December 2024 Message From Our Founde
This month, we wanted to highlight the organization’s biggest accomplishments for 2024. Personally, for me as someone who’s been in a cage for over two decades, building infrastructure was at the top of the list. Hands down, any nonprofit executive will tell you building an organization from the ground up is a daunting task. Needless to say, building one from a prison cell is even more challenging, if not impossible to think of. To say it takes vision and sure determination would be an understatement. And while the setting definitely has the potential to allow for deep reflection, who ever would have thought it a place where one could learn “nonprofit organizational management“. Even more, who would have ever thought it a place conducive to developing the sort of people skills required to manage an organization.
Indeed, my incarceration has taught me some invaluable lessons about organizing. Namely, it takes the same thing to motivate people on both sides of the fence: Inspiration, hope and change! To this end, we wanted to highlight our team and ask them: “What keeps you showing up as a volunteer?” It is a moment of truth for their responses provided me a sense of knowing we’re doing something right over here at the UBFSF; that we are inspiring generations, providing hope and effecting change. This for me, as an incarcerated citizen, is one of the greatest achievements to which we can gauge the impact of our Mission and Vision. Think about that!
Think about the fact we live in a nation that, despite all that’s wrong, there’s so much about it we’re getting right. Every week, it’s humbling to see these young men and women show up to meet with our team and I. Especially, given the fact that society has written so many of the incarcerated off and proclaimed us of no value. No, they understand that in order to R.E.B.U.I.L.D., underserved communities provide equal opportunity, and freedom, it’s imperative that the unsung voices of America’s incarcerated be at the decision-making table, leading the change we want to see in our communities. Very much like myself, these young men and women are visionaries, willing to sacrifice their time, skills, and, in some cases, their privilege, in order to create an opportunity for others.
It is in this spirit that we organize; that I consistently find the strength each passing year for over 25 years to wake up each day in a cage determined to build an organization that, as our Program Director Taos said, “…has the potential to disrupt, challenge, and change many of our institutions for the better.” As we look back on 2024, let us celebrate another year the UBFSF has thrived! Let us continue to work towards a more inclusive society, building bridges between communities, empowering “unsung voices”, and inspiring the world!
In Solidarity,
Ivan Kilgore
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