Winning and Belonging: Liberty having success with both
Prior to the Olympic break, the New York Liberty held a special ceremony honoring four Brooklyn organizations dedicated to social justice. When you get to Barclays Center, the sign “You Belong Here” greets you as you exit the subway or the train. During the 2020 pandemic and the George Floyd protests, the Barclays plaza served as an unofficial town square for members of the community.
As everyone spoke up and fought for their rights, Barclays served as the hub for people from the heights to the flats. “Belonging” comes in various forms and when you create a welcoming space, everyone benefits. It’s something that the Barclays Center’s main residents have taken to heart.
On July 16, just before the Olympic break, the New York Liberty beat the Connecticut Sun at the ‘clays to improve their league best record. During the game, the team honored four Brooklyn-based non-profits dedicated to providing workforce readiness and re-entry services. The organizations have been key parts of making Brooklyn a better place for everyone to live. On this night, we got to meet and learn more about four great organizations on the frontlines here in New York.
New York Liberty
July 16, 2024: New York Liberty honor social justice organizations
Housing inequality is on the rise, budget cuts have left large swaths of the population at risk, and that in turn creates problems for the entire community.
“You’re not going to lock your way up out of some of the issues that our city is dealing with,” Jonathan McLean, Chief Executive Officer of CASES told NetsDaily prior to the game.
“It’s really going to require us to take a holistic approach to criminal justice and public safety,” said McLean. “And if you don’t realize that the work is going to involve more than locking people up, it’s going to entail investing in people and communities, we’re going to walk down the same path that led to mass incarceration.”
Studies have shown that employment reduces recidivism. If you have a good job that pays well, it can help keep you away from trouble and a possible return to prison. Having a steady job like that Jon Mansalve, Interim President of Osborne Association, takes to heart when working with clients:
“It’s about advocating for our folks and making sure that we’re targeting employers who are paying that that wage [and] that we’re creating those partnerships for the folks that we serve. And it’s also around helping folks talk about transferable skills and getting to the next place.
“And so sometimes we understand that a job may be transitional in nature or a stepping stone for something. So staying engaged with them throughout the course of that, we do a lot of follow up with our folks and a lot of opportunities for them to engage. It’s not just about helping them get that job, but it’s keeping that job. And then how do you turn that into something else as you start to grow.”
Another big thing to remember especially in the context of recidivism is early intervention. If you meet someone before things spiral out of control, you have a chance to help them and direct them down the right path. For 18-to-25-year-olds, their formative years have shaped lives in such a unique and sometimes heartbreaking way. Negative influences can permanently alter how they see the world, and that in turn dictates how they see and move within the world around them. It’s a challenge to push back and change years of learning and lived experiences.
“By that point, a lot of their mindsets and the way in which they move has already been set,” Kalilah Moon, Executive Director of Drive Change, another of the groups honored, told NetsDaily. “So when they’re coming to us, we are fighting against a whole other group of people who had the ability to tap in. But I think that what we do is as we approach our work with love and care and really showing our young people that they have the space to dream, that our young adults have the space to dream, they have the space to believe, and that it’s okay to do so. And so I think that that just in terms of tapping it early, we are meeting folks where they are.
“We are saying that you have access to trainings, and you have access to individuals, chefs, and those in the field that are going to help help you see where you can go. But I will say it is not an easy to work with 18 to 25 year olds, because they’ve had a life well before they come to us.”
For any group, it takes a community to uplift and support them. No person is an island, and it takes everyone working together to create positive, healthy outcomes. In a manner of speaking, the same can be said of non-profit organizations. With resources tight, good policies always at risk of being overturned, etc., it’s hard to address all of the issues facing your clients by yourself. You have to work together, pool resources, and build strong relationships so everyone is moving in the right direction. The four organizations receiving funding from the SJF have that in mind and are excited to team up:
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“Working in partnership with the other orgs here and with the folks at the Social Justice Fund creates an environment where we’re spreading the word about what we do,” Aaron Shiffman, Executive Director of Brooklyn Workforce Innovations (BWI), told us. “At the same time, we’re sharing information about what Drive Change does, about what CASES does, and what Osborne does.
“And that is critically important because we can’t serve everyone that comes to our doors. We sure as heck try to, but we just can’t. It’s a big city, it’s an expensive town, and we’ve got to do what we do best. But knowing what our neighbors are doing and knowing what our professional colleagues are doing, I think positions us all for greater social impact.”
You can’t do it alone, and when you operate with a sense of community, you have a chance to do something special.
Bringing Brooklyn together
Photo by Sean Zanni/Getty Images for Unfinished Business Film
The Social Justice Fund (SJF) has made it a point of supporting and uplifting various organizations in Brooklyn. Liberty and Brooklyn Nets owners, Clara Wu and Joe Tsai, have pledged $50 million over ten years to the Fund. So far, we’ve seen the Fund make a difference for small, minority-owned firms. With the reach that the SJF has, they have the opportunity to do amazing things across New York.
“Our goal is really to focus on local organizations in Brooklyn that are doing the work,” Gregg Bishop, Executive Director of the Social Justice Fund, told us. “The way we find these organizations is through our network, and finding organizations that are doing things that are cutting edge, things that are scalable, things that are sustainable.
“Clara is very, very passionate about this particular work. She sits on the board of REFORM (Alliance). She’s talked about criminal justice reform, but even more important, reducing the recidivism rate in the community and really making changes. And that’s not only from Clara, but even the senior leadership at BSE Global. We’ve looked at the hiring practices of even this particular arena. We made changes with the hiring practices to make sure that we’re not creating barriers for individuals who are justice impacted...
“It’s amazing that we were able to find these four organizations. It’s just the beginning.”
It’s been a tremendous year for the New York Liberty. At 26-5, the team has been incredible on the court and has a chance to bring the championship home to New York for the first time in decades. Off the court, the team has continued to form community across the city. With the assistance of the Social Justice Fund, they have another opportunity to make things better for everyone in Brooklyn. When you create environments where everyone feels as if they belong, good things will happen. That support goes a long way and ensures that people feel safe and welcome. Winning and belonging can work together.
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