STEAM Newsletter 2-19-2021 | Volume 5
Also a yoga teacher and founder of the nonprofit Mandela Yoga Project, Inc., Jeffrey has been instrumental in the design of ambitious collaborations for low-income communities of color. Three of Jeffrey’s multi-stakeholder initiatives have endured for more than a decade. One is a university-based, participatory action research project and leadership development program for women of color. One has impacted as many as 13,000 individuals and another has been replicated nationally. One is a for-profit subsidiary of a nonprofit supportive housing community for residents emerging from homelessness for which he wrote the business plan. He has supported national networks of leaders who, in turn, created nationally-adopted resources, professional standards, and training. His board service includes Oakland Head Start, ACLU of Massachusetts and Prison University Project. He has partnered to deliver more than $550M in public and private funds to low-income communities.
Jeffrey’s first job in philanthropy was with Ben Jealous, at Rosenberg Foundation where they worked on criminal justice policy reform. He was founding staffer for Progressive Massachusetts and later an advisor to Progressive Era Project in Oakland, both high-net-worth donor groups (Democracy Alliance spinoffs) that specifically focus their funding on nonpartisan civic engagement efforts in communities of color.
Earlier, Jeffrey served on the staff of U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy and then directed the District Office of Congresswoman Barbara Lee of Oakland. Under his leadership, the Congressional office initiated a broad array of collaborations with activist groups, local and state-level governments, and business leaders to combat poverty and over-incarceration. They achieved significant administrative and legislative milestones, including the creation of a criminal records remedies program that has served more than 14,000 people. Jeffrey has played a key role in the founding of three enduring social enterprises, including a leadership development program focusing on women of color seeking policy-making roles.
For three years, Ms. Blackmon served as a Technical Assistance Coach with YouthBuild USA’s Rural and Tribal programs. She also serves on the board of directors for the Oakland, California and Washington, DC-based Praxis Project, a national movement support intermediary committed to capacity building for social change. She was the Executive Director of the Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus Foundation for three years. Her policy reform engagement includes local organizing around the implementation of welfare reform in Mississippi, grassroots organizing to support public education funding, continued funding of the Child Health Insurance Plan (CHIP), Congressional testimony to eliminate food stamp co-payments, and passage of Mississippi’s landlord-tenant and school nurses legislation.