Onward Blog

I Have a Real Sense Each Day That the Things I’m Working on are Actually Going to Result in Meaningful Policy Change

By Douglas Smith, #LwC2018

August 9, 2018

The Leading with Conviction training is reinforcing the importance of building strong partnerships with grassroots leadership.

I Believe in Approaching Things from a Place of Possibility. If We Lose Hope, Then We Have Nothing.

By Quintin Williams, #LwC2018

JustLeadershipUSA and LwC keep me hopeful as well.

Vidal’s Corner Episode 2: Voting in New York while on Parole

August 8, 2018

JLUSA Community Organizer Vidal Guzman discusses voting on parole in New York State.

A New Normal in Philadelphia: A Dispatch from the Field

By Reuben Jones

July 11, 2018

Reuben Jones charts the enormous progress of the #CLOSEthecreek campaign.

#CLOSEmsdf: A Dispatch from the Field

By Sharyl McFarland, JLUSA Milwaukee Community Organizer

June 26, 2018

The #CLOSEmsdf Campaign is going strong, and we’ve only just begun.

Vidal’s Corner Episode 1: Ending the Gang Database in New York City

By Vidal Guzman

May 24, 2018

Vidal Guzman breaks down why the NYPD gang database must end

The Sleeping Giant

By Megan French-Marcelin

May 22, 2018

JLUSA Fair Hiring Project Coordinator Megan French-Marcelin sits down with Norris Henderson, founder and Executive director of VOTE.

I am the Policy Coordinator for the Anti-Recidivism Coalition in Los Angeles.

By Kent Mendoza #LwC2018

May 17, 2018

We provide hundreds of formerly incarcerated people with mentorship, mental health services, supportive housing, access to jobs and education.

A Struggle to Survive: Motherhood Post-Incarceration

By Brenda Lawson, #WORKINGfuture Member

May 15, 2018

Like so many mothers I spent this past Sunday—Mother’s Day—with my children. But for me it’s a day that’s more about my children than it is about me.

Bill of Rights for Criminalized Workers: The New Standard of Economic Justice

By #WORKINGfuture Campaign

May 10, 2018

Over 70 million people in the United States have a criminal record. For people living with a record...

Real Reform Means that I Can Tell My 8 Year Old Daughter Miracle that She Doesn’t Have to be Afraid Anymore of Walking While Black

By Shanequa Charles, #LwC2018

May 3, 2018

JLUSA’s Leading with Conviction training compares to nothing I’ve ever been a part of.

May Day Reading List

By JLUSA Staff

May 1, 2018

On May Day, a day about working people who we know are most powerful when they are organized, we release the first JLUSA reading list...

Welcome to Onward

By JLUSA Staff

Onward is JustLeadershipUSA’s new platform for ideas, stories, and reports from the field.

Our Life Experiences Have Greater Value and Power than Anyone Else’s in Fighting for Criminal Justice Reform

By Darwin Hamilton, #LwC2018

April 26, 2018

When people wonder why I fight for criminal justice reform I explain that I have been both convicted of crime and a victim of crime.

When You Reach the Edges of Your Imagination, What is it that You Want for Yourself and the People that You Love?

By Grace Gámez, #LwC2018

March 20, 2018

LwC is a space where you don’t have to explain either the pain of shame and stigma or the passion for your work.

I Felt there Was a Missing Element in the Struggle of Young Black Youth, and that was Having a Mentor

By Hakim Crampton, #LwC2018

March 9, 2018

LwC isn’t so much about teaching you about leadership; It’s really about how to conduct yourself as a leader.