Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason Edmonds
Hi Jason, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
We’ve been here since 1996, starting out in Watts, building educational programs for both youth and adults, with a focus on digital media vocational training. From there, we expanded, offering tutoring in Watts, Compton, South
LA, and Inglewood for over a decade. In 2017, we launched something close to our hearts: the T.R.I.B.E. program –
Turning Resilience Into Brilliance for Eternity. Since then, we’ve touched the lives of over 1,000 individuals and currently serving 300+ today.
Our impact is clear – while the recidivism rate in Compton for state prison is nearly 60%, ours stands at a mere 3% for the people that complete our training. But numbers alone don’t tell the whole story. Our mission is to remind every
person that they were born with a purpose. Every experience – the struggles, the suffering, and the victories – prepares us for that purpose. And the greater the challenge, the greater the destiny.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Is has definitely not been easy. Nonprofits don’t only face the typical operational hurdles of a normal business, but we also have to contend with the ever changing funding landscape that changes with each new state administration, laws and compliances that each of us nonprofits have to adjust to.
Needless to say… we have had our share of trials that threatened to shut us down. However, we stay motivated and ready to tackle issues as they come. Even today… with over $6mm raised in grants, we run an extremely tight ship, in an attempt to mitigate certain inevitabilities.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m currently the Director of Job Development with a focus on Entertainment and placing our participants into internships, paid internships and full time jobs.
My background included 20+ years in entertainment, writing and producing songs for Whitney Houston, Boys2Men, Babyface, Tank, 3LW, JoJo and a few more ;). I’ve also been the artist manager for Macy Gray, Ms Lira and more as well. Aside from the music stuff, I’ve produced several tv shows, and launch 2 tech-startups. So I bring my knowledge of the entertainment space and my personal contacts tot he table to train each participant in audio and video production, then to find them jobs.
That’s the abbreviated version. I’m happy to send a full bio if you’re in need of one.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
Each person we service is uniquely different from the next. Often times, datasets created by large entities would have you grouping everyone in a general community into one box. While in fact, there are very important life and circumstantial distinctions within that community that nonprofits like us track and monitor over time to prove our own modality.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.wholesystemslearning.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wsl_org/
Image Credits
The first photo was a recent photo of the entire Whole Systems Learning Staff. The photo of the group of guy standing on a cliff was our Director Of Programs out on one of his T.R.I.B.E. out-door events where his cohort of youth TRIBE members tackle their emotions through exercise and energy exertion. The photo of the class standing infront of a large mural, was our last Entertainment Cohort visiting Solotech Studios in Hollywood. The last photo is of me 🙂
