How does one claw their way out of the deep hole of generational poverty and income inequality if the walls are too steep and slippery to climb? David Garfunkel has tackled this problem with meaningful results in his hometown of Jacksonville, FL. As President & CEO of the non-profit LIFT JAX, David has created meaningful and measurable community revitalization initiatives in Jacksonville’s Eastside, less than a mile from downtown. And it’s not just lofty talk and abstraction. "OutEast" is widely considered to be one of Jacksonville’s most important historically African-American neighborhoods dating back to the mid-1800s. LIFT JAX seeks such culturally rich, generationally inclusive, and economically diverse neighborhoods, where social connections across socioeconomic and racial demographics are commonplace. Instead of gentrification and displacement, legacy residents feel valued and part of the fabric of the growing community with newer residents. David's team is working to activate parks and green spaces and upgrade schools to better support activities for families. Home improvements and other investments in physical infrastructure support the ability for the community to thrive. These basic lifestyle improvements make a house a home and a neighborhood a village. This way, all residents feel welcomed, valued, and integral to the composition of their neighborhood. Their Purpose Built Communities model, grounded in the foundational beliefs that race and place matter, makes it possible for residents to experience greater racial equity, improved health outcomes, and increased upward mobility in their neighborhoods. For example, the beloved Debs Store was a neighborhood staple for more than 90 years until its closure left the Eastside a food desert. LIFT JAX reopened this community wellness anchor that now, once again, provides easy access to healthy food. David spent 3 years in the Peace Corps in community economic development in the Dominican Republic and then, following the 2010 earthquake, he moved to Port-au-Prince, Haiti to lead a rural loan and education program. David received a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School.

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Nate Monroe writes a column about Florida for USA Today, exploring how power works in the gilded, strange human heart of the modern Republican Party. His intrepid irony and rapier wit have made him a reader favorite but have also ruffled some significant feathers. Previously an investigative reporter for Jacksonville's Florida Times-Union, Nate focused on covering Jacksonville City Hall, the largest municipal government in Florida. His most notable deep-dive exposed a massive, nefarious scheme to sell Jacksonville's city-owned power company to Florida Power & Light ... and led to an indictment and jail time for the local CEO, an enormous win for justice and transparency. For this excellent work, he was surveilled and threatened. Nate says, “It was obviously surreal to open a batch of records that I had some sense was about the controversy and to actually discover that there was stuff about me in there” - his full Social Security number, driver’s license and a list of friends dating back to childhood — information not readily available as a public record. Nate's lived experience as a target of attack on the media and honest reporting is emblematic of the challenges facing democracy today. Still, Nate loves his job; he's built for it. An old school journalist who came up through the ranks, Nate remains undaunted about speaking truth to power. Prior to arriving in Jacksonville in 2013, he was a small town beat reporter for newspapers in the Deep South, where he wrote about hurricanes, small-town corruption, oil spills, Army Corps screw-ups, Mardi Gras, and bingo nights at the senior citizens center. Nate's work is absolutely critical to keeping our democracy healthy and alive.

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The Stanford Arts Review described Samantha Rose Williams as a “Mezzo-Soprano with ‘jaw-dropping vocal power.” This opera singer and arts activist is committed to creating space for critical discussion about art, culture, and social change. Her latest project is American Patriots, an opera she created that seeks to examine patriotism from four vastly different perspectives: African-American, Native American, New American and white Working-Class American. For this piece, Samantha asked 50 Americans from diverse racial, socio economic, political, cultural and gender backgrounds to answer the question, “What is a patriot?” Their verbatim answers became the lyrics for her newest opera, which she sings magnificently. She hopes that through sharing nuanced stories of people of all backgrounds and beliefs, she can be a part of breaking down the walls of “us and other” and help to create a more sympathetic and equitable world.

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Daniel K. Forkkio is CEO of Represent Justice, building a critical mass of “system-impacted storytellers” using film and media to mobilize audiences to take action and transform the legal system. Because, those closest to the problem are closest to the solution. About this transformational approach to filmmaking, Daniel says, “What I started to learn about these (grassroots) films is that the films themselves were part of the reconciliation process for the person that had gone through a (traumatic) experience. And so, the act of writing down what had happened, thinking about their audience, the different characters ... and what were the myths around those characters. And what did they want the audience to do and think and feel concerned about, allowed for a reconciliation of all of the different frames that they had been told about their story … and allowed for a different level of control and empowerment around their story. And then, with the film screening, they could go to their local community, their local council members, their local community partners and they could just gather people differently. When you learn together, and when you learn someone’s story and see how it connects to yours, it just creates this inspiration and this understanding that allows you to tell your story more effectively.” In the 5 years since inception, RJ now has people in 20 different states producing films & campaigns about their own lived experience, learning and growing from one another in ways that are completely transformative. RJ provides training, support, compensation and mental health resources ... all of which culminates in folks being able to produce a campaign about their unique personal experience rather than relying on whatever Hollywood has produced most recently. For this exceptional work Daniel was recently named a 2024 Elevate Prize winner, chosen alongside 9 other nonprofit leaders from across the globe for leading some of the most impactful missions to change our world for the better. RJ began as part of the impact campaign for the highly acclaimed Hollywood film, Just Mercy, starring Jamie Foxx and Michael Jordan, about the life of acclaimed public interest lawyer, Bryan Stevenson, and the civil rights work he does helping the incarcerated and the condemned. A policy expert conversant in the film's core issues, Daniel witnessed something remarkable at the screening and advocacy events he organized for Just Mercy - the unexpected impact of the people present connecting with each other through their own real life stories of similar lived experience. Says Daniel, "It got me thinking … what about this power of firsthand storytelling should extend beyond a campaign? What if we we were constantly working with folks who were impacted by this issue and, in fact, what if they were the ones producing the film? What if it wasn’t a matter of a Hollywood actor? What if it wasn’t as much a matter of a studio release? What if impacted folks, in their communities, had these skills of convening and using film as a medium? And, that became really the blueprint for Represent Justice."

Learn more and watch some of these magnificent films at RepresentJustice.org
@danielforkkio
@werepjus

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Matt Hartley is an Interfaith expert and "DEI Criminal." He's an educator and ordained minister, a dad, a cellist, a high school running coach .... In other words, one of the good guys. Yet, after 5 years leading the University of North Florida Interfaith Center, Matt’s job was eliminated last year by draconian anti-DEI (Diversity Equity and Inclusion) laws initiated by Gov Ron DeSantis. To keep his interfaith work alive, Matt joined OneJax, a local diversity organization supporting Interfaith work on multiple campuses. In a 2023 New York Times article titled, What It Is Like To Teach In The Crosshairs of Ron DeSantis, Matt said, “When people think about diversity and inclusion, they generally think of race, not faith. That is by design. The G.O.P. branding gurus intentionally turned “woke” into a racist dog whistle.” Matt now works independently. His website, Faith in Diversity, features a weekly subscription newsletter and explores the landscape of DEI, religious diversity, war and human rights.

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Trained as an anthropologist, Suz Howard spent 20 yrs as a partner at IDEO, one of the world's leading design and innovation companies, playing a critical role in growing IDEO from 200 employees to 1000 in 9 locations around the globe. Focused on building creative leadership within organizations, she founded IDEO U, a digital learning platform that has served over 80,000 students through various forms of cohort-based learning since 2014. In effect, Suz has dedicated her life’s work to building out-of-the-box thinkers and enhancing the future of work itself. Now, out on her own, Suz continues her work with individuals and organizations, bringing human-centered design to develop strategy, deploy rapid prototypes, and align multiple stakeholders around a common vision for a brave new future. In addition, she teaches entrepreneurs at the Aspen Institute and advises startups on climate tech. Her writing has been published in Inc Magazine, Fast Company and many other places over her illustrious career.

SuzHoward.com

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As Executive Director of the Stax Museum of American Soul Music in Memphis, TN, Jeff Kollath oversees the world’s only museum dedicated to preserving and promoting the legacy of Stax Records and American soul music. Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, John Lee Hooke, Booker T & the MGs and the endless Stax roster of musical icons produced songs that stirred our souls and shared our collective story, a story born of pain and glory, rags and riches, love and lust. Stax liberated our hearts and freed our hips to move like nobody was watching. Kollath, brandishing a BA and Masters in History, shares the complex STAX story everday, highlighting the granular details of each artist and the revolution they created. And overseeing magnificent installations that capture the moments when musical and cultural magic happened in a beaten up corner of Memphis. Kollath has researched and written extensively about soul music and Black culture during the Civil Rights and Black Power eras. Prior to arriving in Memphis in 2015, Kollath created dynamic public programming and exhibitions for the UW-Madison Center for the Humanities, the Milwaukee County Historical Society, and the Wisconsin Veterans Museum.

Memphis Magazine Interview

Photo Max Gersh / The Commercial Appeal

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Clark Butcher will be the first to tell you he is addicted to endurance athletics. He started running age 7, completed his first half marathon at 11 and discovered triathlons at 14, where he naturally excelled in cycling. By 16, Clark was competing in the Junior World Cup in Canada, National Championships and pro-caliber events throughout the US. This culminated in 2002, when Butcher spent a summer racing throughout Europe with the German National Team. Clark founded Victory Bicycle Studio in Memphis in 2010 and has grown it from a part-time project to a national industry leader in bicycle retail. Victory is to bike shops what the Apple Store is to electronics. And his "Couch to 50" program has changed the way a community finds both fitness and friendship on a bicycle. One of his many satisfied customers said it best, "No matter what you do, every time he gives some information, something sticks that didn’t stick before.”

Couch to 50 video!

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