I was out walking with a friend one day a few years ago when she turned to me suddenly and said “boy, I am just now realizing it, but you are a social justice person through and through!” Yes, social justice is my floor and ceiling and underlies everything in-between that I do and how I do it. I founded and operated a child and family center in San Francisco for over a period of 25 years. I grew the budget from $100,000 when I first started to 3 million dollars when I left years later. In the early days, the funding source I was working with asked us to create a sense of community and reduce child abuse. Not only did I think that was possible, but I had heard of some men who were creating a sense of community in the gritty places of Chicago. The men I’m referring to are John McKnight and John Kretzmann whose strategies I admired. Their cumulative ideas were called Asset-Based Community Development or ABCD. They co-authored a book in 1993 called “Building Communities from the Inside Out.” The book title says it all. Working with the residents to build a community of their choosing is of paramount importance and gives people a reason to be involved and invested.I recently wrote a book called “R.E.S.P.E.C.T. How to Make a Profit and Keep Your Principles” Intact that highlights Social Justice in its own chapter. Social Justice is a very general term that speaks to the dignity of human beings. It is about creating, supporting, and empowering individuals and community. It also implies people are getting their basic needs met. It means that everyone has the right to equal access regardless of race, gender class, abilities, and sexual orientation (and others). Social justice is how I am committed to living my life.I apply social justice to all the work that I do, particularly to those problems I can prevent from coming about. I am really a big fan of preventive approaches. Yet, if there is a problem, I am not one to shy anyway from it. There were daily issues to deal with while I ran the center. And I applied a social justice/fairness platform to create solutions to these problems.
