Feel Good Friday - Equal Justice Initiative

Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a time to honor Dr. King's legacy of fighting for racial and economic justice through service and action. That makes this a perfect Friday to spotlight the Equal Justice Initiative.

Founded in 1989 and headquartered in Montgomery, Alabama, the mission of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) is "ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, challenging racial and economic injustice, and protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society."

EJI operates as a nonprofit law firm providing legal representation to people who have been illegally convicted, unfairly sentenced, or abused in state jails and prisons. Under founder and Executive Director Bryan Stevenson's leadership, EJI has secured relief, release, or reduced sentences for over 140 people on death row. Their work has resulted in landmark U.S. Supreme Court rulings, including a 2012 decision that banned mandatory life-imprisonment-without-parole sentences for all children 17 or younger, a ruling that impacted thousands of cases nationwide.

Beyond the courtroom, EJI challenges the narrative about race in America through groundbreaking research and public education. In April 2018, they opened the Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery—powerful spaces that trace the arc from slavery through lynching and segregation to mass incarceration. These Legacy Sites have attracted over 650,000 visitors from around the world. EJI also produces an award-winning wall calendar, A History of Racial Injustice, that features a different historical event each day.

Their anti-poverty work includes a Hunger Relief program that has served thousands of families struggling with food insecurity and a health clinic that provides free care to vulnerable people.

If you'd like to support the Equal Justice Initiative, there are many ways to do so. You can visit the Legacy Sites the next time you’re in Montgomery, Alabama, make a donation, and amplify their message on social media. Follow EJI on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or YouTube and share their stories of justice and redemption with your network.

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! 

Feel Good Friday - Code for America

Code for America founder, Jennifer Pahlka spoke at a conference I attended on Monday and given the organization's mission "to make government work in the digital age", they are my Feel Good Friday pick of the week.

Founded in 2011, Code for America explains their work as follows: "We partner with governments to redesign public services in three high-impact focus areas. Together, we work on projects to better serve communities and transform how governments use technology."

Those three areas are healthy communities, criminal justice and economic development. One example is the GetCalFresh app. It's a service that makes it easier for people to apply for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps). There are 2 million people in California who are eligible for the program but not receiving the benefits. GetCalFresh allows them to apply from their mobile phones, get their questions answered via text, online chat or email and upload photos of documents instead of faxing them. See the demo here.

Other programs include Clear My Record, a free online tool that helps people with eligible convictions navigate the complicated process of clearing their records and The Integrated Benefits Initiative. That focuses on creating application systems where user experience and user needs are put at the center of what gets built. Pilot programs are currently running in Michigan, Colorado, Alaska, Vermont and Louisiana.

If you like what Code for America is doing and you've got the skills to help, you can apply for a job in government or volunteer on a local project at one of the 77 brigades around the U.S. My local brigade, Open Oakland is having a Civic Hack Night on November 13th.

No matter what your skills are you can always show your support with a donation or by liking their Facebook page and following them on Twitter @codeforamerica.

Feel Good Friday - Color of Change

It's Friday again and I'm happy to know people who are involved in projects and groups making a positive difference in the world. I learned about today's Feel Good Friday organization, Color of Change from a friend.

Founded in 2005 by James Rucker and Van Jones, Color of Change "is the nation's largest online racial justice organization." As they state on their website, "we design campaigns powerful enough to end practices that unfairly hold Black people back, and champion solutions that move us all forward. Until justice is real."

You can get a good overview of the organization by watching this 7-minute video, or you can keep on reading. (dramatic pause) Their four main focus areas are economic justice, criminal justice, media justice and power and voice.

Campaign wins in these areas include forcing Glen Beck off the air, convincing FOX to cancel COPS and defending the Jena 6 - a group of students targeted for unfair prosecution in Louisiana. Current campaigns include petitions to demand Simon & Schuster cancel their book deal with white Supremacist Milo Yiannopolous, to call on tech companies not to help Trump build a Muslim register and to tell the Senate to vote NO on Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State.

You can support Color of Change's work by going to the current campaign page and signing some petitions (or starting your own), by making a donation and by staying in the social media loop by liking their Facebook page and following them on Twitter @ColorOfChange.

Until Justice is real.