Benjamin Jealous | Rosetta Thurman

28 Days of Black Nonprofit Leaders: Benjamin Jealous

Benjamin Todd Jealous

Benjamin Jealous is President and CEO of the NAACP.

From the NAACP website:

Benjamin Todd Jealous grew up believing that there was no higher calling than to further the cause of freedom in this country and in the world. It is a mindset he inherited from of his parents and grandparents. Their drive for community betterment blazed the trail for Jealous’ own deep commitment to social justice, public service and human rights activism. Now, as the 17th President and Chief Executive Officer of the NAACP, and the youngest person to hold the position in the organization’s nearly 100-year history, Jealous is well positioned to answer the call.

During his career, he has served as president of the Rosenberg Foundation, director of the U.S. Human Rights Program at Amnesty International and Executive Director of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), a federation of more than 200 black community newspapers. From his early days of organizing voter registration drives up until his nomination and election as NAACP president, Jealous has been motivated by civic duty and a constant need to improve the lives of America’s underrepresented. All things considered, Jealous’ leadership roles and active community involvement have well prepared him for his current duties as president of the NAACP. In fact, his path through journalism and the Black Press is not unlike several other former NAACP presidents, including Roy Wilkins, Walter White, Ida B. Wells and W.E.B. Dubois.

As a student at Columbia University, he worked in Harlem as a community organizer for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. On campus, Jealous led school-wide movements, including boycotts and pickets for homeless rights, a successful campaign to save full-need financial aid and need-blind admissions when other national universities were cutting such programs, and an environmental justice battle with the University.

These protests ultimately led to the suspension of Jealous and three other student leaders. Jealous used this time off to work as a field organizer helping to lead a campaign that prevented the State of Mississippi from closing two of its three public historically black universities, and converting one of them into a prison. He remained in Mississippi to take a job at the Jackson Advocate, an African American newspaper based in the state’s capital. His reporting — for the frequently firebombed weekly — was credited with exposing corruption amongst high-ranking officials at the state prison in Parchman. His investigations also helped to acquit a small black farmer who had been wrongfully and maliciously accused of arson. His work at the Jackson Advocate eventually lead to his promotion to Managing Editor.

In 1997, Jealous returned to Columbia University and completed his degree in political science. With the encouragement of mentors, he applied and was accepted to Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar where he earned a master’s degree in comparative social research.

Jealous eventually went on to serve as Executive Director of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA). While at the NNPA, he rebuilt its 90-year old national news service and launched a web-based initiative that more than doubled the number of black newspapers publishing online.

Most recently, Jealous was President of the Rosenberg Foundation, a private independent institution that funds civil and human rights advocacy to benefit California’s working families. Prior to that, he was Director of the U.S. Human Rights Program at Amnesty International. While there he led efforts to pass federal legislation against prison rape, rebuild public consensus against racial profiling in the wake of the September 2001 terrorist attacks, and expose the widespread sentencing of children to life without the possibility of parole.

Active in civic life, Jealous is a board member of the California Council for the Humanities, and the Association of Black Foundation Executives, as well as a member of the Asia Society. He is married to Lia Epperson Jealous, a professor of constitutional law and former civil rights litigator with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. They presently reside in Washington, DC with their young daughter.

Photo credit: NAACP

We Have to Drop Our Gang Colors: Ten Leaders Envision the Future of the Nonprofit Sector

The opening plenary for Independent Sector’s 2009 Annual Conference begins with the lovely sounds of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s youth jazz ensemble. The unique location for this gathering is underscored by the woman who steps up to the microphone to welcome us: Debbie Dingell, Vice Chair of the General Motors Foundation. Only in Detroit. And, a brief welcome message from newly re-elected Detroit Mayor Dave Bing. He takes a moment to recognize the Knight Foundation’s recent $5 million investment in the city’s economic development.

Melody Barnes from the White House Domestic Policy Council reinforced the White House’s commitment to social innovation. The new White House Office of Social Innovation is under her purview and is looking for ways to invest in “what works,” focusing on several areas. According to the official press release, it will:

Catalyze partnerships between the government and nonprofits, businesses and philanthropists in order to make progress on the President’s policy agenda
Identify and support the rigorous evaluation and scaling of innovative, promising ideas that are transforming communities like, for example, Harlem Children’s Zone, YouthVillages, Nurse-Family Partnership, and Citizen Schools.
Support greater civic participation through new media tools
Promote national service.

Melody said that “somewhere out there, we believe there is the next Teach for America, the next Harlem Children’s Zone.” She emphasized the fact that government can’t do it all alone. For the most part, Melody reiterated the messages that have already been shared with the nonprofit community around the country by Sonal Shah, Jackie Norris, and Joshua DuBois. Collaboration, partnerships, innovation, leverage what’s already working. Joshua DuBois shared a special email address nonprofits should use to contact the White House to engage them in partnerships: whpartnerships@who.eop.gov. He said that they would also be launching a brand new website next week to make this process easier: www.whitehouse.gov/partnerships

Jim Canales, President of James Irvine Foundation moderates a discussion on envisioning the future of the nonprofit sector. He announces a new report from his foundation called Convergence: How Five Trends Will Reshape the Social Sector

Gail McGovern, American Red Cross: We’re going to have to evolve into a partnership with government. We need to coordinate better as a sector. We have to be really careful to be coordinated on the ground so as not to waste resources. It’s not relevant to talk about whether we should partner with goverment, but how we should partner with government.

Michelle Nunn, Points of Light Institute: $50 million is a relatively small amount for the Social Innovation Fund. But how can it inform policy and how to influence government on the ways to provide social services? How can it ensure that innovation is scaled to truly solve social problems?

Aaron Dworkin, CEO of Sphinx Organization: Innovation does not happen in a void. It must be a part of an everyday process. There also shouldn’t be this idea that it’s less to work in our sector. In ten years, our organizations could be in different situations. Are our future leaders being provided the skill sets to take over? That’s our responsibility to prepare for 10-20 years from now.

Janet Murguia, President of National Council of La Raza: How do we take the same type of energy from the 2008 election of Obama and transform it into moving agendas forward for our communities? Important to build and invest in advocacy for social movements. I’d like foundations to look at what can be scalable. There are always common goals. For instance, we joined efforts for both the Black and Latino demographic to move the healthcare debate forward. We have to work on a collective spectrum to get our voices heard and see change happen in an impactful way. We have to make it so that people can raise a family and still work in the nonprofit sector.

Jim Wallis, Jr. President of Sojourners: People voted for change they could believe in. But Washington, DC is wired to block real change from happening. Philanthropy has to be rewired with a focus on not only supporting programs and advocacy, but also social movements. We have think movement in creative ways cross-sectors. We may have strange bedfellows based on moral imperatives. Don’t go left, don’t go right, go deeper. Religion does not have a monopoly on morality. We’ve got to put the things that block partnerships on the table. We have to talk to people who don’t agree with us. The nonprofit and foundation world has often behaved like rival gangs Crips and Bloods. We have to drop our gang colors.

Brian Gallagher, President of United Way Worldwide: We need to commit to a collective goal, and put that objective above our institutional ones. We have to look at what we’ve done historically and how to do it better? How do we move away from UW’s role in workplace giving to helping to mobilize people for social change? I am fearful that we’re going to go from institutional silos to collaborative silos. Until we really start to pool resources – talent and money – we won’t succeed. Are we going to start sharing volunteers or start hoarding them?

Margaret McKenna, President of Wal-Mart Foundation: I’m not committed to any organizations, but to social change. I don’t think it’s bad that organizations change and go away. I’m astounded by the number of people who don’t know who else is working in the same space. We’ve given grants for collaborative work to four organizations, then after we leave, they just split up the money. We have to train volunteers. We put the least paid people in the most challenging jobs. We’re not using the most talented people in the most challenging places.

Benjamin Jealous, President of NAACP: Hopes are higher, but difficulty of solving problems is higher. This president doesn’t get us to where we want to go unless we’re out in front. The only way the President gets to be “progressive” is if we’re out there fighting with folks with whom we might be “friends.” Allow yourself to be outraged by the issues.

All in all, this conversation about the need for more collaboration and advocacy is great, but here’s my nagging question. Are nonprofits really ready to do this? Short of facing closure, what is going to finally motivate more nonprofits to work together more deeply?