An Interview With Jakada Imani, executive director, Ella Baker Center

We tell a ton of stories about our work. We invite people in to see who's on our staff and what our work looks like, and really get out and share with folks the mission and the vision of the Ella Baker Center. That, we have found, gets people involved. The outside concern is about money: "Do they need our money, or do they not need our money?" But then when you get down to the real issues and the real solutions that we're working on — and you come in and you meet Joyce Cook, who's one of our organizers who started out as a member whose son was incarcerated and now organizes other families of incarcerated children — when you come in and meet Joyce, whether or not the Ella Baker Center has one of its founders in the White House working for the president disappears into the background. People really start to focus on our work and our mission and how we deliver on our mission.