My Love Letter: A Reflection from Our Founder & CEO on 10 Years of SCP
As we celebrate 10 years of SCP and I gear up for the first chapter of my Sabbatical, I shared a reflection with our core team at SCP. These sentiments are relevant and ring true not just for our team, but also for our community.
As an organization, we have not only lived out our core values of Passion, Excellence, Integrity, and Equity over the last decade–we have also put people and our health and wellness as a focal and grounding point. I am beyond proud of all we have accomplished–walking alongside and working with and for our community (from Detroit to St. Louis to states across the nation and even internationally in moments).
I have spent a significant amount of time reflecting on not only SCP, but who I am as a leader, a human. Today, I stand behind and power forward an organization that is ten years old. From working with The White House during President Obama’s two terms to helping stand up a new and community-responsive model of My Brother’s Keeper Alliance at The Obama Foundation, I believe in and know the power of centering community. At SCP, we’ve designed and facilitated programming that has served (and is serving) hundreds of K-8 children daily through nearly 30 cross-curricular programs led by adults in their community, while also creating an afterschool blueprint that is culturally relevant, people-centered, and scalable to thousands of families–citywide, county-crossing, and nationally scaled.
We’ve advocated for, served as a fiduciary, and further invested millions of dollars across Detroit through initiatives such as our Thriving Neighborhoods Fund in partnership with the Gilbert Family Foundation and nationally with co-conspirators in this work. By listening to communities–not traditional seats of power–we have co-created equitable funding and staffing models that led to efforts such as Graduate 313, in partnership with the Detroit College, Access Network, Detroit Regional Chamber, and Jacob Family Foundation to help young people and adults get to and through college and career.
Working alongside leading world funders like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to uplift and further reiterate the transformative work of Black and Brown-led grassroots organizations leading culturally competent youth engagement and learning, we’ve introduced the concept of incubators into community and non-profit spaces–peer-rich, resource rich (through funding and other means), and an additional springboard and catalyst into more sustainable futures for these organizations. In St. Louis, our anti-racist communities of practice with our partners at BioSTL have engaged and strengthened nearly 50 youth-serving and workforce development intersecting organizations–ultimately lending toward stronger, more equitable engagement of thousands of children and families. In our very own neighborhood in Detroit, we were a key partner in re-opening Marygrove Conservancy with an iteration of our Community Impact Incubator (providing capacity building, peer networking and fellowship space, executive coaching, technical assistance, and administrative and programming space at no cost for one year) that transformed a historically exclusionary space into a hub of Black Genius, Black Excellence, and community legacy.
We have sat in fellowship with and in awe of our Brothers and Sisters who have started and grown businesses and happen to be legal and criminal system-impacted–seeking to understand how we can better support and serve them through programs, initiatives, and offerings with our partners at ProsperUs, while also centering their health and healing. Through our James Kanada Fellowship, we have created a space for Black cross-sector professionals across Southeastern Michigan to invest in their leadership development–offering monthly curriculum-based convenings, one-on-one executive coaching, as well as additional social and fellowship spaces for our fellows to grow and lead our city and region (and, indeed, they have over the last five years and four classes of fellows).
We have bought commercial property in one of my family’s very own neighborhoods–offering space at no cost for over six years to our neighbors and co-conspirators in Good Trouble. We have weathered a global pandemic and stood what seems the test of time this last year as this country reminds us of its “founding fathers origin” and the system that was built to do exactly what we see happening today—and we are still in this fight as the blows keep coming day by day. Ten years later, we remain unapologetically grounded in our vision and mission. I am proud and I am humbled.
As a human, I know this thread of SCP is one of many for me. SCP has been a way of life. It is how I was raised. It is what was instilled in me. It was an answer to my ancestors’ prayers and an answer to the very child I was, the mother I had, the students I taught, the younger brother I have, the children I have raised, the blocks I grew up on. I do not shy away from this: First and foremost, I am a woman of faith. I know who I am, and I know Whose I am. 1 Corinthians 13:13 tells us, “And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” Everything that I do comes from a place of Godly love. From my smile and greeting to my neighbors when I walk into our SCP Community Center on 6 Mile to my family and loved ones to SCP. It is all from a place of love. My act of love.
As I look back over these last 10 years, SCP has been my love letter to my people, my community. As I look ahead, these next 10 years will be my love letter to Chanel.
What does that look like? What does that mean? The genuine, vulnerable, honest answer is: I don’t exactly know. However, I am clear on three things:
SCP’s vision of a world where our communities secure seats at the table, lead the charges, and bring the solutions that we deserve, desire, and need is critical now more than ever. We remain unapologetically committed to building the capacity of our community–placing power, influence, and resources directly in the hands of our people. In 2015, I set out to co-create something our people deserved, desired, and needed. I am so grateful to work alongside our core team and extended team of consultants–a team of passionate, committed individuals–who are walking, serving, and leading. We continue to learn, dream, pivot, and walk this journey together–and get stronger and more clear on what lies ahead.
I am seeing so many of my fellow Sisters who are leading pause, pivot, and frankly tap out. I am seeing some choose themselves, I am seeing others throw themselves even more into their work, I am seeing fewer navigate in healthy, sustainable ways. I certainly don’t have all the answers and I am still learning and discovering myself on this journey, yet I am clear on this fact: This is a marathon, not a sprint. I have been doing this work for over 20 years and will continue to do this work. Simultaneously, I am not my work. We owe it to ourselves to pause, pour into ourselves, and offer the same grace and space we create and give to others.
I don’t shy away from this chapter of my life and, in fact, am grateful and know that it shaped who I am today: I’ve lived on my own, worked 60-80 hours a week, paid rent, and been self-sufficient since I was 13 years old. Today, I am 38 years old. What a blessing! I also paused recently and reflected. In that moment, I acknowledged that I have not taken more than one week off (outside of illness) in 25 years. Honoring this truth, I honor myself–and this first chapter of my sabbatical is one line of a love letter to Chanel. I am grateful, hopeful, and filled with peace.
With gratitude and hope for how this respite and experience will not only pour into me, but offer amazing opportunities for each of our team members to continue to carry the torch and work forward, and further step into their own leadership and power with and for our beautiful, beloved community.
To my beloved community, I love you. My prayer is that you have seen, felt, know this, and name it. I also love myself. My prayer is that you, too, love me–and support our team at SCP and me in this next chapter and beyond.