On Thursday, Jitu Brown, national director for Journey for Justice Alliance (J4J), queried people at the nation’s capital with questions like: “Raise your hand if you’ve ever experienced a slumlord. Raise your hand if you live in a neighborhood where you don’t have a decent hospital. Raise your hand if you’ve ever witnessed or experienced police brutality. Raise your hand if you live in a neighborhood where the grocery store functions as the liquor store.” Voices raised in affirmation with each question Brown posed.
The national network of dozens of intergenerational, grassroots community organizations traveled to Washington from Chicago last week on behalf of the campaign Equity or Else Quality of Life agenda, a platform centered on addressing basic needs for those in poverty and/or marginalized communities through policy initiatives.
J4J kick-started the coalition in 2012 (and launched the campaign in 2021) with a focus on equity in education. The organization then reached out to other leaders and organizers from different quality-of-life areas (housing, health care, environment/climate justice, youth investment and food insecurity) to share how inequity affects these areas and the grassroots solutions they have organized.
