Revolutionizing Youth Empowerment: Equipping "Youth-in-Care" with Legal Advocacy Training - Michelle Bain
2:09AM Feb 16, 2022
Speakers:
Becky Endicott
Jonathan McCoy
Michelle Bain
Keywords:
people
youth
home
michelle
talking
kids
story
child
jackson
community
run
families
young
person
voice
friends
justice
lindsay
called
conversation
Hey, I'm John. And I'm Becky.
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So let's get started. Hey, Becky.
Hi, everybody. Welcome to the podcast, my fiery justice heart is like awakened and ready to have an incredible conversation today.
Like we have found the unicorn that does it all. I cannot wait to have this conversation, you know.
But before we introduce our guests, I just want to give a little bit of context, because we're putting some focus this season on our child welfare systems. And we've had one conversation already with Chris Simonsson, over at the orangewood Foundation, and we're kind of moving into Canada today. And we found our guest, actually, I think she found us and we got connected. And when I heard this story, I mean, I wear waterproof mascara, because the way that this mission touched me, was so deep and so intrinsic. And so I just am really honored to bring this conversation forward to our community, we're speaking with the Michelle Bane, She is the CEO and General Counsel to youth empowering youth, which is, yay, we love that acronym. And we're gonna say yay, probably annoying amount of times today. But there is something so special about what Michelle is doing. She is an attorney. She is a social justice advocate. And I'm going to let her tell her story, but as a virtue of her leaning into a pro bono practice, to start assisting children, youth and families that were just stuck in the systemic oppression within the child welfare system in Canada, and I'm talking about child protective services, group homes, foster care, and she just saw this injustice and said, I've got to do something about it. And so she started with this really simple idea, teach youth that are in these care areas, the law, and ensure that she equips them with the skills necessary for self advocacy. And then we'll have them train their peers and watch justice unfold. Oh, MPs, she literally pays these kids more than $20 an hour to learn. And so what this mission is doing is just empowering, and promoting youth justice as far and wide as possible. And I just want to tell you that Michelle's vision is so great. And it's so hard wired and empathetic. And her 10 years of social justice advocacy is just taking Canada by storm, and I cannot wait to hear all your stories today. So my friend, welcome to the podcast.
Thank you very much for having me. It is my pleasure to be on we are for good. I actually have been watching you all and kind of honestly stalking you a little
on YouTube now.
Please pick me I really want to talk to you. I cannot wait to connect with you and your awesome audience. I listened to your podcast, I've learned a lot, just by hearing from the other folks that you've interviewed, what they've experienced what they've been through, and really to just keep growing as a nonprofit professional, which sometimes I kind of forget that I am like, Oh, my lawyer doing this, you know, really important work. But we are nonprofit professionals. And that's really important to take that professionalism. Seriously. So thank you.
Oh, my gosh, well, that was nice. And thank you for that. I will like just pause for a second and say our community is one of the most heart wired, dynamic, compassionate advocating group of people around the world. And I want to thank everybody who continues to show up on this podcast because you're powering missions like yay. And so I want to get into what AI is. But first we got to talk about Michelle, tell us about where you grew up. Tell us about what led you into the law. And just give us some insight about who you are and your lived experience.
Okay, so as many of you may know, I'm from Toronto, Canada. Yes. Home of Drake and the Raptors. You have to say that now like it's actually part of the Constitution. Yeah. Like you have to say like, this is what Drake does wrong. And I grew up in a small borough called Scarborough, and I grew up with my family. My parents actually celebrating 48 years of marriage in 2022. I know. Cutest ever, and I grew up really having a really decent sense of myself. And knowing that since ninth grade, I knew that I was smart. I knew that I was a nerd. I knew that. Not ashamed of it. back. And then I really liked the idea of learning things. And then talking about them in a room where people had to listen to me, lawyer, how can be my sister's also a national news anchor. So you know, it kind of really came with the territory that you get arrests, right like high five mom or dad. So I really knew that really early on. So when I went into when I finally got to law school, it was just like this, wow, this is really happening. And then you come out three years later, you're just green as a blade of grass. And you think you know what life is all about, because you got this degree now. And it was a really interesting steep learning curve. I started in corporate, which was interesting, really competitive, but a great learning experience. So really grateful that I had that opportunity. And then I almost immediately once I started practicing full time switched over into social justice by working for legal aid, Ontario, which from an American perspective, is somewhat the equivalent to your public defender system. And so I went out to a small town called Lindsay, Ontario, shout out to Lindsay. And I really got a great opportunity to work as a criminal defense lawyer and a family lawyer in this small community of like, less than 25,000 people in when I got there, I did change the racial, racial demographics of the town.
But I was, you know, like you improve your demographics.
I did. I was like, Well, hello, well, and I'm from Toronto. So you can really kind of smell the Toronto on me, like, hey, my big city, what's going on. And I really was so grateful for the community I met. And what a great group of justice professionals I worked with, I really have to stress that I wouldn't be here, if I didn't meet those folks in Lindsey. And they were so amazing to work with. And we work through some really challenging cases. And a lot of that led to why I understood the reason for us empowering youth, even before it had a name. It was so clear to all of us, the Crown attorneys. So that's your prosecutors, we call them the crown because we're still a Commonwealth nation with our crown prosecutors, myself, our jail guards, even the people who worked in the building, who just were in charge of getting the prisoners or the accused up to the courtroom itself. We work together like a well oiled machine. And I'm going to give you examples, if I can about the types of cases I was seeing that led me to doing this work. So I'm going to start with they're all acronyms just for privacy. But BC, as a 15 year old female BC had been taken into child welfare at 15, which was rare back then, because that was a point where the law hadn't changed yet. So if you turn 16, they didn't have to take you in. So usually, once you got about 1515 and a half, you were a little too late, right? But they took her in any way. And it was just a tragic situation, where every time she went into the group home that was in town called Hawk homes, which was very, very violent, very aggressive place. She kept getting beaten up, and she kept trying to run away back to her sister's back to her mother anywhere she could go. And then one day she got every time she'd run the police or drag her back in there, or the car would say go get her and they drag her back in there. And then one day, she was ushered into a cab, and it took her down to the city of Toronto, which was about an hour and a half away. And she ended up in being sex trafficked. And then she was missing for nine months. And we were all panicking. And we were collectively panicking from the judge who wrote the order putting her NCAAs care in the first place, to her criminal defense lawyer with legal aid to our crown attorneys, everybody was on high alert, we put out the judge put out a warrant for her return to the jurisdiction. If ever she were to get picked up again, thank goodness, he used his power and privilege to do so he felt badly about putting her in the care system in the first place. So when the police did the raid on the brothel, that's what saved her life. And she told me when she came back into court that same day, that she thought that was the day that she was going to die. She thought that was her last day. So she was just praying that somebody came and rescued her from this and the police raid did it, she gave her full name. And then her name popped up on the system and the strength of the warrant, I really want to chat with my criminal defense people out there. And for folks who get warrants, the strength of the warrant was enough to bring her across jurisdictional lines. Because you know, you get to a point where yeah, this police force has run out of their gas money. So who's going to take her the rest of the way, the strength of that warrant brought her all the way back to our courthouse. And she has what I teach now, which are section 19 conferences under our youth Criminal Justice Act, which is more of an informal, but on the record private meeting with the trier of fact to our justice of the peace, our crowns myself the accused, sometimes if you can get a family member in there or another group of trusted adults, and we come up with a strategy but we the person whose voice is centralized in that meeting is the youth in question. So at that meeting that same day, same day, she didn't think she was gonna love to see the next day. That same day she was back in Lindsay after nine months on the run. She was in in a courthouse full of people who cared about her and she got to tell all of us on the record that her CPS worker and Pardon the language called her a whore who would amount to nothing. And then basically it ushered her down this path knowing that sex trafficking He was on the other end of it. The great part about this story is that she didn't just say it to me. She said it in a room full of adults who were about to make a decision about her life. And she every that had to take like the voice shaking, shoulder shaking and looking at CPS worker in the eye when she said it. Like I was so impressed. Oh my gosh, and the worker didn't even deny it. The amount of Audacity because there was no consequence. So there was little conscience, right? Like she wasn't going to lose her job, she was going to get reprimanded. And she knew that the fact that the child made it back that the VC made it back to Lindsay was its own miracle. So when she showed up, she was like, All right, say what you have to say. And so she spoke her truth. That's when I realized before this was even a thought in my mind, I thought nonprofit organization, right like this was this child needed to know the law was on her side. And more importantly, she needed to find her voice and tell a roomful of adults, what really happened.
That is a story that awakens a movement inside someone and I. And I just think about all the VCs out there who are benefiting from an organization like yay, who were alone, and rudderless. And last, and I and I just think, John about our final value of our company, which maybe it's the most important one, which is community is everything. And when you feel isolated, it is going to be something that just doesn't allow you to ever feel fully fulfilled or safe or in your place. So wow, that's an incredible Inception story.
So that I'm so grateful for those words like that is what we're all about. That's our vision. That's our mission. That's what drives me every day is I don't get to see those young people every day in the work I do. I miss being I tell people all the time, I miss being in courtrooms, but I was kind of not able to broadcast more widely to people like yourselves, what we were what we were witnessing, like we in that day, by the way, she went home with her mom, like talk about a high five ending, like not all kids in care can do that. I don't want to make it sound like it's always that easy. But in her case, that was the simple solution. And interestingly enough, she got to keep the financial benefit that you get as a, you know, child ward of the of the province, she got to keep the financial benefit and go home. So the household was actually better off. Now, of course that she was back in and she she was way safer. There was no need for all this rigmarole. But at least she ended up back in a good place in that section 19 conference, it was one of the second I've ever done, and I truly believe in them. And we don't do them enough. These matters. Usually the kids just come into bail court, they get shuffled in, they don't say much. And then they shuffle out an orders made and then they go and they possibly breach it. Sometimes they're getting arrested on purpose. I had another 15 year old who she was an indigenous youth. So in Canada, that's a big deal for us. And she was getting arrested deliberately. And when she come into the courthouse, she'd hug the guards and say I missed you guys. And like they would have their hands up like, well, you know, we can hug you back. And she's like, I know. And then she'd get off probation order, which is what she wanted. And then she'd sit in her probation officers office every day, Monday through Friday, because she wasn't enrolled in school because Child Protective Services wasn't making sure she was she lived in town by herself. Talk about rudderless and isolation. She lived alone and she was 15.
These stories I mean, it's it's just not something that someone like you I will not say that across the board. Because clearly this does happen that people hear this and don't take action. But there's something within you that didn't let you move on. And it it made you say, Okay, this is broken. And the system isn't listening. And I think this is so interesting that this is such a thread because it keeps coming up this season, whether we're talking about thought leadership or ethical storytelling, it's like, are we actually listening to the person that we're trying to help? You know, and I think you're the first one in the room to like, say, let her speak. She has a voice. She knows what the problem is, like, where how can we gather as the adults, I think it's so powerful to hear you keep saying the adults sitting around that should be able to see the clear problem here. And it takes a 15 year old to look him in the eye and be the strongest one in the room. You know, like, I can see how that had to have changed you. I'm sitting here like how do we get involved right now like locally, like, tell me the next piece of your story. Like I know, you wanted to start organizing talk us through how you started to organize around this idea to empower into give voice to people that just didn't have the microphone.
I was the executive director at this point. So I'd moved through up through the ranks at Legal Aid had a you know, great professional ride. And then I became the executive director of a province wide initiative across Ontario, called the crossover youth project and it was running out of a local university. And as a result, I had a chance to work with the what was then the provincial advocate for children and youth and I thought this is perfect across over youth as a kid who comes from care and ends up in the criminal justice system. There was this big symposium at our city, the city of Toronto City Hall. And it was was about two, maybe 250 young people. And these were the quote unquote good kids, the kids who weren't like my clients arrested and in trouble with the law. These were young people who are just in care who were just trying to get their feet planted someplace get access to their rights, and they were just literally speaking out one at a time in an orderly fashion, about what their life was like, Why am I being moved on a Wednesday at noon, with no warning out of my home, my school, my town, to a whole different place with my stuff in garbage bags, half of my belongings left behind just those kinds of stories coming out. So I'm sitting there just like floored, like this is really happening not just to the kids in trouble, or who does who sits down next to me, but one of our lead youth warriors, Jackson gates. And on the other side of the room was our other load of our other lead warriors Siddiqa. And those two young people. And as well as the other, you know, half a dozen young people ended up kind of taking their contact information and talking to the adult supporters around them. They were my Paul on the road to Damascus, lightning bolt moment, like pain in your chest. You mean, you're going through this? So that's what really opened my eyes is to hear the kids in the room who I thought the kids who were not in trouble with the law were, you know, it's a rough life to not have your biological family around. But I didn't realize, no, you actually had a better shot at justice if you did get arrested because more adults were around you paying attention. So as a result of that day, I had a Congress, I had a bit of a meeting at lunch with a group of young people and their supporters. And we started talking about what they experienced. And one young girl kind of popped up and she's like, does it just get brighter in here? And I was like, Well, what a lovely thing to say. And that's really the inception of it and kind of flash forward to a year and a half later, after meeting me, Jackson decided to go become a paralegal self represented after he knew the law. Greg made sure he got a handle on his CIS file, that's a big deal. And won his case in court against three former foster families who had abused him and neglected him because he identified in the LGBTQ to us plus community. We train champions over here.
Yeah, you do hustle. I like I am Arsenio Hall lights pumping right now. Like go Jackson, and go yay. Like it takes a village to equip and I and I just think that even it would be enough if we helped one person or one child, but the potential of the ripple in this empowerment is the thing that is so exciting to me because I want it to catch fire. I want to help million Jackson's so I mean, I would love to know just about your programs, talk to us about what you're doing. And in when Julia and I first met with you, our minds were blown that you pay these kids to be taught the law in a way that would serve them. So please walk through your programs and tell people where they could plug in.
Absolutely. So to be fair, that $21.50 An hour mark was not even my idea. That was actually the standard that was set by the former advocate office that was shut down. But when the politics changed in our, in our province, so prior to 2019, any young person who works at the advocate office got paid $21.50 an hour for their time, which because they were coming from a challenging socio economic background, and they were doing challenging work was only fair. And they were organizing these big events and doing all this really great stuff. So I had spoken to the former advocate His name is Erwin Elman. And his His attitude was once his job got shut down, he didn't even get any notice it was very politically aggressive. His tone to me as well as the former Premier of our province was, please keep going, please keep doing this. And I said, I will commit to you that I will try my best to get the funding to pay them at this level. So we ran our first two pilots when the advocate office was still up and running. So now that we are basically out on our own, when people ask what do you fundraise for this is it. So we've got proposals into the federal government? We're talking to potential major donors, I'm talking to law societies and associations, like, I know you're out there, I know you are. This is my blog, where are you? Where are the other lawyers. And so what you saw in that brief doc that I sent out that's nice and colorful was the summer intensive for 2022 is our, you know, youth justice warriors. And that's either six weeks, eight weeks or 10 weeks. So we're at a point where we can probably run six weeks, but we're really aiming for 10 weeks. And what we really are aiming for is if we can run a full program, we'll have 30, warriors 20, hopefully in person so long as we're allowed, and then 10 virtual spots so that we don't leave people out who are further north, or who can't physically get access to the space. And what we'll do for the first six weeks we're going to go over the basics. It's just the intermediate level of this, you know, youth Criminal Justice Act. So you learn how to put together a section 19 By the way, for those who don't know, you can even review a sentence that was all ready served. This provision is so powerful, we just don't use it enough. So I teach that and the first chunk of the lesson is how to get your ces file. It's tricky, but it's really important at eight weeks, because our young people from our team got to do about half a dozen interviews that were nationally televised in 2021. We have immediate pitch training session and a pitch competition. I think it's really important to get those voices of not just some smart lawyer lady who's got something to say, I put I pass the mic, and I don't just pass it to someone who's not ready. We pay for that media training with she's newsworthy EPA here in Toronto, a fantastic PR firm who took us very seriously. And then we will prepare those young people. The last news story that Jackson, it's a DECA data is on our Instagram page at youth underscore empowering underscore youth. And they did it in November. And we prep for that for a while our trusted media affiliate, which is CTV national news. And our main journalist is Angie Seth, she gave us the questions about five days in advance. As we prep the kids cried, they had some tough moments. Some of them have one of one of the youth has lost a parent like lost mum, in the time that we were getting ready for this. So really difficult things. But we made sure that they were ready. And when they hit the news, I cried when they were on the news. I was so sad. And I cried as well. It was so good. Thank you for watching. I was so proud of it. i
We need to pause and talk about this real quick because we talk so often on this podcast about how do you use an amplify your voice for good. And I got to give you a quote that Michelle said to me the first time that we ever met. And she said media is a part of what I do. You got to get loud. And we train these kids how to speak into it with confidence. And what they come out of it saying is I know my story will help another kid. And so the fact that you invest in marketing in training, and you not only teach, but you take the story, this is such a great tip to anybody listening you. You fueled this movement, with face with name with story. I mean, Siddiqa is on your staff now, right? You've hired her, which is amazing. I watched these videos, these kids were so confident, they knew who they were. They knew their rights. And I mean, they were probably 19 or 20 i That's just me guessing. And I just had such a wave of emotion. Michelle, when I watched it, because I thought we talk about empowering. We don't want to be nonprofits that go and just give. We want to teach a man how to fish. We want people to feel empowered, to know who they are, and to fight for things that matter. I just think it's absolutely outstanding.
Thank you. I get really teary when he talks about the kids. So thank you for saying all that for me. Because that was really hard to do. But so it is 19 Jackson's 25 Sorry, 26. Now, Kelly, if I say he's 2526 Now, but they are young. And when they went through what they went through, they were just children, literally eight years old. 10 years old, 14 years old. Yeah, like locked in a room not allowed to go to your eighth grade graduation because you go to Catholic school and you're gay. You're locked in this room for days like they were children when Yeah, that's what he fought in court. And one. That's what he that's one of the bad things that happened. It wasn't even the only thing. That was one of the things he lived through Siddiqa was running from a group home in the middle of winter had been turned away from shelters and collapsed in the lobby in the foyer of a shelter and was taken to the hospital. And it was the nurse who helped her get to safety. It's the bystanders I recognize who are almost even more powerful than the people in the system. Jackson had a manager at Tim Hortons, which is a big chain, actually, it's in the States. Now. It's a big chain that sells like breakfast food and stuff. And he was working at 16, just all the hours all the hours wouldn't turn down a shift. And his manager was like, Okay, I'm glad you're doing the work. But you're working like a single mom with three jobs, what's going on? You're 16 years old. And he broke down in the manager's office and said, Here's I'm homeless, I'm scared. I don't know what to do. And it was those moments and the manager just let the CIS habit and they were like, Let's get the you to safety. What is going on here? It's bystanders who are so much more powerful than they know, to answer kind of one of your questions, John, like what makes me want to give that young person a voice. That's what good lawyers do. That is your job. You are representing your clients interests, not your own. We all do it. We all do it every day. It's just when you're in a courtroom and someone's paying you and no one else sees it. That's just the way it's that's how you get paid. Then you get referrals. But when I decided to do was take that energy, and bring it into what youth empowering youth was doing because if I'm going to be my authentic self, or that's what that's what I would know to do to win my case, was to make sure my client had something to say. Say it from your perspective. Say it in your voice. Let Your Voice shake that Okay, so that's where you kind of realize that's when your trier of fact, for example, which is usually your judge really sees the human on the other side of this criminal offense. My trier of fact is now the court of public opinion. And I can always see my go girl. Yeah.
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I'll put in the first $100 thing, I will put me down watching it.
Thank you. So match me,
thank you. I'm saying that to the community come match me in and not $100 to match it in a way that works for you. Even if it's $5
Thank you like that means every penny you know means the world to us. This is what we do. This is not just aspirational goal setting. This is destination, you get me in front of those kids, trust me, I'm going to get them some legal answers.
This conversation is bringing up emotions. I remember feeling talking to Jeff, the founder of guardian group, you know, deals in human trafficking across the US. And he just, you know, spent time talking to us that this is a community issue that we all have a role to play when we see something that feels off when you're at the mall and something feels off it is your duty to like step in and take action. It's I just think your experience. What are some of those indicators that we as a community can also be mindful of to raise a flag to be that person that's not afraid to step in? What are the things that you look for? How can you be an advocate right where you're at?
Oh, this is such a great question. I actually wrote down a note for your you know, how do you listen to your audience? And I wrote down I listened to for the words Mike clients are not saying, though, that sounds odd. You have to read between the lines with trauma, particularly victims who've experienced too but who are young, just like that manager at the Tim Hortons or that gentleman who understands human trafficking. Pay attention to that odd factor of why is that young person acting in this way? I had one young man come into our courthouse and Lindsay from igloo leak. So a lot of people when they think about Canada, they think about igloos. And they think Oh Ha Ha Ha he was actually from Nunavut, which has igloos for real gosh, yeah. But when he came into Lindsay, his history was very tragic. He'd been taken from the home at age 12, after like a scuffle at a party like nothing major, and they apprehended him from his parents took him from the home, there are no group homes and none of it they don't believe in that up there. So he got thrown down to a different province called Saskatchewan and stayed there for a while started racking up a record I'm talking 12 years old, and then bounced over to Alberta for a few years, got a bigger record. By the time he got to us in Ontario and Lindsey at this very challenging group home, he barely said anything. And I'm just gonna kind of give you some body language because you can actually see me when I walked into cells, the morning I met him, he was quiet, young and new atmail and like really physically, well look at me won't look around just sitting in a corner. And I thought, oh, boy, there's there are a million words being said right now, but you're not actually saying any of them. Pay attention, adult intermediaries. If you want to be a trusted grownup, you got to pay attention to what their body language is like, think through, you don't know what's going on, but you know what's not okay. And it took about three and a half weeks. But as a, as a justice team, our court location was able to battle with the Children's Aid Society that was initially responsible for him. And we put him on three flights and a snowmobile ride back to his parents. I love those stories like he went home.
And how many years how many years since he'd been home from having a little scuffle at a party, he left
at age 12 and got home at age 18. People wonder What are you doing? I'm a very faith based person, I'll be honest about that. I never prayed so hard for somebody I didn't know every single day, I was on my knees for this kid like, Okay, what do I do now? What do I do now? How does this work, and having to really listen for intuition to read the law to figure this child is I just kept thinking of his mom. And I didn't know her. But she was just this vision. In my mind, I'm like, I'm going to get you to your mom and dad, because I couldn't imagine what my parents would be like if they didn't know where I was. And he'd been gone for so long. And he said one sentence to me. The incident was he was in a group home. And the allegation was that he assaulted the worker, and the worker was pregnant, and she lost the baby. When I tell you serious, I mean, serious. And but the reality was, because the other kids, it's seen what went down, she tackled him from behind, and took him down. And he's a victim of trauma as a 17 year old boy, he's strong, and he didn't see her coming. So he reacted. And that's where the harm happened to her. And what she said in his ear before the police showed up, was you're never leaving here. And what the significance of that is group homes, a lot of group homes in our province are privately owned and operated like any other franchise, like owning a KFC. And so the kids are, you're kind of paid for, to care for the children per day per child. And indigenous youth and Inuit youth, like our young friend here, are worth the most amount of money per day. So you're talking about 2500 to 3500 adult dollars a day. Yeah, that's big money. That's big business a per day, it's supposed to be because it costs so much to like, replace the love and care of a parent, that you guys don't have good food, good school, all those important things, and also culture making connections with his culture, none of that was actually happening. And you could tell by his record, someone had made their money and then they bounce it. And then someone else made their money, he get arrested, they bounced against everyone was taken in little chunks. And there were 1000s of kids just like him who are identified as First Nations, matey, or Inuit, who were worth this much money every day. So that's why we all put together between the Crown myself and the other social workers who were around and the other police. We realized him being there made her Matt leaf possible. It was just gross. It was yes. But he wouldn't say anything. And he didn't know all of that. It took me two weeks to get that answer out of him. And when he finally said, I ran it up to the crown, I said until the crown, he said he's like, okay, he just nodded like, okay, and then that pieced it all together. And that was the one sentence I needed from him to just push the whole matter just over the edge and to get the when we need it. Because he all he would say to me is can I go home now? Those are the only instructions I could get. And then he realized we were getting somewhere. But I needed a little more. And he started to finally you know, like no trust. That's my business. Do you like me enough? Do you feel like you know me? Can you trust me? And that's my job to make you feel that in your spirit. Right. And so he felt that he had gotten to that point. And when he gave me that nugget, we ran with it. And then we really had something to hold the CIS his feet to the fire and say, What is this, and then before he knew it, he was on four flights in a snowmobile ride, and he was home. So you have to really listen for the things your clients not saying.
I just want to say, as I'm crying again, and this is the second time I've heard this story, one, we need to listen to these stories. And I know they're hard. And I know it's painful to hear these stories. And I just can't even imagine the pain of living it. And that's all I think about. But it's important that we don't just listen to the stories community, we have to take that feeling that we have in our chest, and put something good into the world as a result of it. But I also just want to thank you for the bravery for the good spa, that you have for the Moxie for the fearlessness and above all for the empathy that you have. Because it is casting a ripple that is going and going and going and the thing is, is I just think of the Jackson's of this story. He is going to teach another Jackson how to do this. And that is the compounding nature of this work. And so good luck, John. Take it from here.
No what's your what's your dream with yay trying to give you the floor.
Oh my gosh, sorry. Like, this is such an emotional conversation. And I know you're going to cry back. And I was really hoping you were going to do that. But this is hard. My aspiration, as I was standing in those courtrooms was, I just want these young people to know what I know. So that they can get out of here, like an informed accused isn't the accused who walks out of here with freedom. And if you don't know, if you don't have that knowledge, you are lacking that power and for the person abusing, you can see that you don't have that power, or you don't know how to use your power, and your voice, you're going to get taken advantage of my vision for them is I know the law. I know my rights, and I am safe. I no longer feel excluded from conversations about my life. And the decisions that are being made that directly impact me as a young person. But you feel like you are knowledgeable, you are wise you are using your trauma, to not get stuck in a rut or stuck in the mud. But to use it as a catapult to launch you to wherever it is. You're going. Tiffany Haddish just for an American example. Talk about a change. I read her book, and I laughed and I cried, Oh my god, I laughed and I cried the whole time. She's She's a child of the foster care system. Like her whole story is just absolutely so inspiring. And she's come over some hurdles. She has lived in some places and experience some things. And I'm sure she's still unpacking some of that bag. And she does she the she ready Foundation, they provide actual suitcases to kids and care so that they don't move your stuff in garbage bags, because it makes it personal. She is such a problems. Yeah, like that was her that was her take on it. Right? Like, I was like, whatever we are doing, that's a patchwork of us doing. It's not just Yay, thank you for your support of our organization. But there are so many great organizations out there helping kids and families, not just the kids, but their families too, who've been impacted by this so that they have brighter, better futures, we have lower recidivism rates, I don't like to see kids bouncing in and out of jail. So that's my my vision is get your knowledge, get clean your power, find your voice and use it stay on our
pulpit forever. I love what you're saying. I just what what uh, I mean, I warned you guys at the top of the hour that this was going to be a justice and equity awakening conversation, and I just feel so ramped up to do something to make this better for somebody else. I hope you do, too. Thank you,
Michelle, the power of philanthropy at your organization translates I mean, we're talking about this campaign for this summer, that's going to translate into training warriors, right. And that impact is what we talk about a lot. But we also just believe so deeply in the power of philanthropy, on the givers side, the transformational journey. Is there a moment that philanthropy has changed you at some point in your story that you'd want to share?
100% This is going to sound like such a cheesy moment. But I was in law school when President Obama was running. And everyone was excited and wondered, how is this person going to do this? And I remember, you know, my classmates looking at me, like, can they? And I was like, yes, they can. And it was watching other young people who are a huge part of that movement. And that force for change, who were rally, like everyone else was getting these big donors and these big funders, I thought, yeah, you need trillions of dollars to do this. Or you need people who believe in your mission, who believe in who you are, and will dedicate their time, their voice, their efforts, their energy, their family, their resources into making something miraculous, happen and what changed for me as a law student, I had a very good friend of mine who sadly passed away from cancer, who saw something in me that I didn't see. And she she had much like she came at me one day on our first year, first 90 days. Her name was Rihanna. And she was just perfect. And we saw the stuff happening in the US. And she was like, What are you doing? What's your plan? Why are you here? And you know, this is long before I met a client yet, and she could see something in me. And then I was that I was looking at the two of like, Michelle and Brock. Like, look, they've got it. Yes, they can. No, I can't, but they can. And she was really in my face. And I hear her and and she is with me all the time, when I just can't imagine what the force should be.
Okay, you're quoting back our values to us, too. I mean, it's not about the money. It's about galvanizing believers, you know, because they're the ones that can do this momentum and this movement that we're talking about today. That's what's gonna take, you know, people actually unlocking their relationships in their families and their organizations to get behind this kind of movement. So thank you for that story. Beautiful.
So, you know, we end all of our conversations with a one good thing I have, I have buckled up and I am ready for your one good thing. I have a feeling it's gonna hit me between the eyes.
Okay, so here's my one good thing. My one good thing is that our team has been together from day one. So you see Jackson's a dk like, oh, that's your staff. Those kids met me day one, and never left my side since. Not since. And you know, sometimes I tell young people go out there and find that one adult and say, Hey, I need your help. And it was that feeling as the adult who knew like you're saying about donors, this wasn't about me thinking I was going to be somebody's savior. No, this was about the bravery of young people stepping forward and say, Hi, I'm such and such, this is my name, can you help. And here's what's wrong and have having that vulnerability that taught me be vulnerable. Put your story out there, put yourself out there, you're going to change somebody's mind, you're going to help somebody else, even if it's not you. So go and get it together already. And quite frankly, hurry up about
I feel like she just in probably a minute and a half resiprocate of what we said about ethical storytelling, how to build that trust, how to build a measure of safety, and how to honor the person and dignify their story in a way that is empowering, and doesn't create further trauma. You were just a wonder. So I just thank you so much for this.
Okay, how can how can people connect with you, Michelle, and the wonderful organization?
I love Instagram followers, and everyone's not really about it. Like you can email me at info at youth advocacy. office.org. Of course, if you want to email me directly, it's Michelle dot Bane at Youth Advocacy office.org. But Instagram is super fun. We have found so many great other organizations. So we're at youth underscore empowering underscore youth.
This has been amazing. Thank you so much, Michelle.
Thanks for being our friend. Keep carrying that torch. We are 100% Behind you.
Thank you for your support. And thank you for your network. I appreciate it.
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