm making And so I have to
make that up to you. But I know that our listeners, Camra.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
These we just renovated our building. The truer we talk
about something to highlight my team would kill me. We
just renovated the True Reformer Building, which is this historically
black building in DC right down the street from Howard. Okay,
you'll love this. This building was built at the turn
of the century by the True Reformer Society, a group
(17:38):
of all black folks who would come together to deliver
mutual aid. So they used to do you know, we
talked about nineteen hundred, right, So they would give small
business loans, insurance, stuff that folks couldn't get on the
market to people, and they built a building had the
only licensed black architect in the region at the time,
(17:59):
Black contra, every sub all the financing of this building
was by black people. And it was just a couple
of blocks from what was a tent town because that's
what people who were fleeing racial terror in the South
used to come and set up until they could get
on their feet in the district. They built this building
and we bought it in nineteen ninety nine and still
(18:19):
live here and we have incubators of our grantees and
other nonprofits. But the first two four floors are public
space that nonprofits can use, and we just renovated this
space to honor the True Reformers. You have to come
back to.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Doing Oh listen, and you.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
Have to let me give you a tour, and also,
like you know, we will get you some space so
you can host some meetings that have people come to you.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Yeah, no, we're moving right now. So you can count
on that. I love it and I'm glad that we
had this part of the conversation too, because again, for
our listeners that you know we do this is this
is an interesting show that we do here because our
listeners are very engaged here at the Black Information Network
(19:03):
and for those people that their hearts are moved by
you know, philanthropic initiatives, and this issue obviously affects a
great number of black families in this country. Of course
it has affected my family as well. And so to
know that that this is the work that you're doing,
(19:26):
to know where you are, to know how to support
or how to support the initiatives that you find yourself
supporting or you find the Public Welfare Foundation supporting, I
think that that's just just fantastic. And and I said
it before, I'll say it again. Anytime that you want
to come up and share anything that you have going on,
(19:47):
you know, consider this a second home. I just I
think this is fantastic, so.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
To come to the true reform.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Well, listen, when we when we when we hang up,
we're going to talk about that.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Okay, I'm serious.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Let me sign us off, all right, So one more time,
I'd like to thank you very much for coming on
and for your overall commitment to you know, the the
security and you know, the future of black Americans. It's
just a joy to talk to you every single time.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Once again.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Today's guest is Candacy Jones, President and CEO of Public
Welfare Foundation in Washington, d C. This has been a
production of the Black Information Network. Today's show was produced
by Chris Thompson. Have some thoughts you'd like to share,
use the red microphone talkback feature on the iHeartRadio app.
While you're there, be sure to hit subscribe and download
all of our episodes. I am your host Ramsey's Jaw
(20:41):
on all social media and join us tomorrow as we
share our news with our voice from our perspective right
here on the Black Information Network Daily Podcast.
The Public Welfare Foundation bolsters the advancement of justice and
increased opportunity for those in need. These efforts are based
on the Foundation's core values of racial equity, economic well being,
and fairness for all. The Foundation searches for strategic opportunities
where its funds can make a difference and improve people's
lives through policy and system reform that culminates in transformative change.
(00:24):
Candidcy Jones is the new force behind Public Welfare Foundation's
new narrative campaign, Future Formers, which runs through December twenty
twenty five. This campaign spotlights community visionaries aka future reformers
that are developing transformative solutions to the criminal justice system.
Candicy Jones join Public Welfare Foundation in Washington, d C.
(00:46):
As its President and CEO in twenty seventeen, and she
is our guest today. This is the Black Information Network
Daily Podcast and I'm your host, ramses Jah.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
All Right, Jones, welcome back to the show. How are
you doing today.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
It's good to see you, Ramsys. It's so good to
be with you.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
I appreciate you saying that I can hear the happiness
in your voice, and I hope that mine is translating
to you as well. So you know this was recent
enough and we've had a recent conversation in terms of
your background. But for those who are maybe they're just
coming to the Black Information Network or just joining our
(01:28):
audience and are unfamiliar, do us a favor and describe
the plight of the PWF.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Yeah, no, it's a great question. So Public Welfare Foundation
is a grant making organization. There are lots of groups
with foundation in their title, but literally we sit in
a special part of the IRS code for everybody at home.
It's like that adult in the Charlie Brown series, like
blah blah blah. But we exist to give money to
(01:57):
other organizations that do good work, and we specifically focus
on doing that around organizations in the country that focus
on criminal and youth justice reform. We do that in
nine jurisdictions across the country, Washington, d C. Which is
our home base, in Georgia and Mississippi, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Colorado, Wisconsin, Michigan,
(02:21):
and Tennessee. You'll see that we have a heavy footprint
in the Deep South and a heavy footprint in the Midwest,
two parts of the country that we think have really
been starved out of philanthropic investment.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Sure, sure, so this is the new thing we're talking
about today, Future farmers. So what led to future Farmers?
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Interestingly enough, it was a collaboration with a team here.
We have a really dope creative team, and we were
sitting around talking about the term formerly incarcerated. So much
of our work is about working with people in communities
who are impacted with the belief that those people, people
rooted deeply in this issue, have some of the best
(03:03):
ideas and innovations that we need to sort of push forward.
And we were talking about the term formally incarcerated, and
it came up that it in some ways, it becomes
like a stamp, right that stays with you, where out
of all the things people can go on and do,
all the things that they become, they have this stamp
(03:24):
of being like formally incarcerated, which still feels somewhat derogatory,
you know. And so we were talking about this idea
that these are people who go out and change the world.
If you think of the nineteen sixties, they took prominent
movement leaders in the sixties and seventies and they put
them in prisons. Right, this is what was happening in
(03:48):
the Black Panther movement, This is what was happening in
the we criminalize civic and civil unrest, we incarcerated those people.
So we took people that we would call leaders, that
we would call visionaries, and we made them prisoners and
we called them formally incarcerated. Right, And when you think
about people coming out today, that's same. All of those adjectives,
(04:11):
you know, leader, right, visionaries, those are what those people are,
but they're forever defined by this term formally incarcerated. And
when we were looking at our grantees and partners and
saying that shouldn't be what limits people have been in
the system, nor should these small terms be how we
think about all those people in our sites doing incredible
(04:33):
visionary work. They're the people that are forming the future.
And so this campaign Future Formers was born out of that.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Okay, that makes it. I like that because you know there's.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
I forgot where I came across this, and I know
that I won't hit it right on the head, but
there's a little bit of wisdom that I encountered recently
that suggests that it's the people closest to the problem
that are often close to the solution.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Yeah, and.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
I also know that you know the language that people
use to identify themselves, is it? It almost there's almost
a direct correlation in terms of how far a person
can goes depending on the language that they use to
identify themselves. And if the language is limiting, then they
themselves exactly. So to your point, I love the fact
(05:25):
that you're taking formally incarcerated and rebranding that because they're
closest to the solution, because they've already been through it,
so they're in a unique position to bring about unique
and formative and foundational change.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
And so just like historically, right when you think about
Huey Newton, the first word that comes to your mind
is not formally incarcerated. Right, right, you think about Angela Davis,
you're not like, oh, formally, they have both been formally incarcerated,
But the words that will define them in history won't
(05:57):
be those words. And I think that's true of so
many of the people doing incredible work today. The Duwayne
bets up today, Right, It's like, those people have done
such incredible things, the idea that those two words will
be what defines them in history is patently ridiculous, and
so we need to start using other words.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Now, Yeah, I like that. So so let's let's take
it a step further. Let's say that.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
You have, you know, a genie and a bottle, and
the genie says, I'm going to grant you whatever wish.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
That you want.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
You know, when it comes to this initiative, what is
it that you're hoping to accomplish? If you had unlimited resources,
if you had uh, you know, if you had a wish?
Speaker 2 (06:39):
What what? What's the goal here?
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Oh my god, that's a lot of questions, sir, I
only get one.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Wish, We'll make it three? Why not?
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Can I get three?
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Can I get have three wishes?
Speaker 3 (06:53):
My first wish for that genie through this campaign is
that tons of people see it, and I mean really
see it, consume all of it. Don't just say, you know,
hear the first sort of notes, but they really see
it and get the opportunity to absorb it. And my
(07:13):
second wish is that by seeing it, they sort of
can tap into them part of themselves that is capable
of still hoping in this moment in history. I think
so much of the stuff going on in broader society
is that we're sort of tapped out. Our meter, our
hope is really low, and humans respond to the idea
(07:35):
that their possibilities, that they can sort of lean into
something and make it happen. When I think about your
own movement, babed work, and how innovative you guys have been,
it's like you didn't see something and just get angry
about it. You didn see something and just get hopeless.
You say it, I see an opportunity there, like I'm
going to tap in. And that's what hope does for you.
And so I want people to see this campaign and
(07:57):
be inspired. I want them to be able to crystallize
and understand what transformative justice means and that there are
so many people out there trying to knit it together
and that they have a part to play in leaning in.
And then my final wish would be that people see
these groups doing this work and they give that Philanthropists
(08:19):
and high individuals say, I want to bet on this.
I want to help them grow. I see them already
trying to knit this innovation together basically on air and fumes,
and I want to give them more fuel to be
able to do bigger, greater things as they go.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Sure, sure, now i'd imagine it takes a special team
of future farmers. Yeah, to make this go, there's got
to be some special people, if I had to guess.
So talk to us a bit about how you find
these people, how they're selected to participate.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
These people are granted there are partners in our portfolio,
so we bet on them. We were saying to the world,
you should look at this work that they're doing, and
we do the same with our own resources. Tara Caganzi
down at the Southern Center for Human Rights is an
incredible leader. She talks so much about all the incredible
systems change justice reform work that they do in Georgia,
(09:18):
looking through it at so many lenses. You know, I've
heard her speak on a panel and say, listen, I
both have incarcerated people in my family and people who
worked in prisons in my family. I understand that weight
that burdened on both sides. She talks about this idea
of how we need to transform how it dehumanizes and
(09:41):
strips hope in humanity out of both of those groups.
You know, her organization has been on the front lines
of ensuring movement leaders who went to Georgia to do
work to protest the building of this new like multimillion
dollar law enforcement campus god representation when they were just
(10:02):
using sort of engaging and sort of taking advantage of
their civil rights. And so she's really been on the
front lines there of saying there are all these things
that we need to do to protect people's ability to
comment on these systems. They do impact litigation about conditions
of confinement. They were the ones that were spotlighting the
conditions in the prisons in Georgia, and god DOJDA come
(10:25):
in and do this comprehensive investigation. So it's like, she's
the kind of person that people need to know. They
need to know she exists, They need to know that
she needs to be bet on.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
This is Andrea Coleman reminding you that your vote matters.
The twenty twenty four election is a pivotal moment for
our democracy. By voting, you can influence a direction of
our country and ensure that your values are represented. Don't
let this opportunity pass you by. To register and check
your voter status, visit inul dot org forward slash reclaim
(10:58):
your vote ul dot org work forward slash Reclaim your vote.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Your vote can make a difference.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
We are here today with Candace Cy Jones, President and
CEO of Public Welfare Foundation in Washington, DC, discussing their
new narrative campaign, Future Formers. Okay, so there's a note
that I read that says that the Future Formers are
building diverse ecosystems for restoration. Explain to our audience what
that means. I have another note here, but I think
(11:29):
in your own words, let's break that down for our listeners.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
When it can sound really abstract to be like they're
building these ecosystems, they're building these spaces where people can
sort of come home and exist. A good example of
that is an organization in one of the groups we feature,
Michigan Liberation. It's an organization founded run by formally incarcerated
people in Michigan. They create this space where when people
(11:57):
are coming home, they can come there and and learn
to be movement leaders who get to engage in the
policy work. They hire people, so they are giving them
meaningful employment, living wages, and an opportunity to be a
part of the conversation and lead the work both in
the organization and the statewide policy. They do restorative practices
(12:20):
within their organization because they understand how much trauma has
been endured by the folks that they work with, and
they want to make sure that they're immediately responsive. As
an organization. They're incredible community partners in the larger coalition
of justice reform organizations working together in Michigan. So they
(12:41):
partner well with all of the other policy groups, media
and advocacy groups doing the work there, and those researchers
in that way, right, there's so many parts of their
work that address different needs that are coming up, both
for individuals for the larger community of work that's happening
(13:02):
in there. And that's what we're talking about when we're
talking about creating an ecosystem. None of these organizations have
the luxury to just be like we're going to take
this small piece. They have to be holistically responsive, and
many of them are finding ways to do that.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
So talk to us about so one of the things
that's true, A Public Welfare Foundation has made over five
seven hundred grands totally more than seven hundred million dollars
since its founding over seventy five years ago. Talk about
funding and how people can support public welfare. Found Public
Welfare Foundation too, because I know that's obviously the backbone
(13:42):
of this whole operation.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Funding is critical, right, Organizations rise or fall on the
resources that they have available. If you're a group like
Michigan Liberation, you can do all this stuff because you
have funding to allow you to hire folks, to allow
you to create staff and run campaigns and do all
the things that they do. That's sort of the money
the resources that they have, and it's really important that
(14:06):
they have access to those resources at scale public welfare.
Interestingly enough, we don't fundraise, like I said, we just
exist to give money away. But it's so important and
the reason we do campaigns like this is because we
want to use our platform to highlight other incredible organizations
that are doing this work. So we want folks to
go on futureformers dot us to learn about these organizations
(14:29):
and to fund them directly, no middleman, no one skimming
off the top, no extra overhead. We want them to
go and give those organizations resources and money, and we
want to use our platform. We want to pay for
the videos the overhead to highlight that because their work
is that important to us.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Okay, I like that. That's keeping it simple. Yeah, I'm
not mad at that at all. So obviously the future
Formers is the order of the day. You know, you
might be hyper focused on that or you might have
something waiting in the wings, But I have to ask
you know what's in the pipeline.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
What's next.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
We're going to be doing Future Formers through twenty twenty
five in November. One of the things that my team
always focuses on around Giving Tuesday is making sure that
we highlight local brand tees. I know for sure they're
going to use these video clips of the Future Formers
to amplify and highlight specific groups in this campaign to
(15:30):
direct people to give to them around Giving Tuesday and
remind people to give local, to reach out to these
organizations with proximity to them to where they live, because
it presents both an opportunity for them to do some
good but also for them to engage. We don't want
people just to go on give one time and then
look away from this issue. We want them to really
(15:52):
learn about what's justice perform in their local jurisdiction, to
understand where their jail is, what happens to youth th
custody in the place where they pay taxes, so that
they can really pay attention and stay engaged in this work.
So Giving Tuesday will be coming up. We are hoping
that we're going to do some deeper work this year
on youth justice. So we're really going to be inviting
(16:14):
people to follow us at Publicwelfare dot org to understand
more about what we're doing at Public Welfare on Instagram.
And we also are doing some really interesting work about
violence and harm reduction and hoping that people think more
deeply about how we truly create safety and need to
address these issues across the country. And so we're hoping
(16:36):
that people will be following us at Public Welfare on
Instagram because we're going to be really engaging in that
conversation and making information and education available to them over
the course of the next year. So those are some
things people should be looking for sure.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
I'm putting this all together. And I was just in Detroit,
you know, I was just in DC. I was in
clue back to Maryland.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Give me, how dare you exactly come down here when
you gave.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Exactly the point I'm making And so I have to
make that up to you. But I know that our listeners, Camra.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
These we just renovated our building. The truer we talk
about something to highlight my team would kill me. We
just renovated the True Reformer Building, which is this historically
black building in DC right down the street from Howard. Okay,
you'll love this. This building was built at the turn
of the century by the True Reformer Society, a group
(17:38):
of all black folks who would come together to deliver
mutual aid. So they used to do you know, we
talked about nineteen hundred, right, So they would give small
business loans, insurance, stuff that folks couldn't get on the
market to people, and they built a building had the
only licensed black architect in the region at the time,
(17:59):
Black contra, every sub all the financing of this building
was by black people. And it was just a couple
of blocks from what was a tent town because that's
what people who were fleeing racial terror in the South
used to come and set up until they could get
on their feet in the district. They built this building
and we bought it in nineteen ninety nine and still
(18:19):
live here and we have incubators of our grantees and
other nonprofits. But the first two four floors are public
space that nonprofits can use, and we just renovated this
space to honor the True Reformers. You have to come
back to.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Doing Oh listen, and you.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
Have to let me give you a tour, and also,
like you know, we will get you some space so
you can host some meetings that have people come to you.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Yeah, no, we're moving right now. So you can count
on that. I love it and I'm glad that we
had this part of the conversation too, because again, for
our listeners that you know we do this is this
is an interesting show that we do here because our
listeners are very engaged here at the Black Information Network
(19:03):
and for those people that their hearts are moved by
you know, philanthropic initiatives, and this issue obviously affects a
great number of black families in this country. Of course
it has affected my family as well. And so to
know that that this is the work that you're doing,
(19:26):
to know where you are, to know how to support
or how to support the initiatives that you find yourself
supporting or you find the Public Welfare Foundation supporting, I
think that that's just just fantastic. And and I said
it before, I'll say it again. Anytime that you want
to come up and share anything that you have going on,
(19:47):
you know, consider this a second home. I just I
think this is fantastic, so.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
To come to the true reform.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Well, listen, when we when we when we hang up,
we're going to talk about that.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Okay, I'm serious.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Let me sign us off, all right, So one more time,
I'd like to thank you very much for coming on
and for your overall commitment to you know, the the
security and you know, the future of black Americans. It's
just a joy to talk to you every single time.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Once again.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Today's guest is Candacy Jones, President and CEO of Public
Welfare Foundation in Washington, d C. This has been a
production of the Black Information Network. Today's show was produced
by Chris Thompson. Have some thoughts you'd like to share,
use the red microphone talkback feature on the iHeartRadio app.
While you're there, be sure to hit subscribe and download
all of our episodes. I am your host Ramsey's Jaw
(20:41):
on all social media and join us tomorrow as we
share our news with our voice from our perspective right
here on the Black Information Network Daily Podcast.
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