Assalamu Alaikum (peace be unto you) everyone,
For this week’s blog post I interviewed one of my mentors, James Phillips, who has been with Southwest Detroit Community Justice Center the most time out of all current employees. Below is a transcript of the interview.
Q: Can you start by sharing a bit about your background and how you got involved in nonprofit/social justice work? What inspired you to dedicate your time and effort to making a difference in the community?
A: “I’m a mechanical engineer, a tool and dye maker. I was doing some part-time work volunteer work for Southwest Detroit Community Justice Center as a program operator. I operated a tattoo removal program for ex-felons and ex-gang members who were getting rid of gang tattoos for free (for those who needed it). In the course of me doing that, the owner of Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation asked me to look into this project of someone that we know who started a community court system in New York. We went there to New York, and we got with our friend and got all the information we could about the program, and we got back and devised how to put it together. We got all the people we were going to have to operate it, and I went back to doing the tattoo removal program. But then they said they needed someone to help get the program running, so they volunteered my service over there. And I have been there ever since 2011. And I enjoy what I do. My title is community service coordinator. My job is to go out and get people partners who would allow our clients to do their community service there. We have accumulated a pretty large list of partners over the years, and we have evolved into something a little bit different.”
Q: As a site mentor, what are your main responsibilities and roles within the organization? How do you support and guide individuals who are involved in the nonprofit/social justice initiatives?
A: “When I have clients come in, I sit down and try to get them to tell me about themselves. And most people, when they get to talking, the most important person they can talk about in their lives is themselves. When they get comfortable enough, they get in and just talk. And tell me a lot about themselves. In the course of me finding out about them, I let them know that my door is always open whenever they need to talk to somebody or need some information, and over the years, a lot of those people that have come back have brought other people to see if we can help them out. And we have helped people with employment, housing, unemployment, getting people GEDs, and scholarships to get classes for college. Yea, it is a lot of things. Everybody is always welcome to come back in here anytime they need somebody to talk to them.”
Q: Detroit is known for its unique challenges and strengths. From your perspective, what are some insights you’ve gained about the city and the community through your work? How do you believe the nonprofit sector can contribute to addressing the specific needs of Detroit?
A: “Well, here in Southwest Detroit, there was a large gang problem. And since our community court program and by us really assisting everybody in southwest Detroit, it started out in a local area where a lot of those gang signs disappeared. And then, those gang signs were replaced with murals and artwork. And then it started spreading out throughout the whole southwest. And as you can see through the business in southwest Detroit, they have murals on their business. We have artists who have come as far as California, between California and New York, and as far south as New Orleans; artists come up here and just donate some of their services to these businesses. We have seen property values go up, and people are moving into houses that were abandoned and are now being fixed, and it is kind of like fixing up the neighborhood itself. And property owners and property establishments are coming here to fix up buildings and rent them out. When they have been abandoned for decades, we can say that we had something to do with that because it is a lot safer now here in Southwest Detroit, and people are coming back. And it is because of this program that we got.”
Q: Lastly, what advice or words of wisdom would you give to someone who is considering getting involved in nonprofit/social justice work, particularly in the context of Detroit?
A: “Social justice covers a large spectrum. You have to be really careful about what areas you are going into because some of those areas can only assist a really small group of people. We have to be diversified and got to be able to do a number of things in order to be viable. Social justice, you have to be more than just into this social justice end. You have to be a job developer; you have to look up housing and stuff for people, know how to navigate through housing, and stuff like that. You have to do a number of things outside of just social justice. Because the work we do that’s a very small part of it, everything else, like counseling case management, finding people work, and helping people pay fines and their bills, it is just endless. The social justice end is the root of what you’re getting in here. But the tree that grows out of it that is a whole number of things, not just social justice.”
Walaikum Assalam (and upon you be peace),
Ahmed
Hey Ahmed, I really appreciated this interview you had with your mentor, James Phillips. I truly admire his leadership skills and compassion for the work he does in the Southwest community. Change takes time and he has helped make some wonderful changes.
Hi Ahmed! I like the interview format you have here- it makes it easier to get a sense of who your mentor is. It was really cool to hear his background in mechanical engineering, de-tattooing, etc and how it all led him to do the work he’s doing today. Although you might not immediately correlate his business removing tattoos with his current work in community service coordinating, you can see how he got there! It’s reassuring to see that one experience might lead into another experience that you wouldn’t have expected, but is still fulfilling.
Hi Ahmed, reading James Phillips story, in his own words, was so enjoyable and inspiring! I was impressed how he was led from a highly technical career to doing “high touch” community centered work that is so holistic and life changing. To my mind, all of what he described is social justice work not just the community court aspect of his job. Thanks for sharing this with us!
Hi Ahmed! It was so interesting to learn about James Phillips background and unique story. The work that he and the organization are doing is so important at giving people another chance.