Gregg Bishop & Kalilah Moon Share Their Initiatives for Social Justice & Community Empowerment
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
What's up?
Speaker 2 (00:03):
His way up and Angela we weren't recording on.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
I do have two very special guests joining us, and
this guy right here is my friend in real life.
Greg Bishop is here with me, executive director of the
Joe and Claris I Foundations Social Justice Fund.
Speaker 4 (00:19):
Welcome, thank you, thank you a minute.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yeah, I know this is too long.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
We've had like an hour conversation before the actual It's
been so long. And we're also joined by Khalila Moon,
executive director of Drive Change, who I met at.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Curl feste over the weekends.
Speaker 5 (00:35):
I love Simon and Trees and Melody, they're my friends
and curlfast is always a blast.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
It's always good, beautiful.
Speaker 5 (00:42):
Yeah, yeah, I know I don't have any curls.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
I don't have any curls, but because.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
That's a lot of guys without curls.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
Popping up to curl, curl is the spot. I'm telling you.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Ten years going strong and the guys were dressed to
the nines. I could so they was outside.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
We were in competition.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
The one thing I regret is, you know, when I
was at SBS that we didn't have an opportunity to
support that event because I think that you know, when
you think about entrepreneurship and you think about you know,
black owned businesses, et cetera, et cetera, that's where you
need to be.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
And it was their tenure anniversary too for curl Fest.
And SBS is Small Business Services for People.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Sorry, Greg.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
When I met Greg, he was a commissioner for SBS. Yes,
and you actually did a lot while you were SBS
for small Businesses.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
I want to thank you because you also helped me
get the word out for some important initiatives and you
still continue to advocate for the community. So thank you
very much.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Right, and look now you're doing you know, important work still, right,
because this is something that's near and dear to your heart,
is helping business owners but also helping to drive change.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
You like how to thank you? And that's where cil
the Moon comes in.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
So let's talk about what each of you are doing
now in your respective So, Khalila, you have Drive Change.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Yes, yeah.
Speaker 5 (02:03):
So I'm the executive director of an organization in Brooklyn
called Drive Change, and we sit at the intersection of
reentry and hospitality and we work with young adults who's
been impacted by the justice system by providing them a
four month paid training program and then helping them get
jobs within the hospitality space. And we also started to
begin tackling food and security. So we give our groceries
(02:23):
between the spring and winter months and the best community
So we're feeding over two hundred and fifty families. Our
young adults that are in our training program are also
assisting us in that. And so, yeah, we believe that
not only is food a right in community is a gift,
and we want to give back to our community.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Oh, I love that.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
And you know, at that age in particular, a lot
of times if people have been impacted by you know,
by the justice system, it can make you feel like
you're not worth what you are worth and not understand
your own value as well. And so a program like
that is something that's amazing because these young people, like
I love when we're able to do things at my
(03:02):
juice bar or at my coffee shop. Like I'm very
interested in making sure that we're always working within the
community and hiring within the community, but also given people
an opportunity because sometimes they can get prejudged yep, and
you know, not understand like y'all are popping, you guys
are and just given the right opportunity and being around
the right people can make all the difference.
Speaker 5 (03:22):
I have to agree with you. I always say that
you are more than just your zip code. You are
more than just your circumstance. And it's very important for
people to understand their ability to reach their dreams into
and really their success and at drive change. Our goal
is to help people dream more expansively, but it also
break the stigma of what folks might have done to
get them there. Quite frankly, the skill sets that might
(03:43):
have gotten someone and predicaments that they might not have
liked are.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
The ones that are going to help get them out.
Speaker 5 (03:48):
Resiliency, right, the ability to communicate, the ability to lead.
So you know, we try to tap into those things
that drive change, and it is working with folks like
Greg and yourself.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
First off, I love coffee ups people.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
I love the hospitality from the gate. You guys clean
up everything. I'm all about hospitality, you.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Know how it is.
Speaker 5 (04:06):
But anyways, so we you know, it's important that our
young people have the ability to see themselves past all
those situations plus everyone else outside of them, because they
when they go into the workspace, you know, they want
to be able to succeed as well. And unfortunately they've
been born into systems and communities and our educational system
(04:27):
has failed them. And now I have the privilege, along
with Greg and others, to be able to work alongside
them to help reach their dreams.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
And now, Greg Bishop, let's talk about these social justice
fun You guys do so much work. I've done, actually
a lot of work with you as the executive director,
so let people know what's happening, because I'm also on
this committee too.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
So yeah, so I have to, of course start off
by saying a big thank you to Clara Ussai. Clara
Ussai is a part owner of the New York Liberty
and also the Brooklyn Nets. Yes, Clara and Joe bought
the team in twenty nineteen and have been instrumental in
giving back to Brooklyn and New York City. After the
(05:11):
murder of George Floyd, we saw the racial justice protest
that was happening at the arena, and you know, Clara
and Joe made a fifty million dollar commitment to invest
in Brooklyn over the next ten years. So that was
the birth of the Social Justice Fund.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
And even like you said, they were all these rallies
and marches that were happening, and instead of saying you
can't come on a property, at this square is where
you guys can convene.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
Everything from providing ppees to you know, paying the arena
staff when we didn't have any games. Yeah, you know,
the philanthropic work of Clara has been you know, have
happened even before the Social Justice Fund. But I was
very blessed to connect with her. And as you mentioned,
Clara is really really focused on economic mobility and racial justice.
(05:58):
It's in her DNA. You know, she's from Lawrence, Kansas.
You know, it's and it's you know, the Midwestern values
and certainly cares a lot about not only economic mobility,
but economic mobility for individuals who are formally incarcerated, just
as impacted individuals. And so we have a number of initiatives.
We focus a lot on supporting small businesses. So we
(06:20):
had like a loan fund that we launched right after
the pandemic. We you know, got two point five million
dollars into the community. Seventy percent of those businesses were
run by black women. We did not ask for a
collateral or a guaranteur, and so we're going to be
putting out a report later on this year to talk
about like how to build programs like that so that
(06:40):
way other individuals who want to invest in their communities
can actually figure out a way to do that. We
have an accelerator where we actually help invest in founders
of color. Only two percent of venture dollars go to
founders of color. And you know this very well. Point
I think it's like point five percent of black women
is least.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
But we start the most small businesses get the least
amount of eatactly.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
So we invest one hundred and twenty five thousand dollars
for seven percent equity stake, and if they stay in
Brooklyn and meet other metrics, we invest in another three
hundred and seventy five for a total of a half
a million dollars. And so one of the things that
we've been doing, and this initiative belonged Brooklyn, which is
why we love Drive Change Is Is is an initiative
that actually started with Tavars actually Tavarstraw and he's an
(07:27):
artist from the Bahamas. And if you've ever been around
the Barcley Center, the Ticket Mass Applaza, you've seen this.
You belong here, We belong here. It's actually our installation.
It's his work and it talks about belonging and belonging
to community. And every summer we find organizations that focus
(07:48):
on things that we think is important to belong into,
you know Brooklyn. So last time we focused on maternal health,
exactly health, black maternal health. You know, Black women are
nine times likely to die in childbirth than their white counterparts.
So we invested one hundred thousand dollars into four organizations.
Last year you were part of that as well. And
this year Claro is very very focused on how do
(08:10):
we do more to reduce the recidizen rate. So we
found four terrific organizations. Drive Changes one of them, and
we are actually we're giving them a grant of twenty
five thousand dollars to continue the great work. But more importantly,
we're using our assets. So we've had them at Liberty Games,
we have them at each of the events that we're
having on the plaza to actually just build awareness of
(08:34):
this is an organizations that are out there that are
doing the great work. So Cases is another Brooklyn Workforce,
Innovations is another. Osborne Association is another that's part of
the cohort and they provide different types of support for
individuals who are impacted by the criminal justice system. So
not only do we want to make sure that people
(08:56):
know that these organizations are out there to actually provide help.
If you're a business owner, you can actually go to
these organizations to actually provide the necessarily you know, opportunity
for individuals because if you've been if you have been
incarcerated it you know, studies have shown your the your
ability to earn is cut in half even after you're out.
(09:17):
And everyone that I've talked to in this situation, they
just want an opportunity.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Yeah, absolutely, And you know about opportunity nolutely.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
I mean it's the ability to earn, the ability to
have housing exactly that's adequate for you, the dignity that
comes along with that mental health support.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Khalila, I want to ask.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
You, you know, we just went through these numbers as
far as like how difficult it is and capital is
so important. What have been some of the obstacles that
you feel like your organization drive change has faced when
it comes to trying to make sure that you're able
to provide for the community and for the youth that
really need the help.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
That's a good question. Thank you. For asking that.
Speaker 5 (09:56):
So it is diversified funding right, consistent multi year farnd.
People are often wanting to waiver and and move in
different directions on which areas they want to support a
lot of times folks support what's hot, and so you know,
the hospitality industry might not be as sexy as tech. However,
the hospitality industry has been an industry that's opened their
(10:19):
doors to the pop to demographics that we serve.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
And really, I used to work.
Speaker 5 (10:23):
In front of house while having a job, and so
it's helped me put more food on my table. So
I think that we it's it's really ingrained in all
of us. But oftentimes funders tend to sway and move
to where people can get, you know, six figure jobs tomorrow.
And that's not necessarily going to be the case for everyone.
Not to say there is no there's not opportunities for
(10:45):
advancement and career and career exploration and even just movement,
and which I'm really about, like, there is so much
more than I could be a prep cook and I
can also own my business. I can be a prep
cook and now run this this, this someone else's business
for that matter. And so I think that that's really important.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
I think.
Speaker 5 (11:04):
Also what we're noticing is that when our young people
are coming to us, we have to unbreak a lot
of cycles, yes, but unbreak a lot of the ways
in which our young adults are thinking and doing and being.
And they're coming to me at eighteen, between eighteen and
twenty five and so and then I also compete with that.
So that means putting systems in place in order to
(11:27):
tackle that. So that is mental health support, So all
of our young adults have the ability to be connected
with therapists of therapists of color.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
That's right.
Speaker 5 (11:34):
We you know who will invest in our young adults,
so identifying the right what we like to call them
hospitality for social justice partners, our restaurant leaders who not
only say that I'm going to help train and get
them a job, but I'm going to help invest in them.
And to know that if someone shows up late, that
you're not going to write them off tomorrow. Right, So
like what does true investment look like? And also pay
(11:58):
wages that make them mass right.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Let's just.
Speaker 5 (12:02):
Listen, No, you can't just get their books, it's not that. No,
not off the books and pay them with their worth.
And also how can they grow within your company? Take
a step back to say, do people have the ability
to move from one one job to the other. Do
they have the ability to be Chef Kwame right at
Tatiana's shout out to Chef Kwame right and like and agree.
(12:24):
And we have a couple of core books that Drive
Change Notes to a Young Black Chef being one of them,
the New Gym Crow being the other, the Four Agreements
being one really tackling and thinking about the mind. We
also are even looking at Asada in her own liberation right.
So there are so many different ways in which we
like to teach and to our young people, but it's
important for them to be able to see that they
(12:45):
have the ability to get there, and oftentimes they come
to us not not knowing that us.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Can you tell us a couple of success stories, because
I think that's awesome for people to understand the organizations.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
What is it ten years old, ten years old, ten
years old? All right? So give us a couple of
six stories because I want people.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Who are left, because I want people who are listening
to understand the work that Drive Change does and to
hear about some of the things because you know, to me,
it's like the type of thing that's like a tear
jerker when you're like, oh my god, I can't believe
that this happened. It has to feel so good to
know that, even for each individual, how you've been able
to change lives, which also changes families, which also changes communities.
Speaker 5 (13:25):
We could just go backcause that's the whole nother segment
right there, right, I got to think it's so powerful.
But so there are a few different success stories, and
I also I like to have our young people identify
what success looks like for them first and foremost, right,
because what I think is successful it could be the
ability that they showed up today and they showed up tomorrow,
and they showed up for a week straight because they
haven't done that, right. But we also have some young
(13:46):
adults who We had one young man who came to
us and they were he was in a work release
program and when the pandemic hit, he was because he
didn't have a job, was going to have to go
back to jail, right, But our restaurant partner created a
delivery service.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Right so that he didn't have employment.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
And it was so hard to have a job during
a pandemic because so many places. Everybody didn't have a
job during a pandemic. Okay, go ahead, well no, no, no,
I just.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Say I'll have to say so.
Speaker 5 (14:12):
Now this young man is not only did he have
a job, but he had the ability to. He has
now a team of twelve. He's running the front of
house and so the nonprofit. The partner is Cafe Pana,
which is a Italian Italian inspired coffee shop and ice
cream shop in Grama Sea Park. One of the staff
members on my team was in Cohort one and he
(14:34):
is now our kitchen operations Associate's name is Dupree, and
I considered him to be a success story because every
day I watch him coming to work and he is
every he's improving.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Every day.
Speaker 5 (14:44):
He cooks our, he is teaching our young people, he's
cooking our family meal. He went from Cohort one working
at one of our restaurant partners to now being a
full time staff person at drive Chains. It's major right,
the ability to take care of himself and his son.
And I think that I'm a pretty good boss.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
Right, we think you're a great leader. But this is
what it's about. It's about opportunity, right, It's about opportunity
for someone to actually, you know, after they've paid their
dues to read, you know, sort of like get back
into society and continue, you know, not only earning a wage,
(15:25):
but actually a wage that has mobility. Right, Yeah, because
that's so important.
Speaker 5 (15:30):
Can I just say something to this point, like think
about where we are right now in our lives and
who has helped us get there?
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (15:35):
Absolutely, right, Like someone invested in us, so like to
your point, right giving back and investing in others. Right,
So if someone is invested in us, and if we
think about like it takes a village to raise a family,
that's how I.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Approach the work. It takes a village to raise our
young people.
Speaker 5 (15:51):
And so the village is myself, it is Greg's Claire,
it is the hospitality for Social Justice Partners. It's even
people on our team that are showing up in ways
that someone might showed up for them. And so I
think that is really important.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
And I think it's also important that people are aware
of the Social Justice Fund and if you have a
nonprofit that there are ways that you can get some support,
because I think sometimes it's also raising money is hard.
Making sure that people know about your organization is hard
even getting funding from the city.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
I want to.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Ask about that because it feels like there's been so
many conversations in New York City and around the United
States period about what can be done when it comes
to Okay, there's all this funding that goes into police departments,
but what about funding for programs to make sure that
people don't go to jail? What about funding for programs
and make sure that people don't end up having to
(16:41):
go back? What about funding for mental health issues where
you don't have to have the police come and you
have somebody that's a professional in that space, be able
to show up people who intervene from the community and
things like that. How does you know local government actually
support or not or maybe you need more, you know,
(17:02):
more to be done as far as supporting drive change, Well.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
Yeah, you could coming from government. You're coming from government.
I will say that the government could always do more, right,
I think, you know, being in the philanthropic sector, obviously
there are individuals who have certain passions and you know,
you know, philanthropy is doing part of the work. But
you know, when you look at New York City and
(17:29):
you look at you know, a lot of what has
happened in New York City. It's the nonprofits that are
really carrying the burden. And unfortunately, you know, our system
is built where the nonprofits are actually floating a number
of dollars in terms of investments, and the city is
then sort of like they're reimbursing them. But you need
(17:50):
to have the money first, right, right, And that's a problem.
And I would say, you know, for your listeners, like
you have to be civically engaged, right you're elected officials
for every everyone from your council members to you know,
your controller to your mayor, like, you need to be
an advocate for those nonprofits that are invested in the community,
(18:11):
otherwise the system will continue to operate the way it is, right,
And so I will say that, you know, for organizations
like Drive Change and the ones that we've invested in,
they face the same issues where they're struggling to get
government and government support is actually what especially if you
get baseline funding, that's what brings stability to these nonprofit organizations.
(18:33):
But it's it's it's a challenge.
Speaker 5 (18:35):
And then my colleagues in the nonprofit space will say
that they're waiting for that money to be to be
given back to them, So you have to have to
have a certain number of dollars in the bank already
as you're waiting to be imbursed. And I will also say,
and what's really great about the Social Justice Fund is
that they're investing in, you know, businesses, businesses of color,
(18:55):
whereas nowadays people don't want to do that, right, people
are not wanting to invest in organizations that serve demographics
like myself and as someone who is a woman, woman
of color, a black woman. After the founder, it's harder
for us to get capital to run organizations. And we
and you've seen like this wave of like folks of
(19:18):
color and women leaders moving to the top right to.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Run organizations.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
And now to your question earlier, there's something that's called
like the glass cliff where we're here to you know,
work at organizations and kind of like given so much
that we're.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
A bit pushed over. So there's no more of a
glass ceiling.
Speaker 5 (19:35):
Now there's that glass cliff, But it is when there
are those in the philanthropy space and even in are
the government space that recognize that and will say we're
going to give you funding, multi year funding so that
you don't have to stress out on how you're going
to pay your staff, because you want to pay your
staff a livable way. Yes, like if I can't go
to the doctor and go see a therapist, then that's
(19:57):
a problem, right, And so this year I've decided to
make sure that my team was getting livable wages four
on one k. They have really great health care. And
if that meant that, you know, I don't know my
feet are going to go on feet Finder.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Say that, but like we did not care I got
a camera girl, But.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
We understand that. And so you know, for those who
are listening, you can learn more about you know, Social
Justice Fund at b K s j F dot org.
You know, you can learn about our partners, learn about
our initiatives, and certainly, you know, we focus specifically on Brooklyn,
so only organizations that are doing work in Brooklyn or
organizations that want to expand their work to Brooklyn. And now,
(20:45):
of course that's related to the fact that you know,
Clara and Joe want to.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
Invest in brook and you know, it's great because they're
not from Brooklyn, but you have the Barclay Center and
teams that are based in Brooklyn. And so I think,
I don't know, does every organ because I'm not sure
about this when you move out of you know, when
you look at all the other different stadiums and uh,
does everybody do this or is this something.
Speaker 4 (21:08):
That we're in a class? I think we're in a
unique class. There are certain other teams Golden State Warriors
is one of them that come to mind where they
invest in the community. So of course it comes yeah.
But but we have a trifecta here, right. We have
you know that there's the arena, right, but you have
like there's a NETS and Liberty Foundation in the Nets
(21:29):
and Liberty Foundation focus a lot on food and security wellness,
and I work closely with with the team there. You know,
there's the arena itself which has programs for small businesses,
so that it's like Brooklyn Butdego where you know, literally
you can if you're a small business and you want
to actually be a concession in the arena, you can
try we can try you out. So that's yes, a
(21:56):
little more that's handled to go out to me internally
by the head of the Diversity, Equity Inclusion Jackie. So Jackie,
he takes that and so so that's that's the anchor institution.
But then you have players like our players, like you know, especially.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
You know the NBA Foundation.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
There's the NBA Foundation, but there's also like the players
who have their interests and so they want to invest
in the communities that they play in. And then the
trifector is we have ownership, right and and that typically
sometimes owners place the responsibility of investing in community on
the players, but in this case, we have owners who
have said no, we want to also invest. So I
(22:42):
think Brooklyn is unique. New York City is unique in
terms of like we have with the New York Liberty
and the Brooklyn Nets. You know, this trifector of community
engagement that it's.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Rare in you know, Oh, you're so right. I'm not
gonna lie.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
There's times that I've been places and people who have
organizations would be like, oh, I met Clara, sat down
with Clara. There's even been times that she's texted me
and been like, hey, do you know of any organizations
that you think? Like she literally will ask me and say,
you know, who do you think? Because I'm definitely on
the ground in Brooklyn paying attention to everything that's going on,
and I like that. I like the fact that Okay,
(23:15):
let me you know refer to defer to people who
are from here, and Greg, you're a perfect example to
have you in the position that you're in, and I
know this has to be very fulfilling work for you.
Speaker 4 (23:25):
It's a blessing. It's a blessing. It's a blessing because
Clara really cares a lot about the community. And what's
more important is that you know because you have in philanthropy.
Sometimes you know, philanthropy comes in and says, I we
know what's right right, and we tell organizations like Drive Change,
this is how we want you to execute your programming.
We don't do that. Clara will sit down, will she
(23:47):
listened to individuals, she learned from the experts, and then
say like, okay, I think.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
This is how we should How can we help you?
Speaker 4 (23:54):
And then when we make our investments is general operating.
We're not telling you, we're not constricting you, just supporting
the great work that you're doing. It takes a lot
because you have to listen, right, And so that's why
Clara and I work so well together, because she really
cares a lot about the community, just like I do.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
The hardest part, I think is figuring out which organizations
get the money too sometimes because everybody we so just.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
You know, full transparency us being on this.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Greg put me on this committee, and there's a whole
committee of us.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
Is it just Brooklyn Prize, Yes, yes, So it's just
it's an initiative, just Brooklyn Prize, where we award twenty
thousand dollars to five great Brooklyn Knights who are doing amazing.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
When I tell you, like, we.
Speaker 4 (24:42):
Had nine hundred nominations, I know, and Angela yes, and
Angela had to you know, sort through all of them.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
Oh no, but they narrowed it down and they did
a great job. And so when you get to the
final ten, they all could have got it, you know.
And that's what's really hard sometimes trying to figure out
like who in this final group of people, and even
you know, aside from that, even I'm sure the top
one hundred, they all could have potentially won that money
(25:09):
because I know it means a lot to be able
to get that grant money, to be able to continue
doing the work that you're doing. Because I also feel
like when it comes to philanthropy and nonprofits, like you said,
paying people a livable wage, making sure they have insurance,
making sure that they're taking care of themselves. That's important,
but people seem to think that you shouldn't be making
decent money when you work for a nonprofit. I think
(25:30):
people feel like, yeah, I definitely disagree, but it feels
like people are like, oh, why does she have that house?
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Why is she doing this? How is she able to
afford this?
Speaker 3 (25:39):
Like you're not supposed to live, you know, decently, and
you're putting in so much work and so much of yourself.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Every day that I come to drive change.
Speaker 5 (25:48):
I think about, you know, I've had family members that
have been impacted by the justice system.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
I've had partners impacted by the justice system.
Speaker 5 (25:55):
I've had to watch them not be able to get
jobs if they want to change their life around. That's
very disheartening to see that as a as a black woman,
and I walk into that job that door every day
wanting to help shift and change someone's life. I bring
my whole and full self. I wake up with the work,
I go to bed with the work. That might not
be the most, you know, healthiest thing to do. So
(26:16):
I'm trying to find some boundaries, right But at the
end of the end of the day, not only do
I have staff livelihood in my hands. But I also
have young adults, right, and young adults who have been
you know, come from some marginalized communities and have not
really been invested in. And so it is my job
and my duty. This is my work, my passion. I
(26:36):
have my master's a nonprofit management.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Does that? Right?
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Like shut out to the.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Seriously?
Speaker 3 (26:47):
Right?
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Who does?
Speaker 5 (26:47):
But but I did I say all that just saying
I do think that when we invest in our people, right,
when you feel happy at work, you bring your full
self and then you have the ability to be successful.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
In your own job, and then in turn, everyone else
feels that.
Speaker 5 (27:02):
And so I am being very intentional about about creating
a space where people want to show up and that's
just not because you're there's a check, but because.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
They feel seen and they feel value.
Speaker 5 (27:12):
And I think that we have the ability, we meaning
nonprofit leaders, to shift the way in which we used
to run our organizations, Like how do we move from
some of that dominant culture kind of values and really
bring in a bit of community and you can still
have high standards but still care for individuals and understand
like you know what, you got some stuff going on
work from home right to day right, right, Like someone's past.
(27:35):
Like someone said, something's happened to someone's sick in your family.
You don't have to show up to because I now exactly.
And also I need to pay rent. We live in Brooklyn.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
How listen, I want you to own a home.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Know what I'm saying it When you yeah doing the
work that you're doing, I think that you know mentally,
like just knowing that I'm I'm good too, like I'm
doing and I'm getting compensated because if you got paid hourly,
you know, I'm sure the hours and hours that you
spend outside of work at home doing everything that you
need to do, it would not even equate to minimum wage,
(28:10):
you know what I'm saying, just because of what this requires.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
And I think even just as.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
Much as you have success stories, sometimes there's not success stories.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
And that's hard too.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
Yeah, you know, when you care about people that are
coming through a program like this, because this does until
you having empathy but also really knowing people. Sometimes that
works like a bus relationship where they tell you not
to get to attached, not to do X, Y and Z.
But that's so hard not to do with these young uh,
with these with the youth.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
I agree with you I mean, if you.
Speaker 5 (28:44):
Do, you have the ability to sometimes compartmentalize because of
what you hear, you have to, you have to because
you don't want to bring all that home.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
I mean, it is very much.
Speaker 5 (28:52):
It could be like a coping skill for you if
you will, because unfortunately there are some things that it's
it's it's hard to hold right. But I and I
also know that you know the impact that I might
have on someone I will never see, and they might
not they might not be successful or what I consider
(29:14):
to be successful, or you had drive change with somewhere else. Right,
And I walk down the street, I've been doing this
for a while now, and I'll be at a Spike
Lee event and someone will say, miss Kalila, you know,
and they'll give me a hug, and she helped me
with this, you know, because I've been in the nonprofit
space in New York for nineteen years and that's just
in New York.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
And so it's amazing to be able to see.
Speaker 5 (29:38):
Later down the line when someone as your work has
had an impact on your life. But oftentimes I don't
really have the ability to see that. I might get
them a job and they can stay for a year,
but I mean like true impact.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Right, you know, years later you get to be you're
able to see that.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
Well, Greg, I do want to thank you always for
the work that you've been doing. You got to come
up here. I know the background all the time.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
He's super tall.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
So as soon as you I was like, wait, no,
what has gotten you into this space?
Speaker 4 (30:12):
You know, because what we talked about earlier, people invested
in my life, right, you know, I had mentors as
young as like fourteen fifteen, you know, when I was
going to church, like I had a.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
Young vacation, you know, I had.
Speaker 4 (30:27):
I had a mentor, David Mullings. He would give me
his PC magazine, you know, books to like, and I
got into coding that way, you know what I mean.
And then when I got into coding, I built a
website stole pictures from Vite magazine. They found out, they
sent me a sease and desist, but then they were like,
why didn't you come on in? And then I had
another mentor, City Bellow. You know, I was like a
teenager and literally he taught me like you need to
(30:51):
advocate for yourself. You need to know how to negotiate
your salary. You know, we always under we don't appreciate
the work that we bring in the value that we have.
And so, you know, I'm a kid from Grenada. You know,
I came here when I was seven, and it's because
of all these opportunities and mentors, and you said it,
but for the grace of God, I grew up in
one one, two o three like East flat Bush. You know,
(31:13):
just because I grew up in one, one, two three
doesn't mean that if you grew up in one one,
you know, two two six, you should have a different experience.
You should have a different experience, right. Your zip code
doesn't determine your path, right. And so for me, it's
all about giving back. It's all about community, because I
think there's a number of great bishops out there. They're
(31:33):
in East Flatbush, They're in Brownsville, They're in Canarsi, They're
in you know, Bedstye, They're all in there in Red Hook.
They're all waiting for that opportunity for that door to open,
and once they get through, they can excel. But you've
got to open up the door, right, And so everything
that I have done in my life is really trying
to figure out how to open up doors for people
(31:54):
to take advantage of that. Now, I'm not gonna you
can lead a horse to water, you can't make a drink, right,
But like, as long as you could open up that door,
and there's systems that are preventing doors from being open,
and there's you know, we could have a whole segment
about like all these You've had guests who talked about
those systems, everything from redlining, you know the fact that
we can't own property or we don't have you know
that generational wealth, right, you know, getting into the good schools. Right,
(32:18):
every school should have the same education system. I was
fortunately I got into Brooklyn Tech and I had access right,
but individuals who didn't go to Brooklyn Tech should still
have the same level of education. So this is what
you see. I get worked up about it. This is
what drives me, and of course you know drives me
drive change, like.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
All social platforms.
Speaker 4 (32:45):
Like literally these organizations are creating opportunities and that's what
you know, that's what I care about. That's what Clara
cares about, you know, because it's all about opportunity.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
Yeah, tangible change. But thank you both so much, I know,
thank you for having Angela ye day to get Yes,
I'm excited about that.
Speaker 4 (33:02):
Okay, Change will be there, Yes, indeed, the other three
organizations will be there. I'm so excited me too to partner.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
With you again, social justice fan.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
I was actually there when you unveil the art work
too or We Belong, and that was an amazing thing
to see. And you know, I just love the fact
that you guys really promote art, you promote you know,
social justice, all of these things, and really like talk
to talk. And so we'll be at Angela EE day
September first to talk to you. You definitely do yeah,
(33:33):
to have to talk walk the walk, we got to
do it all, but it definitely has to be a collaboration.
Speaker 4 (33:38):
And thank you so much for having us. Thank you
for being a great partner in Brooklyn and worldwide because
you know, there's a lot of people who are entrepreneurs
because they follow your journey and homeowners because they follow
your journey. So thank you to keep up the great work.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
Well, we will see y'all September first and again, Khalila,
you know, I appreciate you for coming up here. I'm
so glad I had a chance to talk to you.
I'm I'm gonna tell you what, I'm so bad cute
outfit and she was like, I'm gonna have on more
clothes though.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
It's fast.
Speaker 5 (34:16):
Job.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
I'm nine to five.
Speaker 4 (34:19):
Definitely cirl fast.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Next year, you know that we get those feet pictures
going to let's get it. We're gonna raise money. We
should auction off.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
I'll take the picture, we auction off your feet and
we get it framed and raise money.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
I can't believe that fortune.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
All right, well this way, I thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Well
What's up?
Speaker 2 (00:03):
His way up and Angela we weren't recording on.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
I do have two very special guests joining us, and
this guy right here is my friend in real life.
Greg Bishop is here with me, executive director of the
Joe and Claris I Foundations Social Justice Fund.
Speaker 4 (00:19):
Welcome, thank you, thank you a minute.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yeah, I know this is too long.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
We've had like an hour conversation before the actual It's
been so long. And we're also joined by Khalila Moon,
executive director of Drive Change, who I met at.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Curl feste over the weekends.
Speaker 5 (00:35):
I love Simon and Trees and Melody, they're my friends
and curlfast is always a blast.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
It's always good, beautiful.
Speaker 5 (00:42):
Yeah, yeah, I know I don't have any curls.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
I don't have any curls, but because.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
That's a lot of guys without curls.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
Popping up to curl, curl is the spot. I'm telling you.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Ten years going strong and the guys were dressed to
the nines. I could so they was outside.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
We were in competition.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
The one thing I regret is, you know, when I
was at SBS that we didn't have an opportunity to
support that event because I think that you know, when
you think about entrepreneurship and you think about you know,
black owned businesses, et cetera, et cetera, that's where you
need to be.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
And it was their tenure anniversary too for curl Fest.
And SBS is Small Business Services for People.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Sorry, Greg.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
When I met Greg, he was a commissioner for SBS. Yes,
and you actually did a lot while you were SBS
for small Businesses.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
I want to thank you because you also helped me
get the word out for some important initiatives and you
still continue to advocate for the community. So thank you
very much.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Right, and look now you're doing you know, important work still, right,
because this is something that's near and dear to your heart,
is helping business owners but also helping to drive change.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
You like how to thank you? And that's where cil
the Moon comes in.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
So let's talk about what each of you are doing
now in your respective So, Khalila, you have Drive Change.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Yes, yeah.
Speaker 5 (02:03):
So I'm the executive director of an organization in Brooklyn
called Drive Change, and we sit at the intersection of
reentry and hospitality and we work with young adults who's
been impacted by the justice system by providing them a
four month paid training program and then helping them get
jobs within the hospitality space. And we also started to
begin tackling food and security. So we give our groceries
(02:23):
between the spring and winter months and the best community
So we're feeding over two hundred and fifty families. Our
young adults that are in our training program are also
assisting us in that. And so, yeah, we believe that
not only is food a right in community is a gift,
and we want to give back to our community.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Oh, I love that.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
And you know, at that age in particular, a lot
of times if people have been impacted by you know,
by the justice system, it can make you feel like
you're not worth what you are worth and not understand
your own value as well. And so a program like
that is something that's amazing because these young people, like
I love when we're able to do things at my
(03:02):
juice bar or at my coffee shop. Like I'm very
interested in making sure that we're always working within the
community and hiring within the community, but also given people
an opportunity because sometimes they can get prejudged yep, and
you know, not understand like y'all are popping, you guys
are and just given the right opportunity and being around
the right people can make all the difference.
Speaker 5 (03:22):
I have to agree with you. I always say that
you are more than just your zip code. You are
more than just your circumstance. And it's very important for
people to understand their ability to reach their dreams into
and really their success and at drive change. Our goal
is to help people dream more expansively, but it also
break the stigma of what folks might have done to
get them there. Quite frankly, the skill sets that might
(03:43):
have gotten someone and predicaments that they might not have
liked are.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
The ones that are going to help get them out.
Speaker 5 (03:48):
Resiliency, right, the ability to communicate, the ability to lead.
So you know, we try to tap into those things
that drive change, and it is working with folks like
Greg and yourself.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
First off, I love coffee ups people.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
I love the hospitality from the gate. You guys clean
up everything. I'm all about hospitality, you.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Know how it is.
Speaker 5 (04:06):
But anyways, so we you know, it's important that our
young people have the ability to see themselves past all
those situations plus everyone else outside of them, because they
when they go into the workspace, you know, they want
to be able to succeed as well. And unfortunately they've
been born into systems and communities and our educational system
(04:27):
has failed them. And now I have the privilege, along
with Greg and others, to be able to work alongside
them to help reach their dreams.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
And now, Greg Bishop, let's talk about these social justice
fun You guys do so much work. I've done, actually
a lot of work with you as the executive director,
so let people know what's happening, because I'm also on
this committee too.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
So yeah, so I have to, of course start off
by saying a big thank you to Clara Ussai. Clara
Ussai is a part owner of the New York Liberty
and also the Brooklyn Nets. Yes, Clara and Joe bought
the team in twenty nineteen and have been instrumental in
giving back to Brooklyn and New York City. After the
(05:11):
murder of George Floyd, we saw the racial justice protest
that was happening at the arena, and you know, Clara
and Joe made a fifty million dollar commitment to invest
in Brooklyn over the next ten years. So that was
the birth of the Social Justice Fund.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
And even like you said, they were all these rallies
and marches that were happening, and instead of saying you
can't come on a property, at this square is where
you guys can convene.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
Everything from providing ppees to you know, paying the arena
staff when we didn't have any games. Yeah, you know,
the philanthropic work of Clara has been you know, have
happened even before the Social Justice Fund. But I was
very blessed to connect with her. And as you mentioned,
Clara is really really focused on economic mobility and racial justice.
(05:58):
It's in her DNA. You know, she's from Lawrence, Kansas.
You know, it's and it's you know, the Midwestern values
and certainly cares a lot about not only economic mobility,
but economic mobility for individuals who are formally incarcerated, just
as impacted individuals. And so we have a number of initiatives.
We focus a lot on supporting small businesses. So we
(06:20):
had like a loan fund that we launched right after
the pandemic. We you know, got two point five million
dollars into the community. Seventy percent of those businesses were
run by black women. We did not ask for a
collateral or a guaranteur, and so we're going to be
putting out a report later on this year to talk
about like how to build programs like that so that
(06:40):
way other individuals who want to invest in their communities
can actually figure out a way to do that. We
have an accelerator where we actually help invest in founders
of color. Only two percent of venture dollars go to
founders of color. And you know this very well. Point
I think it's like point five percent of black women
is least.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
But we start the most small businesses get the least
amount of eatactly.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
So we invest one hundred and twenty five thousand dollars
for seven percent equity stake, and if they stay in
Brooklyn and meet other metrics, we invest in another three
hundred and seventy five for a total of a half
a million dollars. And so one of the things that
we've been doing, and this initiative belonged Brooklyn, which is
why we love Drive Change Is Is is an initiative
that actually started with Tavars actually Tavarstraw and he's an
(07:27):
artist from the Bahamas. And if you've ever been around
the Barcley Center, the Ticket Mass Applaza, you've seen this.
You belong here, We belong here. It's actually our installation.
It's his work and it talks about belonging and belonging
to community. And every summer we find organizations that focus
(07:48):
on things that we think is important to belong into,
you know Brooklyn. So last time we focused on maternal health,
exactly health, black maternal health. You know, Black women are
nine times likely to die in childbirth than their white counterparts.
So we invested one hundred thousand dollars into four organizations.
Last year you were part of that as well. And
this year Claro is very very focused on how do
(08:10):
we do more to reduce the recidizen rate. So we
found four terrific organizations. Drive Changes one of them, and
we are actually we're giving them a grant of twenty
five thousand dollars to continue the great work. But more importantly,
we're using our assets. So we've had them at Liberty Games,
we have them at each of the events that we're
having on the plaza to actually just build awareness of
(08:34):
this is an organizations that are out there that are
doing the great work. So Cases is another Brooklyn Workforce,
Innovations is another. Osborne Association is another that's part of
the cohort and they provide different types of support for
individuals who are impacted by the criminal justice system. So
not only do we want to make sure that people
(08:56):
know that these organizations are out there to actually provide help.
If you're a business owner, you can actually go to
these organizations to actually provide the necessarily you know, opportunity
for individuals because if you've been if you have been
incarcerated it you know, studies have shown your the your
ability to earn is cut in half even after you're out.
(09:17):
And everyone that I've talked to in this situation, they
just want an opportunity.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Yeah, absolutely, And you know about opportunity nolutely.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
I mean it's the ability to earn, the ability to
have housing exactly that's adequate for you, the dignity that
comes along with that mental health support.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Khalila, I want to ask.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
You, you know, we just went through these numbers as
far as like how difficult it is and capital is
so important. What have been some of the obstacles that
you feel like your organization drive change has faced when
it comes to trying to make sure that you're able
to provide for the community and for the youth that
really need the help.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
That's a good question. Thank you. For asking that.
Speaker 5 (09:56):
So it is diversified funding right, consistent multi year farnd.
People are often wanting to waiver and and move in
different directions on which areas they want to support a
lot of times folks support what's hot, and so you know,
the hospitality industry might not be as sexy as tech. However,
the hospitality industry has been an industry that's opened their
(10:19):
doors to the pop to demographics that we serve.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
And really, I used to work.
Speaker 5 (10:23):
In front of house while having a job, and so
it's helped me put more food on my table. So
I think that we it's it's really ingrained in all
of us. But oftentimes funders tend to sway and move
to where people can get, you know, six figure jobs tomorrow.
And that's not necessarily going to be the case for everyone.
Not to say there is no there's not opportunities for
(10:45):
advancement and career and career exploration and even just movement,
and which I'm really about, like, there is so much
more than I could be a prep cook and I
can also own my business. I can be a prep
cook and now run this this, this someone else's business
for that matter. And so I think that that's really important.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
I think.
Speaker 5 (11:04):
Also what we're noticing is that when our young people
are coming to us, we have to unbreak a lot
of cycles, yes, but unbreak a lot of the ways
in which our young adults are thinking and doing and being.
And they're coming to me at eighteen, between eighteen and
twenty five and so and then I also compete with that.
So that means putting systems in place in order to
(11:27):
tackle that. So that is mental health support, So all
of our young adults have the ability to be connected
with therapists of therapists of color.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
That's right.
Speaker 5 (11:34):
We you know who will invest in our young adults,
so identifying the right what we like to call them
hospitality for social justice partners, our restaurant leaders who not
only say that I'm going to help train and get
them a job, but I'm going to help invest in them.
And to know that if someone shows up late, that
you're not going to write them off tomorrow. Right, So
like what does true investment look like? And also pay
(11:58):
wages that make them mass right.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Let's just.
Speaker 5 (12:02):
Listen, No, you can't just get their books, it's not that. No,
not off the books and pay them with their worth.
And also how can they grow within your company? Take
a step back to say, do people have the ability
to move from one one job to the other. Do
they have the ability to be Chef Kwame right at
Tatiana's shout out to Chef Kwame right and like and agree.
(12:24):
And we have a couple of core books that Drive
Change Notes to a Young Black Chef being one of them,
the New Gym Crow being the other, the Four Agreements
being one really tackling and thinking about the mind. We
also are even looking at Asada in her own liberation right.
So there are so many different ways in which we
like to teach and to our young people, but it's
important for them to be able to see that they
(12:45):
have the ability to get there, and oftentimes they come
to us not not knowing that us.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Can you tell us a couple of success stories, because
I think that's awesome for people to understand the organizations.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
What is it ten years old, ten years old, ten
years old? All right? So give us a couple of
six stories because I want people.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Who are left, because I want people who are listening
to understand the work that Drive Change does and to
hear about some of the things because you know, to me,
it's like the type of thing that's like a tear
jerker when you're like, oh my god, I can't believe
that this happened. It has to feel so good to
know that, even for each individual, how you've been able
to change lives, which also changes families, which also changes communities.
Speaker 5 (13:25):
We could just go backcause that's the whole nother segment
right there, right, I got to think it's so powerful.
But so there are a few different success stories, and
I also I like to have our young people identify
what success looks like for them first and foremost, right,
because what I think is successful it could be the
ability that they showed up today and they showed up tomorrow,
and they showed up for a week straight because they
haven't done that, right. But we also have some young
(13:46):
adults who We had one young man who came to
us and they were he was in a work release
program and when the pandemic hit, he was because he
didn't have a job, was going to have to go
back to jail, right, But our restaurant partner created a
delivery service.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Right so that he didn't have employment.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
And it was so hard to have a job during
a pandemic because so many places. Everybody didn't have a
job during a pandemic. Okay, go ahead, well no, no, no,
I just.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Say I'll have to say so.
Speaker 5 (14:12):
Now this young man is not only did he have
a job, but he had the ability to. He has
now a team of twelve. He's running the front of
house and so the nonprofit. The partner is Cafe Pana,
which is a Italian Italian inspired coffee shop and ice
cream shop in Grama Sea Park. One of the staff
members on my team was in Cohort one and he
(14:34):
is now our kitchen operations Associate's name is Dupree, and
I considered him to be a success story because every
day I watch him coming to work and he is
every he's improving.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Every day.
Speaker 5 (14:44):
He cooks our, he is teaching our young people, he's
cooking our family meal. He went from Cohort one working
at one of our restaurant partners to now being a
full time staff person at drive Chains. It's major right,
the ability to take care of himself and his son.
And I think that I'm a pretty good boss.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
Right, we think you're a great leader. But this is
what it's about. It's about opportunity, right, It's about opportunity
for someone to actually, you know, after they've paid their
dues to read, you know, sort of like get back
into society and continue, you know, not only earning a wage,
(15:25):
but actually a wage that has mobility. Right, Yeah, because
that's so important.
Speaker 5 (15:30):
Can I just say something to this point, like think
about where we are right now in our lives and
who has helped us get there?
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (15:35):
Absolutely, right, Like someone invested in us, so like to
your point, right giving back and investing in others. Right,
So if someone is invested in us, and if we
think about like it takes a village to raise a family,
that's how I.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Approach the work. It takes a village to raise our
young people.
Speaker 5 (15:51):
And so the village is myself, it is Greg's Claire,
it is the hospitality for Social Justice Partners. It's even
people on our team that are showing up in ways
that someone might showed up for them. And so I
think that is really important.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
And I think it's also important that people are aware
of the Social Justice Fund and if you have a
nonprofit that there are ways that you can get some support,
because I think sometimes it's also raising money is hard.
Making sure that people know about your organization is hard
even getting funding from the city.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
I want to.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Ask about that because it feels like there's been so
many conversations in New York City and around the United
States period about what can be done when it comes
to Okay, there's all this funding that goes into police departments,
but what about funding for programs to make sure that
people don't go to jail? What about funding for programs
and make sure that people don't end up having to
(16:41):
go back? What about funding for mental health issues where
you don't have to have the police come and you
have somebody that's a professional in that space, be able
to show up people who intervene from the community and
things like that. How does you know local government actually
support or not or maybe you need more, you know,
(17:02):
more to be done as far as supporting drive change, Well.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
Yeah, you could coming from government. You're coming from government.
I will say that the government could always do more, right,
I think, you know, being in the philanthropic sector, obviously
there are individuals who have certain passions and you know,
you know, philanthropy is doing part of the work. But
you know, when you look at New York City and
(17:29):
you look at you know, a lot of what has
happened in New York City. It's the nonprofits that are
really carrying the burden. And unfortunately, you know, our system
is built where the nonprofits are actually floating a number
of dollars in terms of investments, and the city is
then sort of like they're reimbursing them. But you need
(17:50):
to have the money first, right, right, And that's a problem.
And I would say, you know, for your listeners, like
you have to be civically engaged, right you're elected officials
for every everyone from your council members to you know,
your controller to your mayor, like, you need to be
an advocate for those nonprofits that are invested in the community,
(18:11):
otherwise the system will continue to operate the way it is, right,
And so I will say that, you know, for organizations
like Drive Change and the ones that we've invested in,
they face the same issues where they're struggling to get
government and government support is actually what especially if you
get baseline funding, that's what brings stability to these nonprofit organizations.
(18:33):
But it's it's it's a challenge.
Speaker 5 (18:35):
And then my colleagues in the nonprofit space will say
that they're waiting for that money to be to be
given back to them, So you have to have to
have a certain number of dollars in the bank already
as you're waiting to be imbursed. And I will also say,
and what's really great about the Social Justice Fund is
that they're investing in, you know, businesses, businesses of color,
(18:55):
whereas nowadays people don't want to do that, right, people
are not wanting to invest in organizations that serve demographics
like myself and as someone who is a woman, woman
of color, a black woman. After the founder, it's harder
for us to get capital to run organizations. And we
and you've seen like this wave of like folks of
(19:18):
color and women leaders moving to the top right to.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Run organizations.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
And now to your question earlier, there's something that's called
like the glass cliff where we're here to you know,
work at organizations and kind of like given so much
that we're.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
A bit pushed over. So there's no more of a
glass ceiling.
Speaker 5 (19:35):
Now there's that glass cliff, But it is when there
are those in the philanthropy space and even in are
the government space that recognize that and will say we're
going to give you funding, multi year funding so that
you don't have to stress out on how you're going
to pay your staff, because you want to pay your
staff a livable way. Yes, like if I can't go
to the doctor and go see a therapist, then that's
(19:57):
a problem, right, And so this year I've decided to
make sure that my team was getting livable wages four
on one k. They have really great health care. And
if that meant that, you know, I don't know my
feet are going to go on feet Finder.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Say that, but like we did not care I got
a camera girl, But.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
We understand that. And so you know, for those who
are listening, you can learn more about you know, Social
Justice Fund at b K s j F dot org.
You know, you can learn about our partners, learn about
our initiatives, and certainly, you know, we focus specifically on Brooklyn,
so only organizations that are doing work in Brooklyn or
organizations that want to expand their work to Brooklyn. And now,
(20:45):
of course that's related to the fact that you know,
Clara and Joe want to.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
Invest in brook and you know, it's great because they're
not from Brooklyn, but you have the Barclay Center and
teams that are based in Brooklyn. And so I think,
I don't know, does every organ because I'm not sure
about this when you move out of you know, when
you look at all the other different stadiums and uh,
does everybody do this or is this something.
Speaker 4 (21:08):
That we're in a class? I think we're in a
unique class. There are certain other teams Golden State Warriors
is one of them that come to mind where they
invest in the community. So of course it comes yeah.
But but we have a trifecta here, right. We have
you know that there's the arena, right, but you have
like there's a NETS and Liberty Foundation in the Nets
(21:29):
and Liberty Foundation focus a lot on food and security wellness,
and I work closely with with the team there. You know,
there's the arena itself which has programs for small businesses,
so that it's like Brooklyn Butdego where you know, literally
you can if you're a small business and you want
to actually be a concession in the arena, you can
try we can try you out. So that's yes, a
(21:56):
little more that's handled to go out to me internally
by the head of the Diversity, Equity Inclusion Jackie. So Jackie,
he takes that and so so that's that's the anchor institution.
But then you have players like our players, like you know, especially.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
You know the NBA Foundation.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
There's the NBA Foundation, but there's also like the players
who have their interests and so they want to invest
in the communities that they play in. And then the
trifector is we have ownership, right and and that typically
sometimes owners place the responsibility of investing in community on
the players, but in this case, we have owners who
have said no, we want to also invest. So I
(22:42):
think Brooklyn is unique. New York City is unique in
terms of like we have with the New York Liberty
and the Brooklyn Nets. You know, this trifector of community
engagement that it's.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Rare in you know, Oh, you're so right. I'm not
gonna lie.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
There's times that I've been places and people who have
organizations would be like, oh, I met Clara, sat down
with Clara. There's even been times that she's texted me
and been like, hey, do you know of any organizations
that you think? Like she literally will ask me and say,
you know, who do you think? Because I'm definitely on
the ground in Brooklyn paying attention to everything that's going on,
and I like that. I like the fact that Okay,
(23:15):
let me you know refer to defer to people who
are from here, and Greg, you're a perfect example to
have you in the position that you're in, and I
know this has to be very fulfilling work for you.
Speaker 4 (23:25):
It's a blessing. It's a blessing. It's a blessing because
Clara really cares a lot about the community. And what's
more important is that you know because you have in philanthropy.
Sometimes you know, philanthropy comes in and says, I we
know what's right right, and we tell organizations like Drive Change,
this is how we want you to execute your programming.
We don't do that. Clara will sit down, will she
(23:47):
listened to individuals, she learned from the experts, and then
say like, okay, I think.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
This is how we should How can we help you?
Speaker 4 (23:54):
And then when we make our investments is general operating.
We're not telling you, we're not constricting you, just supporting
the great work that you're doing. It takes a lot
because you have to listen, right, And so that's why
Clara and I work so well together, because she really
cares a lot about the community, just like I do.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
The hardest part, I think is figuring out which organizations
get the money too sometimes because everybody we so just.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
You know, full transparency us being on this.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Greg put me on this committee, and there's a whole
committee of us.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
Is it just Brooklyn Prize, Yes, yes, So it's just
it's an initiative, just Brooklyn Prize, where we award twenty
thousand dollars to five great Brooklyn Knights who are doing amazing.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
When I tell you, like, we.
Speaker 4 (24:42):
Had nine hundred nominations, I know, and Angela yes, and
Angela had to you know, sort through all of them.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
Oh no, but they narrowed it down and they did
a great job. And so when you get to the
final ten, they all could have got it, you know.
And that's what's really hard sometimes trying to figure out
like who in this final group of people, and even
you know, aside from that, even I'm sure the top
one hundred, they all could have potentially won that money
(25:09):
because I know it means a lot to be able
to get that grant money, to be able to continue
doing the work that you're doing. Because I also feel
like when it comes to philanthropy and nonprofits, like you said,
paying people a livable wage, making sure they have insurance,
making sure that they're taking care of themselves. That's important,
but people seem to think that you shouldn't be making
decent money when you work for a nonprofit. I think
(25:30):
people feel like, yeah, I definitely disagree, but it feels
like people are like, oh, why does she have that house?
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Why is she doing this? How is she able to
afford this?
Speaker 3 (25:39):
Like you're not supposed to live, you know, decently, and
you're putting in so much work and so much of yourself.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Every day that I come to drive change.
Speaker 5 (25:48):
I think about, you know, I've had family members that
have been impacted by the justice system.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
I've had partners impacted by the justice system.
Speaker 5 (25:55):
I've had to watch them not be able to get
jobs if they want to change their life around. That's
very disheartening to see that as a as a black woman,
and I walk into that job that door every day
wanting to help shift and change someone's life. I bring
my whole and full self. I wake up with the work,
I go to bed with the work. That might not
be the most, you know, healthiest thing to do. So
(26:16):
I'm trying to find some boundaries, right But at the
end of the end of the day, not only do
I have staff livelihood in my hands. But I also
have young adults, right, and young adults who have been
you know, come from some marginalized communities and have not
really been invested in. And so it is my job
and my duty. This is my work, my passion. I
(26:36):
have my master's a nonprofit management.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Does that? Right?
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Like shut out to the.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Seriously?
Speaker 3 (26:47):
Right?
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Who does?
Speaker 5 (26:47):
But but I did I say all that just saying
I do think that when we invest in our people, right,
when you feel happy at work, you bring your full
self and then you have the ability to be successful.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
In your own job, and then in turn, everyone else
feels that.
Speaker 5 (27:02):
And so I am being very intentional about about creating
a space where people want to show up and that's
just not because you're there's a check, but because.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
They feel seen and they feel value.
Speaker 5 (27:12):
And I think that we have the ability, we meaning
nonprofit leaders, to shift the way in which we used
to run our organizations, Like how do we move from
some of that dominant culture kind of values and really
bring in a bit of community and you can still
have high standards but still care for individuals and understand
like you know what, you got some stuff going on
work from home right to day right, right, Like someone's past.
(27:35):
Like someone said, something's happened to someone's sick in your family.
You don't have to show up to because I now exactly.
And also I need to pay rent. We live in Brooklyn.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
How listen, I want you to own a home.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Know what I'm saying it When you yeah doing the
work that you're doing, I think that you know mentally,
like just knowing that I'm I'm good too, like I'm
doing and I'm getting compensated because if you got paid hourly,
you know, I'm sure the hours and hours that you
spend outside of work at home doing everything that you
need to do, it would not even equate to minimum wage,
(28:10):
you know what I'm saying, just because of what this requires.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
And I think even just as.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
Much as you have success stories, sometimes there's not success stories.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
And that's hard too.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
Yeah, you know, when you care about people that are
coming through a program like this, because this does until
you having empathy but also really knowing people. Sometimes that
works like a bus relationship where they tell you not
to get to attached, not to do X, Y and Z.
But that's so hard not to do with these young uh,
with these with the youth.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
I agree with you I mean, if you.
Speaker 5 (28:44):
Do, you have the ability to sometimes compartmentalize because of
what you hear, you have to, you have to because
you don't want to bring all that home.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
I mean, it is very much.
Speaker 5 (28:52):
It could be like a coping skill for you if
you will, because unfortunately there are some things that it's
it's it's hard to hold right. But I and I
also know that you know the impact that I might
have on someone I will never see, and they might
not they might not be successful or what I consider
(29:14):
to be successful, or you had drive change with somewhere else. Right,
And I walk down the street, I've been doing this
for a while now, and I'll be at a Spike
Lee event and someone will say, miss Kalila, you know,
and they'll give me a hug, and she helped me
with this, you know, because I've been in the nonprofit
space in New York for nineteen years and that's just
in New York.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
And so it's amazing to be able to see.
Speaker 5 (29:38):
Later down the line when someone as your work has
had an impact on your life. But oftentimes I don't
really have the ability to see that. I might get
them a job and they can stay for a year,
but I mean like true impact.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Right, you know, years later you get to be you're
able to see that.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
Well, Greg, I do want to thank you always for
the work that you've been doing. You got to come
up here. I know the background all the time.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
He's super tall.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
So as soon as you I was like, wait, no,
what has gotten you into this space?
Speaker 4 (30:12):
You know, because what we talked about earlier, people invested
in my life, right, you know, I had mentors as
young as like fourteen fifteen, you know, when I was
going to church, like I had a.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
Young vacation, you know, I had.
Speaker 4 (30:27):
I had a mentor, David Mullings. He would give me
his PC magazine, you know, books to like, and I
got into coding that way, you know what I mean.
And then when I got into coding, I built a
website stole pictures from Vite magazine. They found out, they
sent me a sease and desist, but then they were like,
why didn't you come on in? And then I had
another mentor, City Bellow. You know, I was like a
teenager and literally he taught me like you need to
(30:51):
advocate for yourself. You need to know how to negotiate
your salary. You know, we always under we don't appreciate
the work that we bring in the value that we have.
And so, you know, I'm a kid from Grenada. You know,
I came here when I was seven, and it's because
of all these opportunities and mentors, and you said it,
but for the grace of God, I grew up in
one one, two o three like East flat Bush. You know,
(31:13):
just because I grew up in one, one, two three
doesn't mean that if you grew up in one one,
you know, two two six, you should have a different experience.
You should have a different experience, right. Your zip code
doesn't determine your path, right. And so for me, it's
all about giving back. It's all about community, because I
think there's a number of great bishops out there. They're
(31:33):
in East Flatbush, They're in Brownsville, They're in Canarsi, They're
in you know, Bedstye, They're all in there in Red Hook.
They're all waiting for that opportunity for that door to open,
and once they get through, they can excel. But you've
got to open up the door, right, And so everything
that I have done in my life is really trying
to figure out how to open up doors for people
(31:54):
to take advantage of that. Now, I'm not gonna you
can lead a horse to water, you can't make a drink, right,
But like, as long as you could open up that door,
and there's systems that are preventing doors from being open,
and there's you know, we could have a whole segment
about like all these You've had guests who talked about
those systems, everything from redlining, you know the fact that
we can't own property or we don't have you know
that generational wealth, right, you know, getting into the good schools. Right,
(32:18):
every school should have the same education system. I was
fortunately I got into Brooklyn Tech and I had access right,
but individuals who didn't go to Brooklyn Tech should still
have the same level of education. So this is what
you see. I get worked up about it. This is
what drives me, and of course you know drives me
drive change, like.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
All social platforms.
Speaker 4 (32:45):
Like literally these organizations are creating opportunities and that's what
you know, that's what I care about. That's what Clara
cares about, you know, because it's all about opportunity.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
Yeah, tangible change. But thank you both so much, I know,
thank you for having Angela ye day to get Yes,
I'm excited about that.
Speaker 4 (33:02):
Okay, Change will be there, Yes, indeed, the other three
organizations will be there. I'm so excited me too to partner.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
With you again, social justice fan.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
I was actually there when you unveil the art work
too or We Belong, and that was an amazing thing
to see. And you know, I just love the fact
that you guys really promote art, you promote you know,
social justice, all of these things, and really like talk
to talk. And so we'll be at Angela EE day
September first to talk to you. You definitely do yeah,
(33:33):
to have to talk walk the walk, we got to
do it all, but it definitely has to be a collaboration.
Speaker 4 (33:38):
And thank you so much for having us. Thank you
for being a great partner in Brooklyn and worldwide because
you know, there's a lot of people who are entrepreneurs
because they follow your journey and homeowners because they follow
your journey. So thank you to keep up the great work.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
Well, we will see y'all September first and again, Khalila,
you know, I appreciate you for coming up here. I'm
so glad I had a chance to talk to you.
I'm I'm gonna tell you what, I'm so bad cute
outfit and she was like, I'm gonna have on more
clothes though.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
It's fast.
Speaker 5 (34:16):
Job.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
I'm nine to five.
Speaker 4 (34:19):
Definitely cirl fast.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Next year, you know that we get those feet pictures
going to let's get it. We're gonna raise money. We
should auction off.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
I'll take the picture, we auction off your feet and
we get it framed and raise money.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
I can't believe that fortune.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
All right, well this way, I thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Well
Host
Angela Yee
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