EJAM - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Executive Director, the Ezekiel Project
Brenae Arthur-Jones, a Saginaw, MI native and proud alumna of Saginaw High School, earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Marketing and Management from the Illinois Institute of Art-Chicago. With a diverse professional background spanning from program coordination at the Pulse3 Foundation to her most recent role managing programs and communications for Women of Color in Fundraising and Philanthropy® and Allies in Action™, she has a wealth of experience and knowledge.
Guided by the mantra "Life is short. Do things that matter.", she is driven by a profound passion for cultivating authentic connections with others and witnessing them reach their full potential. As the Executive Director of The Ezekiel Project, she eagerly anticipates serving the communities throughout the Great Lakes Bay Region and building upon the mission and legacy of the organization.
Every day, Brenae finds inspiration from her wonderful husband and three incredible children. Being a true enthusiast of all things creative, she spends her spare moments reading, crafting, and sketching. On a snowy day, you can find her outside sledding with her littles.
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer, ROC United
- Chief Operations Officer for Restaurant Opportunities Centers United
Dr. Alicia Renee Farris is the Chief Operations Officer for Restaurant Opportunities Centers United. Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Farris was the State Director of Restaurant Opportunities Center of Michigan (ROC-MI) for seven years. Under her leadership, ROC-MI ran a successful ballot initiative to increase the Michigan Minimum Wage to $12 by January 2021. More than 1.5 Michigan households would have benefitted from this increase if not thwarted by legislative action during the 2018 "lame duck" session. Farris has dedicated her career to fighting for social and economic justice and also served as an adjunct professor at the University of Detroit Mercy's College of Liberal Arts and Education for 12 years. She is the current board chair of Economic Justice Alliance of Michigan.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of the Center for Community - Based Enterprise, Inc
Karen Tyler-Ruiz, serves as the Executive Director of the Center for Community-Based Enterprise, Inc, in Detroit Michigan. C2BE supports the creation of people-centered businesses, cooperatives, community, and worker-owned enterprises where worker-owners and members have a say in all financial and strategic decisions; i.e. a say in their own future.
Tyler-Ruiz has spent the last 20 years of her career catalyzing community wealth-building collaborations and programs and building practical frameworks and strategies in support of Detroiters and Metro Detroiters. Her goal is for local individuals and families to be able to work, earn, and be housed with dignity, while enjoying a good and sustainable quality of life to live, work and play within their community.
Tyler-Ruiz has experience leading & supporting economic mobility opportunities for all, including workforce development and affordable housing. She's been an educator, grantmaker, fundraiser, and has developed collaborative programs that have been replicated and/or embedded into the public sector. She is principal consultant of Tyler-Ruiz & Associates, LLC; is fully bilingual English-Spanish with significant international work experience.
Job Titles:
- Director of Leadership and Organizational Development
Lacy is currently the Director of Leadership and Organizational Development at EJAM. She is a native Detroiter who has a passion for supporting systemic change and transformation in and for marginalized communities. Her mission is to engage and empower citizens throughout Michigan to make collective and individual strides towards eliminating all social and economic disparities, which plague communities across the country. Before joining EJAM, she spent 8 years at Michigan Voice, a nonprofit civic engagement table, which fights for multiracial political power using data, civic participation, and grassroots organizing. There she was able to recruit, train and support numerous grassroots organizations from communities of color across the state. She also served as a Regional Field Director for Barack Obamas, Organizing for American (2010-2012). There she worked to develop a strong network of dedicated neighborhood and community teams who worked together to increase voter participation in Southeast Michigan and, assist in getting Barack Obama re-elected to office.
She believes that by growing people's passions and utilizing people power, leveraging techniques of authentic grassroots organizing, validating everyday people and their leadership abilities, and keeping an eye on the prize of transformation, systemic change, equity, inclusion, and diversity, we cannot only move mountains, but we can be the change the world.
Job Titles:
- Founding Member of the Newly Formed Transforming Power
- Project - Detroit People 's Platform Founding Team Member
Linda is a founding member of the newly formed Transforming Power, Detroit's first Social Justice Fund, providing grants to increase funding of Black and people of color-led grassroots organizations fighting for racial and economic justice. She is a founding board member of several other social justice organizations in the Detroit area.
Job Titles:
- Deputy Director of Programming, Mothering Justice
As Deputy Director of Programming, Nkenge works to ensure Mothering Justice has informed community impact. Nkenge has an extensive background in community organizing. She served as fundraising chair for Black Live Matter Detroit. She co-organizes a national community baby shower that specifically serves black mothers.
Before coming to Mothering Justice, Nkenge was employed as a prevention specialist for Intimate Partner Violence and advocated for trafficking survivors who experienced homelessness in Detroit. Nkenge believes that being a black woman is a political experience within itself and organizing mothers of color will create the equitable society activist dream.
"I cannot tell the truth about anything unless I confess being a student, growing and learning something new everyday. The more I learn the clearer my view of the world becomes."
Job Titles:
- Founding Director, Michigan Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Network
Randy Block has a bachelor's degree in journalism and a master's degree in social work, specializing in community organizing. For over 30 years, he worked as a manager of services for older persons, but in 2011 he "retired" to devote more time to working as a community activist.
During the Vietnam War, Randy was a conscientious objector. He has been a long-time leader of Gray Panthers of Metro Detroit and serves as Chair of the National Council of Gray Panthers Networks. In 2002, Block founded and has since directed the Michigan Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Network (MUUSJN), a statewide network of over 3,000 faith and activist allies working for progressive social change.
A CPA by training, DeWayne brings a wealth of knowledge to the organization in the areas of auditing, financial management, and leadership. Prior to this appointment, he was a consultant for nonprofits and served as project director for Detroit Food & Fitness Collaborative, a group of 65 individuals representing 40 organizations developing ways to ensure that everyone in Detroit (especially the most vulnerable children) has access to affordable, healthy, locally grown food, and opportunities to be physically active.
Earlier roles include president of Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan where he expanded nutrition education programs, streamlined human resource practices, and heightened the organization's profile through community collaborations and partnerships.
Immediately before joining Gleaners, DeWayne was chief operating officer for Starfish Family Services in Inkster, Michigan, and the first lay person to serve as executive director of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen in Detroit. He holds an MBA from Wayne State University and is a graduate of Leadership Detroit.