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- [00:03]
A
I had to shift my mindset. I wanted to leave here. I wanted to flee. I thought this community had nothing to offer me or my family. And I actually thought that we would be unsafe here. So once I saw that little girl and I shifted my mindset to say, why am I fearful? Let me take this fear away. Let me look at the beauty of this community. And I went on this journey.
- [00:24]
B
This is Dr. Rob Harder with the nonprofit leadership podcast Making youg World Better. What does it take to be an effective nonprofit leader today? What are the biggest challenges? What are the biggest obstacles? How should nonprofits fundraise in an economy that is constantly changing? All of these reasons combined led me to start this show. And it's my hope that through this series, people can learn not only what it takes to be an effective nonprofit organization, but to hear from effective leaders who are successfully making a positive impact in their communities. We hope you enjoy the show and as together we hear how they are making their world better. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the show. Well, I know a lot of you tell me that you're listening to this typically, like when you're working out or perhaps when you're commuting to or from work, wherever you are listening to this. My hope is this is just a nice opportunity for you to reflect. Maybe hit the pause button. In fact, maybe you're at a place right now you're feeling a bit discouraged. Maybe you're a little overwhelmed by all that's going on in our world, or maybe you're hitting some roadblocks in your nonprofit that you're leading and you just need some inspiration. You just need some encouragement. That's my hope, is that I really am intentional with the guests that I invite on the show. I really want you to be introduced to these great leaders, speakers. People are doing really interesting entrepreneurial things to make their world better. So that's my hope, is that wherever you are, that you'd be inspired today. Because today's guest is definitely an inspiring guest. My guest today will tell you her story. It's a really powerful one where she had a decision. She was planning to leave the neighborhood she grew up in in Chicago to move south. And yet there's this defining moment, and she's going to share a little bit more about it during the show. But basically she decided, you know what? This community needs me, and this community needs help. This community needs people to stick around, to really invest in this community in order to revitalize the neighborhood and bring people there that can really draw more business. There Create a safe block and bring business and, and community together to really revitalize, again, this particular area of Chicago. And that's what she decided to do. She didn't have any specific training per se in leading a nonprofit at that point. She just decided to volunteer. She saw a need and she gathered people around her and things kind of grew over time. Then she eventually went to the city of Chicago and asked for some support in what they wanted to do as a neighborhood, and the rest is history. And now her story is getting national attention. There's actually an HBO documentary, which I'll put in the show notes. She's been a speaker at the Aspen Ideas Festival. So her story is definitely getting out and inspiring people all over the country, if not the world. So my guest today, Aisha Butler, she is the co founder and CEO of the Resident association of Greater Englewood, or RAGE for short. It's a fascinating conversation and I guarantee you will be inspired listening to her. Just her energy, her enthusiasm, and just her joy for life actually comes right through the microphone. And I can see why people rally around her and really want to get behind of what she's doing and get, get behind the mission that she's helped us start. Wherever you are listening to this podcast, we're glad you've tuned in. Thanks for joining us. Now onto the show.
- [03:42]
A
Welcome to the Nonprofit Leadership Podcast with Rob Harder. I'm Alex Budak. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. I'm a listener just like you. We're all on a leadership journey looking for ways to learn and grow. Each week. I look forward to hearing Rob's latest discussion with his guests. I invite you to join us and subscribe. Thanks for listening. Now here's Rob.
- [04:04]
B
This podcast is sponsored by Donorbox Donor Box, helping you help others with the best donation forms in the business. Well, welcome back to the show and thank you so much, Asha, for being on the show today. We're excited to hear all about your story. In fact, I always like to start my podcast by just inviting my guests to talk a little bit about their story. In fact, maybe it would be good to kind of center our time because you could talk. There's so much to your story. You can maybe talk about that moment that really changed everything for you as I've learned a little bit about your story. And you talked about seeing a little girl playing in a vacant lot full of broken glass. That was the moment. As I understand you really decided to stay where you are in your work and get involved. But so maybe talk about what Led up to that moment and what that real defining moment has made for you now to set you up for what we're going to talk about the rest of our time.
- [04:53]
A
Sure. Thank you so much for having me today. I'm excited to be here. Yes. I'm from Chicago in the neighborhood of Inglewood, and where I actually live is a block. I purchased my home back in 2002 and just really had a scary time, I would say, on my block. Very scary, from criminal activity, from robberies, the whole nine. And it was a moment that we were just ready to leave Chicago. You know, a lot of our family had migrated to Atlanta, and we were getting on the Atlanta train just like everyone else. We were ready to let it go. And so we had did all of our due diligence and looked at places and really was ready to relocate out of Chicago. And one morning, I was really looking out, and it was a vacant land. You know, we have tons of vacant land in our community, unfortunately, due to rapid demolitions. And it was a little girl playing in the dirt, and it was a few kids, but this little girl just. She just. Something about her having a dress on on a Sunday morning in dirt, throwing glass, you know, just, you know, to them having a good time, but to me made me say, you know what? I have to do something on my block. This cannot be what our young people think is the norm. And so if I can show them something different, if I can be a little bit more connected to my neighbors, because we were obviously disconnected, that's what I wanted to do. And my husband thought I was crazy. And we started on our block where we lived, and that started the journey of really connecting with the people on the block who was sometimes causing some of the issues, but also connecting with the young people who really did want to see something different, want to do something different, wanted to clean up, wanted to help with groceries. And that just started my journey. And I think after the block, I said my heart was set on the entire community, and that's why. And that's where I began.
- [06:49]
B
Okay. I love hearing that story. Just. It's so powerful. And what a decision, because you knew what that meant to stay and how difficult it probably was going to be at that moment. Yet you were called. Feels like. Or you just felt this calling to help. Yeah. The community that you were a part of. Now, did you start right away with this nonprofit? Did you start right away organizing people? Tell me about the first couple of steps there, and then we'll get into how you worked with the City of Chicago.
- [07:15]
A
Yeah. You know what, I really didn't know where to start. You know, at first I started on my block. I did very small, tangible things. Then my heart wanted to do more and more. And so I literally back in the day it was like 2017ish. I went on volunteers.org I literally said, find me a way to volunteer in my community. At that time I was working a full time job on the Magnificent Mile here in Chicago. Beautiful mile. But I would come home to abandonment and to vacancies and to, you know, possibly gun shootings, you know. And so I knew that the skills that I had, what I've learned through just my work in general, I could probably help. And so I really started volunteering for several different organizations within the community. And for some reason I became the chair and the lead and the co chair of every council or task force that I was a part of. And so with that, I started this program as a part of the education task force, as a way to bridge the gap between our young people and our elders. Because I did notice there was a disconnect. And if you haven't noticed already in our two minute conversation, and I'm usually the problem solver, if I see a disconnect or I see a problem, I just can't take that problem for the problem. I'm always going to figure out what the solution. And so one of the things were with many of those organizations I was volunteering for, they actually had youth programming, but the youth were not engaged. The young people and the elders were not really connecting. And so I actually use one of my volunteer opportunities to do a film. And so I started a project called Docs and Dialogue which looked at these kind of critically thinking documentaries that could really bring our elders and our young people and families to a space on a Saturday. And that is what really, I guess I met a whole bunch of Asias. I had met a whole bunch of folks like me who were looking to leave possibly the community, but knew they could do something. And so when I met them and they started being so excited about docs and dialogue, you know, I initially said, you know, hey, we need to maybe start our own thing. And the only thing that I knew at the time was associations because I worked at an association for property managers. But I knew an association is a space that people come together with shared interests. So I said, why not have a neighborhood association? And then we could work collectively. And then that's how Rach was born. The Resident association of Greater Englewood.
- [09:54]
B
Okay, so this is such a fascinating story. Again, how it started. And like you said, your leadership, I would say, just kept becoming evident to everybody around you. You kept moving up the ranks, so to speak, to keep leading more and more. And then it came to the point where you and your neighbors convinced the city of Chicago to start selling vacant lots for a dollar. And what you were really trying to do, as I understand it, was you were trying to turn those into gardens, gathering spaces, sports fields, really, to kind of create these really safe places and draw people from the community right to places to gather. The who. When you think back on that, what did it show you of the power of a grassroots organization? And what can happen, really, when residents come together to drive a mission and convince the city to get behind it?
- [10:38]
A
Oh, my God. That was probably one of the biggest shockers and one of the hugest, like, accomplishments we've had as this neighborhood association. You know, we're all volunteers, we're all working full time jobs, but we know we love our community. And I used to tell the residents, we are the subject matter experts. Back in the the day SMEs was a big deal. So I used to say, we're the subject matter experts for our community. We know we have a problem. Over 5,000 vacant land right in our community. No one wants to see this. The little girl was playing in it. I was, you know, I'm like, wait, it has to be a solution. So at the time, the city was doing some planning and wanted to hear recommendations. And we were, you know, as young as we were. This is 2014. We were founded in 2010. We created our own recommendations. And we did that based off of talking to our neighbors and said, you know, what would you do if you can have this land, get this land for a dollar, Would you want to own it? And the homeowners that was here did, and they wanted to. Some of them were already taking care of these spaces. Some of them were already cultivating these spaces. But once it became actual, like, ordinance with the city of Chicago, it really, really not only gave people so much hope that, oh, my God, these are residents who are doing this, These are people who live here who came up with this idea. And, you know, and I was able to get that same vacant lot that I wanted with the young girl sitting there. I was able to get that for a dollar. And many of the residents at the time was able to do that as well. And so even now, see, still we use these spaces as peaceful oasis. I call them places to gather when we've had Shootings on the block. We use that lot to come together and do drumming circles. We've done gardening, we've painted. We even did a job fair one time. One of the people on the block said they were looking for jobs, and we said, you know what? This was before the vacant space was fixed up. So I said, why not bring the jobs here? And those were kind of some of the creative things and the innovative things that came from our associations and also the residents who were right here in this community.
- [12:54]
B
Well, in your work, I was fascinated how you describe the work that you're doing. You call it the community development of the mind. I like that. It's a powerful phrase. When you use that language. What does it really look like in everyday practice? And how can nonprofit leaders, who are most of the people that listen to my show, how can they work on shifting mindsets at the same time they're actually running programs and doing services like you've done?
- [13:15]
A
Yeah, you know, I had. I use that a lot because I think for me, I had to shift my mindset to. I wanted to leave here. You know, I wanted to flee. I thought this community had nothing to offer me or my family. And I actually thought that I could, you know, not that I will have death, but I would definitely thought that something. We would be unsafe here. And so I think once I shifted, once I saw that little girl, and I shifted my mindset to say, why am I fearful? Let me take this fear away. Let me look at the beauty of this community. And I went on this journey, and I started volunteering, and I met all these phenomenal people, and then I started using our local libraries and local parks, and I'm like, all of these assets. So I've journaled, I blogged, I took pictures, and people loved it. They said, you know what? I feel the same way. I love my community, too. And I think because the narrative has been so negative here, many residents like myself at the time, we was. We was feeding into what the news was telling us until we would be in spaces where it felt different. We felt connected. And so it was a shift that it had to start with me first. And then once I started expressing that shift, that more and more people came right on board. And so even now, the shirt I'm wearing, these didn't exist before.
- [14:43]
B
That's cool. I like those.
- [14:45]
A
You know, we have clothes now. We have. We. We are doing everything to represent our community. And so when I think about community development, I've seen practices where they want to build something really quickly. They Want to build some brand new house or some brand new store, you know, and the people still do not feel love or attached to that space. And so with us, the attachment and building relationships with each other was first, before we touched anything tangible. Now, 15 years later, we're doing it. But we really needed to create a culture. And I think for nonprofit leaders, the biggest thing I think that people sometimes miss is the culture, the why, and. And the spirit that you feel more so than the programs that you administer.
- [15:36]
B
I love that. And that's a great segue into what I was going to ask you because I like your approach that really puts relationships at the center of what you do. Because so many nonprofit and social impact organizations are good about providing services for their community, their service, you know, to accomplish their mission. But at the end of the day, so much of what we do is really centered around relational. Some of the challenges that you're facing are really relational at their core. So with the world that we live in now, particularly you've got AI now and all this automation that's making things even less relational as we communicate to each other. Right. I think the need for relationship connection is even more important. So talk about that maybe how you've continued to do that. How can leaders, because you're obviously a leader and you're doing a great job impacting a lot of people in your community. But how can all leaders, whatever nonprofit they're leading, whatever community they're serving in, really begin to provide services while they're building connections and really emphasize that relational side of things?
- [16:31]
A
Yeah, that is a. I, I've, I heard that throughout the years. And I think once again, I go back to my live experience. You know, I lived the community and wanted to give back, but no one knew who I was. Right. And so I had to observe, I had to connect, I had to build these relationships before action could take place. So one of the models of rage is connect, build, take action. We connect first. We take our time, and we do not care how long, but we do intentionally take our time to build relationships. And, and then from those relationship building, if we see an action needs to take place or something we need to do, it feels different because we didn't just jump into action together without building that relationship. So even today, 15 years later, we still keep that same motto. People come from all over to our community and want to do something or have a charity or something they want to do, but they don't take the time to know who we are. They don't take the time to Connect with us. And so we are intentional with every step of the way that we connect, which is why I love we have members, because it forces us to first connect, take that time to build, learn about them, and then we take action to try to uplift this community.
- [17:51]
B
Well, it's so interesting again, your approach. And I'm going to. I want to talk a bit about the social fabric project. Loneliness is such a big deal, right, in our culture today. And it sounds like you ran across that, of course, in your community, people just being disconnected from each other. And you've really sought to really address that as a community. So let's talk about this, the connection you've had with weave and this social fabric project. You focus on a lot of relational trust, your new focus on belonging. And because we are in a community and a world now that people are so isolated and disconnected. What does it look like to weave is the term you often use when it comes to weaving a neighborhood back together from the ground up. What has that been looking like for you day in and day out?
- [18:33]
A
Day in and day out? I would say, you know, it's almost like retracting back to the analog days. I know it's been some trends online about analog that actually is helpful. People like to feel, touch, see, be with each other, be in space with each other. So anytime we're doing things, you know, and we use social media, we use AI, but anytime we're doing things, we make sure that people feel a human connection. We celebrate one another. That's the, the first thing we do when we have a meeting is celebrating our members who has a birthday, who just got married, you know, you just got a new granddad, or, you know, whatever the case may be, to really center it back to us as people and not just be so caught up in this kind of fast paced, disconnected world. You know, when I was doing this work, you know, I met David Brooks and he was talking about this loneliness that so many people have within America. And I was, I felt a little privileged that I don't feel that in my community. You know, we're always together, we're always talking. It's always communication, it's always support, it's always relationship building. And so once I shared our story, then I learned that it was millions of other weavers very similar to us. And these are very tangible. Like, we almost, like I said, got to go back to the analog days. Like, hang on the block. We do. We do something called porch life.
- [20:02]
B
Okay, talk about that. What is that?
- [20:04]
A
It's the culture of our community is hanging on the porches and hanging out and that, you know, get a phone. This is where the real action is. So we took that and actually made that a tour throughout the community, not only just to connect with our members on their porches, but to connect with their neighbors. Because we've noticed some of our members wasn't connecting with the people on their block. Until we show up, we pull out a tent, we get some music, we bring beverages. We actually don't talk about any programs. We just meet people where they are. And so many folks are like, I love porch life. When you come, do my porch, come and hang on my porch. And again, so much of our work, especially the work of rage, is from my lived experience. A lot of the strategies and things that I used to do with residents who I met, we did it on the porch. We came up with ideas on the porch. And so why not keep that cultural kind of preservation of hanging out on the porch? And so I would just say in a world like this, and we know it, we see it, we see it with people who doom scroll all day or just, you know, feel so isolated, you know, and we have just really made an attempt to be as personable, even more personable. We pull up on our members soon as they join with a basket and you know, hello, welcome to the neighborhood. Just really going back to kind of that post, you know, that pre technology phase when people were literally talking to their neighbors and saying hello and saying, did you see the car over there? Or did you know that this was happening? And we have really built that culture not only through our association but throughout the community. And so I love it. I have a balance of it. We know we use technology to the best of our ability, but when it comes to each other and talking to each other in spaces, we make sure we provide space for just human connection, celebration, and honestly for our community healing.
- [22:11]
B
Yeah. Oh, I love that. You know, it's crazy to think that, you know, it's countercultural what you're doing. You know, in a sense you're going back to the analog culture. But I think it's so powerful. And I like what you said, it's healing, you know, and I think it's healing and we, I think we just as humans, we need more and more of that. You're absolutely right. I think I, I'm a big proponent of technology, but some technology pushed you far. Particularly when it comes to, you know, when you get to the point where you're doom scrolling by yourself all the time, it really then disconnects us to each other. And so I love what you're doing. Another piece that I wanted to highlight for the show today that really characterizes your work is you're a big proponent of ownership and wealth building for those in your community. In fact, a couple of the. The I'll put this in the show notes too, for people that are listening. You've invested your time and work things in things like the buy the block home ownership program. You talk a lot about economic justice and how that's a big piece of what you're doing. So I think it'd be always good to say, tell me your definition of economic justice and why do you see that as so central to healing in your community and really developing a community that owns not just, you know, these lots, but really owns the community for the better and makes it a better community to live in.
- [23:23]
A
I would just say, unfortunately, many of us are living in the after effects of redlining, right? So Inglewood is a prime example of a community that historically was harmed. Harm from redlining. Predatory lending appraisals is so much harm. So even in our mission statement, we talk about restoring this community because we know we have been harmed. And so one of the things that was very harmful is really taking away the opportunity for most African Americans to own in our community. And so my grandfather was a homeowner. My grandmother was a homeowner. He was also an entrepreneur. You know, I remember working at his local store. Everybody knew Cheap Charlie, that was his name, Cheap Chali. And I want to go back to that. I want to go back to the moments we knew the mom and pop owners, we knew our neighbors on the block. I don't remember when I was younger seeing vacant lots. I don't remember seeing abandonment. And so this is years later, tons of years later. But still, this is the atmosphere and the landscape of our community. So her thing is, what could we do to share tools, pathways, techniques, live experience so that other people can also have ownership? A psychological shift happened with the effects of redlining. People are afraid to buy. A psychological shift happened with contract buy in that happened in Chicago where grandparents homes were snatched from them. So people were our hands off of home ownership. So we once again have to do more, really, some cultural shifting and the way people view homeownership and by the block, I tell everybody it's really a aspirational, you know, we're not saying you have to buy the entire block. We would love if they do, but, you know, let's know that you can Start somewhere. And like myself, I purchased several properties. Some of our members have gotten the land for a dollar. So for us, if we have several properties on our bl, we have bought the block, right? And so we want more and more of our neighbors and more and more of our residents to have that same idea. Because we see the ones who do own and take have stewardship of these spaces. They have peaceful blocks. And I'm a living testament of that, me being here on a peaceful block. My board chair, she has a peaceful block. And so we know that that can, even in the midst of crime or whatever the case may be, that home ownership gives you a little bit more. That's what it gave me, a little bit more power. It gave me a little bit more agency. And we want to spread that throughout the community.
- [26:20]
B
We'll be right back. Are you looking for an easy and effective way to boost your nonprofit's donations? Well, look no further than DonorBox, the online fundraising platform that streamlines your fundraising efforts, maximizes donations, and simplifies giving for your supporters. With Donorbox, you can create beautiful donation forms, accept digital wallet payments, track donations, and send auto receipts. And the best part, there are no setup or monthly fees and no long term contracts required. So what are you waiting for? Visit donorbox.org today to get started. That is www.donorbox.org. Well, your work is definitely getting some national attention again for my listeners, you may be interested to find out there was an HBO documentary called south the Black Power and it was you talked about in the documentaries, I understand it, the resident association of Greater Englewood in terms of how you have started with neighbors. This rage is, you know, for short around starting with that vacant land piece, but then really developing this movement, if you will, in that community that's now impacting people, as I understand it, kind of all over the country. Talk about as your reach has grown, how have you managed to scale your impact without losing that authenticity, that trust? I've seen that with other nonprofits. They kind of lose what they started with or they even get on mission drift and they kind of get away from what they first started with. How have you stayed true to your original mission and your authenticity that seems to be just exudes out of you even as you talk today.
- [27:52]
A
Yes, it's great.
- [27:53]
B
I love it. It's great.
- [27:55]
A
Thank you. Even as we celebrated 15 years, our theme was people, passion, power. And so we are rooted first in people, right? Nothing can happen, nothing could economically change if we are not connecting as people. And then for us, the people are the ones with the gifts and the passions and the ideas that can move to power. So I think it humbles us to know that that is the pathway to center ourselves with people, celebrate people's passions and their gifts, and then we can have this power. And so our skill up has been slow and steady. It has not been fast. It's been with our members and not for our members. It's with residents and not for residents. It's. It's us co creating together. And so even as we are now embarking on a $6.4 million project for our new office space, even that has been a whirlwind for us. Not, you know, that was not my expertise, but we've brough residents along every step of the way. Hey, we didn't get the permits. Hey, what do you guys think about this? We're thinking about getting land. What can we do here at this intersection? And so I think, because that's always been our way, that we work the rage approach, that I just couldn't see doing it any different. I can see how people get caught up, because once you get in this development world and do tangible projects, you know, like capital improvement projects, now you're dealing with zoning in the city and politics and all those things, and you could get shifted. But I think if you ground yourself with the people, you kind of laugh about it, like, okay, I have to deal with this as we scale up. But at the end of the day, we know why we're doing this, and we know that this is for the upliftment of our community, and that is why we move and how we move. But I've seen the same thing. And, yeah, we never wanted to go too quickly. I'm glad it took us 15 years or 14 years to start purchasing properties, renovating properties, because that culture was so much more important to build up. And so we understand that, like, now people see it like, oh, rage. Where y' all come from?
- [30:21]
B
We've been here, but we've been here for a long time.
- [30:24]
A
Yeah, we've been creating a spirit that you can't see sometimes and you only can feel. And so I think now that people can see and touch some of the things that we're doing. They're starting to also feel the work as well. So, yeah, we. I stay grounded. I stay grounded with that.
- [30:42]
B
Yeah, I love your story around that. And, you know, it's so important for nonprofits to be able to tell their story and to own their story and to really then communicate their story, to get more support, to make sure people know, not just in the community, but, but people even in this case around Chicago, around the country now, in fact, you've had the opportunity to talk at places like the Aspen Ideas Festival, for example. So how would you coach the people listening that are nonprofit leaders? How do they claim their own stories and share it effectively like you have? Because it's obviously that you've been able to do that which is brought in, I'm assuming, more support, which then you can expand your program and reach more people. So how can people get better at their storytelling telling?
- [31:22]
A
Yes, it's not easy. And I'm still, I'm still learning. I'm, I'm a life learner, so I'm still learning because I have so many stories now that I have to pivot, like which one is the best one to share. But I think one thing that we realized after our reflection, because we celebrated last year, no, In November, our 15 year anniversary, we did a whole entire elevator shrine of all of our work, our old flyers. And I think what we did from the offset was documented our own work. And we didn't realize how powerful that was to the work because now we can look back and say, oh my God, no. Everybody wasn't using technology as much as they do now. People wasn't on social media, they wasn't taking photos and archiving things. And so I would say document every step of the way, not just for social media, for your own archive, and then also build and reflection about it. I think a lot of nonprofit leaders, especially the ones, you know, we work with, I have members who are nonprofit leaders, they just go, go, go, go, go. And they never really pause to reflect and celebrate and look back at how far they've came. And so I would say embed that in your work. The thoughts of reflection, the moments of reflection, being proud of how far you came and then if you can document it every step of the way. And that to me now, you know, I want to tell this story even more, you know, nationally, and I've been blessed to be in so many different national spaces. But even now I could say, really, people do need to hear the story of rage and how we sustained ourselves. And even me being in this work for 15 years, what are some of those mechanisms? But it's definitely glad that I've been able to document it. It could come back and share it and also reflect on some of those things. It's not easy, especially in a world, in a climate today, where so much news and so much is in your algorithms that you may never learn about a group called Rage, but I will hope that you really be strategic in how you search and what you look for and be inspired by so many folks who may not be able to. To tell their story and the wonderful work that they're doing.
- [33:43]
B
Well, it's clear that you're a leader and your leadership continues to grow and impact more people. How would you define your own leadership style and how has it grown over the years as you've continued to grow and scale your programs there?
- [33:55]
A
Oh, well, that's a really great question. I was told by my mom that once she found out about Rage, she told me, me, oh, this makes sense. You've been organizing since you were 6 and you were 7. And I'm like, tell me more. She said, well, you organize your own voucher parties. You. And then I thought about it. I said, I did do that. I used to have an agenda. I used to say, this is what's going to happen. I organized dance groups. I organized girl groups. So many different things that I didn't realize it was naturally in me to kind of just shape and organize things and then also move it forward. And so I. I think as a leader, I've grown where so much has happened over the last 15 years that I had to give myself grace, as well as others whose styles are different. But I care so much about the people, even with our members, but also our staff. And so that has been a learning curve for me. I didn't set out to be a CEO of a nonprofit. I was working somewhere else. So I had to learn how to really coach and really give space for our staff to actually grow and be themselves. And so they know me now. I've established several things for them. I have something called a JOY Grant that I do as a reimbursement to our staff. I tell them to do self care, whatever that looks like for you, and we can reimburse you for that activity. I make sure when people are sick or not feeling well that, hey, forget the work. Work the worker. Always be here. Take time to rest. Take time to reflect. We put reflections in all of our work. So if we had a really great week, the week before, we reflect on it as a team. What did you like? What did you see? What did you learn? I've also learned as a leader. I was telling my team this the other day, disappointment breeds development. So anytime you are disappointed by your performance or disappointed by it by an outcome, what did you develop? What did you learn? So I'm always looking at even something that may get under our skin as an opportunity to develop or maybe pivot and learn. So I would say I'm flexible. I would say I'm very reflective. This is my ministry, I would say, at this point, and a part of who I am as a person. And it just so happened to be the neighborhood where my family is from. And so I get. Get so much joy. And I would say, as also a leader, we like to have fun, too. Like, you cannot not have fun with the work. If you're not having fun, you're in the wrong business. Because whatever you're doing, when you're doing social impact work, it should be extremely rewarding and fulfilling and fun. And so I'm always adding that, you know, I do Freedom Fridays. Hey, free be. You're free to do whatever you want to do on this Friday. No work today. You know, so I just. I've learned. Learned from.
- [36:57]
B
Nice. I like that.
- [36:58]
A
I did. I've learned from a lot of different CEOs and a lot of different leaders and other mentors, just different techniques that I, you know, add to my little toolbox, and I continue to learn. Continue to learn and grow.
- [37:12]
B
Now it's fun to hear your take on leadership and the Freedom Fridays. That's great. What a brilliant concept. I bet a lot of are like, hey, I'm going to do that in my nonprofit. Love it. Okay, so now, another thing that you've talked about. I know that I think it's so real for so many nonprofit leaders.
- [37:27]
A
Leaders.
- [37:27]
B
I think when you're committed to a mission, you're really passionate about something. You really almost start forgetting about how many hours you're putting in. And particularly when you're going through and working with difficult issues, whether it be food insecurity or, you know, trying to basically, in a sense, reclaim a neighborhood and revitalize the neighborhood. I mean, there's a lot of work that goes into that, and it could often lead to burnout. As a leader, how have you prevented burnout in your own life and really created resiliency, if you will, not just you, but your leadership team? So you were able to just keep moving forward.
- [37:58]
A
Yeah, you know, a couple of things happen. Used to hear people say the term bird out. And I used to be like, what do they mean? I have all this energy. I'm always up, up, up. But it was a point a little bit after Covid, that I just felt completely drained. And it just felt like the days ran all into each other. And I started saying, wait, something is happening. And so I took I took some time away. I. You know, a lot of times I'll just do a solo time to myself. I pray a lot. I'm very spir. I read a lot. And so to, like, kind of rejuvenate myself. And so I really learned that rest breeds the best work. I tell myself all the time the work is actually not going anywhere. You know, the issues that we face has been done for decades. Like, we're dealing with decades of harm. So we have to rest, we have to reflect, we have to reset. So I'm a huge proponent of resting and reflecting and, you know, resetting and even pivoting and not taking it so in. And also having fun outside of the work, even though it's my life. I mean, literally from the day I get up to the day I go to sleep, I'm talking about the work that I do because it's so rewarding. But sometimes I will purposely just be like, you know what? What? I'm gonna go downtown and dance today. I'm gonna just go have some fun, or I'm gonna go hang out with a friend, or I'm gonna go talk to my mom, or I'm gonna just, you know, be with my nephews and my niece and play games all day. So just so that I'm not always thinking about the heaviness. And I just find light times, I find light activities. You know, me and my friend where she was telling me about this candlelight session with Drake. It's like classical music, like, things, like, I just do things that are light and so to balance it out. And then anytime that I ever feel depleted, I know that's when I step back to refill myself up and rest and rest and come back stronger. And so I encourage my staff to do the same thing. And I live by that motto, Rest breeds the best work. And if you don't rest, rest, you will have horrible work.
- [40:19]
B
Horrible.
- [40:20]
A
You are not rested.
- [40:23]
B
Yeah. There is no doubt they're a couple.
- [40:25]
A
They go hand in hand. You gotta have them both.
- [40:28]
B
Yep. I love your intentionality about that and not just about your leadership, but your intentionality of taking rest, taking care of yourself, self care. So important. Well, I have a feeling my listeners are going to want to find out a little bit more about you. Find out more about the work you're doing there in Angle one in Chicago. So. So how best can people connect with you? Where would you send them?
- [40:45]
A
I would send them to our website. We just actually got it revamped last year. Rage Englewood.org so that's R A G E N G. And maybe you put the link in. But inglewood.org it's with the E, but it's only one E in the. In the. In the URL. And then they also can just follow us online. Rage Englewood with the E. Or myself. Mrs. Englewood. Ms. Mrs. Englewood. We're everywhere. We're on TikTok, we're on socials, we have a website and they could call us. Look, I'm good in analog. We have a.
- [41:20]
B
You can do it all.
- [41:21]
A
Yeah, they can do it all and definitely get in contact with us. I think, you know, we always willing to share. I'm always with now doing this for 15 years, especially in this role. I've been starting this from scratch. I definitely am open to share some of my techniques. And even when we talk about, about self care, you know, people think of it as like an event. Like it's every day. So I meditate every day, I pray every day, you know, I reflect every day, you know. And so I think once you get it as a part of your habits every day, you can really avoid burnout because yeah, this is tough work for anybody in the nonprofit sector. We're all doing tough work. And regardless of what's happening in the world, people are still need healing and need support. And I think if you could be filled up to the rim to help support them, do that. But if you deplete, you take that time away so that you can refill and also pour into others. And so that's been my motto and so far it's worked for me. I feel good.
- [42:25]
B
That's good. That's good. That's great advice. And again, what really stands out to me? Yeah, just your, your willingness to, to stay where you are, to really build into the community you grew up in and you know, build that community, revitalize that community. Could have left, you know, 15 years ago, 16 years ago. Right. Maybe 20 years ago, and you stuck it out. And I just think that's really commendable and look at the results. You know, you've got a lot of people now excited and moving forward. There's momentum, there's excitement. And again, you're impacting people now around the country because your story's gotten out, you know, through hbo, as we mentioned, and the Aspen Ideas Festival. So anyway, just so great to have you on the show and have you share a bit of your story and I appreciate you taking time.
- [43:04]
A
Thank you so much. This has been so joyful. And please look us up. Rage, Englewood.org you got it.
- [43:09]
B
Well Aisha, I love the energy. Thank you again for taking time and for inspiring us all today.
- [43:14]
A
Thank you.
- [43:16]
B
Hey friends. Well, I wanted you to know that this podcast can be found on itunes, Spotify, Amazon, Google Podcasts, and wherever you listen to other podcasts. I also want to encourage you to like subscribe and share this podcast with others. This will actually help us get this great content out to more nonprofit leaders just like you. You can also join the nonprofit Leadership Podcast community, find other resources and interviews of past guests, all on my website, nonprofit leadershippodcast.org well, thanks again for listening and until next time, keep making making your world better. This podcast is sponsored by Donorbox Donor Box, helping you help others with the best donation forms in the business.